Embroidery Samplers and Needlepoint, Holiday Decorations

Posted by dodo

Needlework samplers make gifts that may be treasured for years to come. Dates, names or initials personalize a sampler and add historical interest.

Samplers have a long and important history as chronicles of the social and domestic times in which they were made, and as records of family names and dates. They were so named because they were sewn by young girls who made up patterns from samples of different types of stitches they had learned. Popular sampler decorations included the maker’s name, the date on which the sampler was Completed, a religious or moral motto and a patterned border. Samplers were also sewn as gifts to commemorate a date or event such as a wedding or a birth, with the initials or names of the bride and groom, or parents and child, worked into the pattern — an ideal way of making a personal and special gift.

In Elizabethan times, needlework was more than a pastime, it was an important part of a girl’s education. Needlework finely sewn in the sixteenth century by Mary Queen of Scots and Bess of Hardwick, can be seen to this day at Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk, England. Their work features heraldic animals, mottoes and titles in Latin.

Embroidery was not just worked on wall-hangings and cushions, it was also fashionable for giving richness and texture to court and formal clothing. Stomachers, the stiff triangular panels worn at the front of the dress-bodice, were a popular area for the application of rich decoration, as were the cuffs of gloves, toes of shoes and the ankles of a gentleman’s stockings. Boxes and trinket cases were also elaborately dressed up with fine needlework in gold and silver thread. The earliest dated example of an English sampler was worked by a young girl. In it are many threads of silver and gilt, as well as coloured silks.

Decorative needlework underwent a revival in Victorian times when it was used extensively about the home, on fire-screens, chairs and footstools, and on clothes, such as slippers, bags and purses. Needlework during this period was much influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement and its chief protagonist William Morris, who revolutionized the art of house decoration and furnishing in England and elsewhere. Many of his designs had an early, medieval quality in their style and richness of colour, which adapted well to needlework.

Sampler motifs and designs tend to reflect the location of the maker. Colonial American samplers may incorporate a traditionally dressed couple with the man in breeches and tricorn hat, and the wife in a full length skirt and apron, surrounded by finely sewn borders of strawberries and native flowers.

However, a needlewoman in a religious community of American Shakers would use a motto as the centre piece to her sampler, such as: Put your hands to work and your hearts to God.

Samplers can be dated by their style of decoration. The Victorians favoured highly ornate designs with bows, clusters of fruit, berries and bunches of flowers, while earlier work from rural communities is naïve in style, with a simple and uncluttered appearance. Old samplers have now become valued and collectable items, with high prices being obtained at auctions.

Embroidery Needlepoint Smapler

Finished size of sampler design:
25 x 33cm (10 X 12¹/2tin)

Materials:

Mono de luxe canvas 18 holes to the inch, 35 x 42.5cm (14 x 17in)

Size 22 needle
Masking tape to bind edges
Sharp scissors for cutting canvas
Embroidery scissors
Appletons crewel wool in skeins:

Colour number Description Skeins:

714 Dark plum 1

712Light plum 1

295Dark green 2

292 Pale green 2

353Grass green 2

903 Ochre1

693 Gold 1

224Dark rose 2

222 Pink 2

881Background 13

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