the sampler

[mlsdesigns]

i'm too tired to try and do photos today, plus they're better in natural light!
the sampler is dated 1802, made by harriot wainright, aged 9 (i think, the stitching of her letters is very wobbly, i think her name should be harriet, too!)
it's beautiful, not at all your usual type, it's what's known as a darning sampler, worked on very fine fabric, almost like butter muslin, and has patterns worked on it in fine silk threads, woven through the fabric, oh bother it, i'll go and take a bad photo to show you...

it's in a dreadful state, great granny, we think, found it in a drawer and sewed it to a peice of paper to protect it, only trouble is it was then folded, and the paper has foxed and marked the fabric, and the creases are very bad, i'm going to use some of the money granny left me to get it restored and framed, and hang it inside a cupboard in my sewing room :)

i don't understand how she was allowed to leave it like this, her governess should have made her redo the writing

but the 'darning' is sooo beautiful

not only are they all different colours, they are different patterns too


i could only find out a very little bit about this kind of sampler, they are very rare and were only in fashion for 20 or 40 years over the turn of the century. i'm going to take it to the royal school of needle work i think to see if they can restore it, and they'll be able to tell me a lot more about it.

Comments

[mlsdesigns.livejournal.com]

thank you. it will be so inspiring!