Walls for the wind and a roof for the rain and drinks beside the fire ~
laughter to cheer you and those you love near you and all that your heart desires.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Marking Samplers


This is an example of a simple marking sampler...so called because it contains only alphabets and numbers, and a simple verse. These samplers were stitched mainly by very young children as their first sampler to teach them their letters and numbers for marking linens...linen was a precious commodity and only the wealthiest households would have a large inventory of sheets, towels, tablecloths, etc...to make sure all the items were rotated evenly they would be marked with initials or numbers...usually by servants of the house. A young girl from a poor family would have no chance of employment other than working as a maid, and marking of linens was a necessary skill. I find them charming and attractive in their simplicity. This was a reproduction from Joann Harvey of the Exemplarey, the Hannah Bingham sampler, 1788.





4 comments:

Michelle (Mollylanguedoc) said...

Hi! I really like your blog!

DonnaSews said...

Just beautiful...

Adana said...

Oh yes, Hannah. I should finish mine! Eileen Bennett also has a Marking Sampler that she just taught here in the midwest this summer. If you'd like to see a picture of it, let me know as I can send it along to you. It's small, took no time to stitch, but it's adorable.
Adana69 (at) yahoo (dot) com

Anonymous said...

I stitched this one years ago too. A neighbour went to Ireland and brought me home a piece of uneven dirty linen. I used that. It's in a very plain black frame. Maria S. Waterloo, Ont. and mad for samplers