“Stitch a Sampler,” Liahona, June 1998, 11
Stitch a Sampler
When pioneer women and girls crossed the plains to settle in the western United States, they brought with them their knowledge of homemaking skills and crafts. Many of them were converts from Britain, Scandinavia, and Europe. Traditional needlework was one of the skills they carried with them.
Learning to use a needle and thread to stitch unique designs on small pieces of cloth was often part of a young girl’s upbringing. In this way, mothers, grandmothers, and schoolteachers taught girls the art of needlework. While the girls were learning different stitches, they also learned numbers and letters by stitching and reciting them. These pieces of creative stitching were called samplers.
Stitchers often sewed a favorite saying, quotation, verse, or scripture onto their samplers. Some samplers were decorated with images of birds, animals, trees, fruits, flowers, temples, schools, or houses. The beehive as well as the likenesses of Church Presidents and other leaders were favorite pioneer designs.
After deciding on a design, the stitcher drew it on cloth with a pencil or pen. Then she began sewing, frequently using cross-stitches, as well as outline, stem, satin, and chain stitches. Quite often the stitcher would include her name, age, and the date the sampler was finished.
Today, many people are discovering that the skills and crafts of their ancestors are an enjoyable pastime. You might like to join them and make a sampler yourself.
Instructions
To make a sampler like the one below, you will need masking tape, a 20 cm x 28 cm or larger piece of muslin, a dark lead pencil, an embroidery hoop, a tapestry needle, scissors, and green, brown, gold, and dark blue embroidery floss.
Carefully remove page 13 from the magazine and tape it on a window with the pattern facing you. Center the muslin over the pattern and tape it in place. Trace the design onto the muslin; then remove the pattern from the window. Choose one of the designs from page 12 to stitch into the center of your sampler or use the alphabet pattern on page 11. Cut out the design and tape it in place behind the muslin. Trace the design into the center of the design already on your fabric. Remove both pieces from the window. If desired, write the year and your first name in small letters somewhere on the traced sampler.
Where do you start stitching? Find a spot that looks interesting and attach an embroidery hoop around it. Cut the floss into 46 cm lengths and thread your needle with three strands of floss. Make a knot in your thread to begin and end. Refer to page 13 for stitch and color instructions.
Stitches to Use
TREE
Backstitches
Tree and branches: brown
Fence: black
Apple outline: red
Apple stem: green
Birds: black
Cross-Stitches
Inside of tree trunk: brown
French Knots
Inside of Apples: red
Bodies of birds: black
Lazy-Daisy Stitches
Leaves on tree and apples: green
HOUSE
Backstitches
Windows, door, steps, sidewalk: black
Roof outline: black
Outline of house: red
Chimney: blue
Rocks around the bottom: gray
Cross-Stitches
Roof: brown
French Knots
Doorknob: black
BEEHIVE LEAF BORDER
Backstitches
Bees: gold
Beehive: gold
Outline of the beehive entrance: brown
Stem between the leaves: brown
Numbers and alphabet: dark blue
Optional—your name and the year: color of your choice
Cross-Stitches
Beehive entrance: brown
French Knots
Dots by the leaves: gold
Lazy-Daisy Stitches
Leaves: green
Ann Eckford, a young girl from England, cross-stitched this sampler of the Nauvoo Temple sometime between 1846 and 1849. (Sampler courtesy of Museum of Church History and Art.)
Samplers by Saundra White. (Photography by Tamra Hamblin.)