History of American Samplers

Simply defined, a sampler is “a needlework form recording stitches and designs, often but not necessarily signed and dated. They functioned as a source of reference and a statement of ability. They were also known as Sams or Exemplars. (F&P 232) ”

Samplers were first brought to America from England and Northern Europe. Historians believe the practice started in the Middle Ages(S&S)The earliest samplers were ongoing projects, long and narrow in form, worked on throughout a woman’s life, adding a new band as a new stitch or pattern came to her, either through friends or teachers. They would be rolled up and put away when not being worked on. They were used to demonstrate a girl’s ability with a needle and for later reference when sewing. 

The simplest parts of sewing were taught at home by the mother. Depending on how close a girl lived to a school, the wealth of her parents, and the parents’ value of a girls’ education. If the family aspired to marry the girl to someone of similar standing, less education was needed, than a family who wanted to marry up their daughter. If a girl wanted to learn more fancy stitching, she would go to a ‘Dame’ school, where the girls would be educated by a single woman, usually a spinster, a pair of siblings, or a married couple. These schools mostly taught needlework, though some began to expand their lessons to teach French, drawing, dancing, music and the like. Boarding schools for girls evolved out of these practices, as girls could be sent to live with family or board with a teacher in return for a better education. 

The inclusion of verse into samplers was the first deviation from older styles of sampler making, starting from the beginning in Ameican samplers, but only beginning around the eighteenth century in English ones. The samplers became shorter and wider, becoming solely a teaching tool for girls. Some girls 

Samplers were usually made on linen cloth, although sometimes wool was used, with colored threads, silk being the most common. While silk thread was expensive, the prices began to go down after the Revolutionary War as American trade with China started to bring silk directly into the States. There had been some silk production in the states, but it was difficult and hard to turn profitable. Flax, for linen, on the other hand, was rather easy to grow and spin and weave into cloth. Spinning and weaving, while not difficult, were time-consuming, and almost solely done by women in whatever free time they spare or passed off to the servants and slaves if the women were of more wealth.  There is no set of stitches used on a sampler, but some were more common than others. Some used only a few stitches, like Martha Slocum's Sampler, made entirely of cross-stitch or Anna Green's, who used straight, or Running stitch, while others used more stitches, like Sarah Stone and Hephazah Baker.