A Brief History of Embroidery Samplers

The word exampler or sampler is derived from the French éxamplair, meaning a kind of model or pattern to copy or imitate. The Latin word exemplum, meaning a copy, was, by the 16th century, spell sampler or exemplar.

Samplers today are often seen as nostalgic decorative pieces associated with interior decoration. Their traditional role has been that they are a method of recording information. Samplers, always a record of stitches, often now record an life event, right of passage, or life history. Some samplers depict Family trees, while others commemorate events, such as weddings or births.

The rich history of samplers is evidenced at in our days commercially produced patterns. Alphabet samplers and growth charts are popular today, but their function has changed significantly.

Before printed pattern books appeared, embroidery designs were passed from hand to hand, traveling through Europe from the Middle East. An essential method of storing information was the recording of patterns and motifs on fabric for future use. This stitched reference resulted in the creation of a sampler. New stitches and patterns were assiduously collected and exchanged. Patterns were placed in a fortuitous way over the cloth. These samplers are now referred to as random or spot samplers.

In the late 15th and early 16th centuries needlework decorated clothing and furnishings. The craft of embroidery was restricted to the wealthy due to the high cost of materials and that by the early 16th century needlework had got importance as embroidery displayed wealth and status. In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries there was also a strong revival of interest in all forms of decoration and a sudden increase in journey at this time. Thanks to these factors it was a sudden explosion of this active collection and recording of patterns in this period.

Band samplers of the 16th century often combined different stitch traditions such as Assisi work, Black work and complicated bands of white work and open-work. The samplers of this period display such a high quality it is believed that they were made by expert needle women.