Published: May 10, 2008 04:10 pm            

HISTORICAL TREASURE: Needle work gives glimpse of the past

TERRE HAUTE — Today, needle work is an exciting hobby for many people; however this art form originated as a practical way for women to learn and share different kinds of stitching techniques and patterns and then developed into a teaching tool for young girls.

Samplers, which are named after the Latin word for “example,” started as a sort of pattern book, allowing women to copy small amounts of a new stitch or pattern onto fabric as a reference for their future sewing. Samplers continued to serve in this useful capacity even after the first real pattern book was printed in 1532. However, as actual books became more readily available, samplers gradually evolved into a teaching tool for young girls, growing more complex and organized until they became decorative as well as functional.

By the 18th century, the majority of samplers were produced by school-aged girls, often as part of their educational curriculum. These samplers usually demonstrated the girl’s knowledge of several different types of stitching and allowed them artistic expression. A typical sampler consisted of numbers, letters, pictures, motifs and some sort of verse. They also usually included the girl’s name, the date, and sometimes the girl’s age as well as a decorative border.

Samplers from this period are extremely popular today. One of the reasons they are so interesting is that each sampler is as unique as the girl who crafted it. The Vigo County Historical Society has five samplers dating from the 1820s to the 1830s made by girls as young as 11. Shakespeare expressed the idea that samplers are a way for a girl to express herself when he wrote in his play “Titus Andronicus”:

“Fair Philomel, she but lost her tongue

And in a tedious Sampler sewed her mind.”

These samplers, displayed on the Historical Museum’s second floor, are a brief glimpse of the past and the individuals who lived in it, left behind for visitors to enjoy.

        

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