Drawn Thread Sampler Description

The layout of the sampler is simple but the techniques that fill it are among the most difficult I've done and my instructions among the most detailed I have written. As a result the instructions are 166 pages long.  The instructions include both the Drawn Thread Sampler and its Doodle Sampler, as well as my original class letter.

This sale is for the Instructions only  (no threads, no ground fabric) and I am bringing it to my sale because of requests.

The size of the congress cloth for the Drawn Thread Sampler is 14" x 25".

The size of the congress cloth for the Doodle Sampler is 11" x 20".

The supplies you will need are simple: 5 balls of pearl cotton #12 and 5 balls of pearl cotton #8.

Paying attention to mesh size and scaling it as appropriate, you may use any ground fabric that has a substantial body. I do not suggest you work on flimsy, wiggly linens. The challenge of this sampler is tension which is always more difficult on a flimsy ground.

Notice that the supplies list is a simple one: pearl cotton in two sizes. Before you choose a ground fabric, make sure that its size coordinates with pearl cotton #12 and #8. In today's marketplace, I do not know of another thread that will work easily for the sampler.

Colors: I stitched my models in ecru pearl cotton on a white ground. Over the years I have seen the sampler stitched in ecru on ecru, in white on white, and in a number of very pale colors on white or ecru ground fabrics. Pale blue on white comes to mind as one of the prettiest of the samplers I've seen. I don't suggest a dark or bright color thread as the contrast will be too great. Remember, these are traditionally  whitework techniques, the stitches for lace and imitation laces.

Drawn Thread Sampler

Drawn Thread Sampler, Stories About Teaching Drawn Thread Sampler

In the old days when I was more industrious than I am now I applied Drawn Thread Sampler to EGA's National Seminar in Williamsburg and I had a class of 24 people.

In my long teaching career, this was the only project I billed as 'Advanced'. The class was a full four days long.  The pre-class work was 50 hours, or so my students told me. The first day of class we cut threads which can be daunting in a classroom situation -- what if you cut wrong?  The second day the easier techniques, the third day the difficult ones.

I woke up on the third morning of class and willed my hands to work well. I had a daunting task: I had to make the hardest techniques I knew work as if they were easy. Nothing is worse than showing my struggles in front of students, for it puts them off. The students think, if the teacher struggles, I'll never be able to do it. So I demonstrated these techniques for 6 hours and at the end of the day I was bushed.

A friend of mine was in my class. At the end I said to her, let's go somewhere, I'm absolutely bushed! She said, why? You had an easy day of it, And I thought, Yay! I succeeded.

I taught Drawn Thread Sampler a handful of times after Williamsburg: at Callaway, at regional seminars and a few times at chapters, then I retired it and moved on.

Years later, after I had retired from travel teaching, Jane Ellen Balzuweit taught it for Shining Needle Society.  

I am offering the instructions once again because of requests.

Drawn Thread Sampler and its Doodle

Both are included in the instructions. Scroll down for descriptions.

Notes on Pearl Cotton

Poor Pearl Cotton, for many years my go-to thread, has such an undeserved reputation as a rather nasty thread for beginners only. Not so in my own life: chances are, if you see a kit of mine where the dominant thread is pearl cotton, you are likely looking at one of my more difficult designs.

ACORN SAMPLER

Acorn Sampler,  Notes on the Various Techniques

My history with Double Running Stitch began with this sampler. Betty Chen Louis taught me how to do it, and we started with the large band of acorns at the top of the sampler. I had charted it from a traditional sampler in the Victoria and Albert Museum and she showed me how to make the pattern reversible.

I had been doing cutwork for quite a while by the time I stitched this sampler and I was becoming a bit more innovative with it, hence the appearance of the acorns in the drawn thread pattern at the top and the Reticella toward the bottom.

I have used this alphabet a number of times as I find it so interesting. At one EGA seminar I bought a wonderful second edition of Marcus Huish's book on samplers and according to the book, this alphabet is the oldest he knew of on samplers.  If you have not seen his book and you are interested in samplers, the book has often been reprinted.

At the bottom of the sampler I did some Cross Stitch acorns. They are one of the few times I have done traditional Cross Stitch over 2 meshes. I use a lot of Cross Stitch here and there but almost always over 1 mesh.

On the left are some closeups of the various bands

Acorn Sampler

A Long Band Sampler from My Travel-Teaching Days

Here are notes and some closeups of this traditional band sampler.

Acorn Sampler, Using Historical Patterns

I do like to use historical patterns but I prefer not to remain too true to them. I like to fiddle with them, so that they are a reflection on the past but they also are a part of my own needlework life.

There are two prominent people whose writings reflect this and I often quoted them in my teaching days. These two are Joan Edwards and Carol Humphrey.

The gist of their arguments is the same: that the art of the sampler lives on only if we make it a reflection of our own time.

I love to borrow from old samplers, but I like to dream up what to do with a foundation of the past but a bit of innovation that belongs in the present.

This sampler is perhaps the most traditional I ever stitched.

Acorn Sampler Descriptions

I am offering the instructions only, no canvas, no threads.

The supplies I used for Acorn Sampler include 5 colors of Soie d'Alger and 2 balls each of pearl cotton #8 and #12. I used ecru pearl cotton on ecru congress cloth 11" x 24".

Yes, a linen ground will work, although I would avoid a flimsy wiggly linen, as a ground fabric with more body will help your tension. If I were to make the sampler again, I would consider linen congress cloth of which Cathe Ray at Needle in a Haystack has a stash. Lucky Cathe!

I do not recommend this sampler for the inexperienced stitcher. The techniques, while not quite as difficult as the ones on my Drawn Thread Sampler, are dependent on good control of tension, and as most of us experienced  stitchers know, good tension takes time, patience and experience.

The instructions are 77 pages long, with 8 Oversize Graphs and a color copy of my finished sampler.