Fabric of life
Before sewing machines took over, all women stitched. They had to. Think of clothing for a start. Teaching needlework began at home, then schools stepped in, so young girls are our guides to the sampler; a teaching medium that delivered much more than accomplishment with a needle. Samplers were first known as ‘exemplars’ from the Latin meaning ‘model’ or ‘example’, but little survives before the end of the, c1595, when Helena recalls how she and Hermia ‘Have with our needles created both one flower, Both on one sampler.’
