Scarlet Letter Samplers Cross Stitch Patterns Page 2

This Irish Quaker sampler features an alphabet at the tope, verse, bands, and flowers. The verse reads "Great Almighty God above plant in my heart a fund of love, that I my mercies may adore and bless and praise thee evermore."

Model is stitched on 40 ct linen using either cotton... Read more about Dorothy Walpole 1774 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "Eleanor Parr created this amazing and unique sampler some time before 1835. The border of birds encircled by vines and leaves is unprecedented. Fleurs de lys embellish each of the four corners surrounding a central reserve containing a traditional verse, floral sprays... Read more about Eleanor Parr 1816 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "This picture was originally designed to be used as a cushion or footstool cover, or perhaps as a decorative vignette inserted into the top of a wooden box for storing precious objects. Executed entirely in cross stitch, its most prominent characters are a large squirrel... Read more about Elizabeth's Squirrel - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "In 1779, the Quaker Friends School at Ackworth, Yorkshire, was established for the purpose of educating young people of both sexes, and instilling the values of their Society; equality, simplicity, peace. Girls received nearly the same instruction as boys. Out of this... Read more about M Quertier 1799 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "An intensely stitched and well-planned sampler, this unusual piece probably originated in Pennsylvania. The allegorical figure hovering over the house could represent Liberty. The unconnected border of floating honeysuckle is unique, as well as the little pastoral... Read more about Rebecca Robinson 1821 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "At age nine in 1818, Sarah Dutnel created this unusual "tree of life" sampler. A traditional carnation and tulip border in subtle, earthy shades of gold, brown, and cream surrounds the tree. Dogs, deer, birds, stars, potted plants, trees and flowers flank the... Read more about Sarah Dutnel 1818 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "Designed after a mid-eighteenth century New Hampshire sampler, this piece is delightfully naive with its oversized animals, insects, and birds. Around 1760, the New-Hampshire Gazette began publishing advertisements for girls' schools, placed by female instructresses,... Read more about Susan Singleton - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "Designed after an early eighteenth century tent stitched picture, this expansive needlework scene depicts many episodes in the life of an affluent English family including its elaborate parterre and gardens, a stately brick and stone house, domestic, exotic and wild... Read more about The Manifesto - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "This little needlework was likely made as a panel of a "huswif"/aka a "housewife", which was an embroidered, double-sided vertical series of pockets made to hold needleworking supplies. It could be folded up or hung from a peg for swift access to the... Read more about Huswife Circa 1780 - Cross Stitch Pattern

A unique four-sided geometric border is the highlight of this American sampler, consisting of nine rows of letters and numerals surrounded by a counted satin stitch sawtooth inner border. The design looks like something that might have inspired the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. I have not been able... Read more about Emely C Newman 1831 - Cross Stitch Pattern

This is a beautiful sampler from Norwich (Norfolk, United Kingdom), possibly stitched at a school run by one Mrs. Wright or her descendent (hence the initials "MW" below Elizabeth's name in the attribution). A list of teachers in Norwich in 1783 includes Wright, Massey, and Cheetleburgh. The... Read more about Elizabeth Gooding 1790 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "ANN WHITTAKER created an almost comically theatrical sampler depicting Adam and Eve, angels, pious verses, and elaborate meandering vines beneath dramatic multi-colored draperies and tassels. Hovering over the verse which is framed by large columns, are two angels with... Read more about Ann Whittaker 1790 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "Abigail Ann was born October 27, 1799, in East Caln, Chester County Pennsylvania. Her parents were Joseph and Ann (Wells) Fleming, the fourth generation of Flemings living in the East Caln area. Abigail Ann attended one of the Quaker schools in Chester County but we are... Read more about Abigail Ann Fleming 1816 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "This sampler shows a man and a woman beneath an apple tree, reminiscent of Adam and Eve, but in contemporary dress. Possibly of New York origin (the format and background suggest this), this reproduction is stitched on linen with either cotton or silk, with the... Read more about Abigail Gould's Sampler 1796 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "A characteristically northern German sampler, this example from Hamburg consists of random symbolic spot motifs, with a unifying central scene and borders. Religious symbols are commonly found on almost all continental samplers, and Adam and Eve in particular is often... Read more about German Sampler by AEDEGNES 1746 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "This sampler was made in St. Albans, Vermont. A naturalistic four-sided floral border surrounds a central reserve with alphabets and a pictorial scene. The house is so distinctive that it is probably a depiction of Amanda's own home. Made under the tutelage of B.... Read more about Amanda Jewel 1816 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "This unusual sampler is probably of Scottish origin. The distinctive French-inspired mansion house and the peacocks are commonly found on Scottish samplers. Adam and Eve are realistically stitched in the Garden, by effectively working two quite simple stitches together:... Read more about Ann Bowden 1811 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "A sophisticated painterly use of perspective distinguishes this pictorial English sampler. An idealized rural scene with a thatched cottage nestled in a fertile valley, with white misted hills rising in the distance, also features a windmill, a flock of sheep,... Read more about Ann Brockbank 1812 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "This is a very graceful and finely stitched sampler, an unusual combination for the late date. Nine ethereal female figures, like penitents in an Edward Gorey cartoon, march solemnly about the sampler, paying homage to the house. The huge house appears to be welcoming... Read more about Ann Cottee 1848 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "A classic Quaker sampler from the Delaware Valley, this sampler demonstrates the style and many of the motifs that make them so easy to identify. The inner oval vine-and-leaf cartouche surrounding the alphabets probably originated at the Westtown School in Chester... Read more about Ann Fleming - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "This very delicate Scottish sampler with its bold color scheme was designed with a four sided stylized honeysuckle border surrounding horizontal rows of illuminated alphabets and double running stitch motifs. The extensive use of double running stitch lends the sampler... Read more about Ann Forrest 1757 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "This is a beautifully balanced, intensely stitched transitional sampler. Worked originally in brightly colored silk threads on a fine tammy (wool) ground, it features a repeating, four-sided carnation border, surrounding five horizontal bands interspersed by lines of... Read more about Ann Hair 1762 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "This Dover, Massachusetts, sampler features an unusual border surrounding alphabetical and numerical tests, and a four-line verse often found on early 19th century American samplers. The colors are remarkably well preserved. The maker, Ann Harding (who was actually... Read more about Ann Harding 1821 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "As the purpose for making samplers evolved over the decades and the centuries, so did its form. This beautiful early 18th century English band sampler retains the shape of her predecessors, but has clearly changed into a form distinctly recognizable as a product of her... Read more about Ann Johnson 1729 - Cross Stitch Pattern

In the upper register of this finely stitched English sampler there is featured an unusual vignette of Adam and Eve beneath the tree of life (with a menacing black faced serpent) flanked by mirror image brick cottages, followed by a pious verse:

Praise the Lord enthron'd on high
... Read more about Ann Jones 1776 - Cross Stitch Pattern

This is a pleasantly quirky, colorful sampler likely stitched in the north of England judging by some of the Scottish influences in the design. A four sided strawberry border surrounds an alphabet and a pious verse above a geometric pattern band. Below this is a scenic register with trees, birds,... Read more about Elizabeth Cheetham 1824 - Cross Stitch Pattern

This letterndoek (lettering) form of Dutch sampler appears from the late 17th through the early 19th century. It is easy to recognize by its horizontal shape, and beautifully illuminated lettering, interspersed with various symbolic shapes and Biblical motifs. The color scheme used on so many of... Read more about Dutch Sampler of 1773 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "This beautiful. petite, energetic sampler expressed three fine verses and, at the end, one of the truest "signatures" I've ever read on a piece of needlework:

By this ingenous Maids
may see what by the
needl wrought
may be

... Read more about Elizabeth Hicks 1745 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer - "Elizabeth Mansfield finished her sampler in England on 13th June 1792, during the reign of King George III (1760-1820: note the cushioned crown in the upper third, marked on either side by the initials G R for George Rex). The original sampler was stitched on a very... Read more about Elizabeth Mansfield 1792 - Cross Stitch Pattern

According to a note attached to the back of the original sampler, it was probably made near Newtown, Pennsylvania. The attribution at the center is surrounded by a typical Quaker leafy cartouche with opposing flowers and facing birds above. Other characteristic Quaker motifs include eight point... Read more about Elizabeth Mitchell 1828 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer: "This band sampler was designed after a piece in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum, most remarkable for the colorful, solidly filled geometric and floral sections. It also features double running stitch sections found on Italian embroideries of the sixteenth and... Read more about Elizabeth Pain 1667 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer: "A Pennsylvania German sampler that may not be, strictly speaking, a miniature, but is nonetheless small for its type. Typical Pennsylvania German folk culture motifs - birds, trees, hearts, flowers, crowns and stars - adorn it."

Origin and date: Pennsylvania... Read more about Elizabeth Raysor 1834 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer: "This sampler is a fine example of work done by Pennsylvania German girls in the early-to-mid nineteenth century. Similar motifs appear on the show towels that decorated kitchen and bedroom doors in these immigrant German households. It is thought that while the show... Read more about Elizabeth Wisler 1845 - Cross Stitch Pattern

The Temperance Movement of the early nineteenth century began in the United States prior to 1808. Preachers, most notably John Bartholomew Gough, promulgated a pledge of abstinence from members of his congregation. While temperance efforts have existed as long as spirits have, the movement was not... Read more about Drunkenness by Emma George 1842 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer: "A gift from the collection of Rosalind and Edwin Miller to the museum. Emma Lerch was born in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, in 1830, and she stitched this sampler in her thirteenth year. It is a very simple work, with a lovely meandering floral border. While perhaps... Read more about Emma Lerch 1843 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Band samplers of the 17th century exhibit the widest range of stitches and techniques. Counted thread stitches on linen were artfully combined with panels of floral, geometric, or figural cut and drawn work- a technique where the background threads of linen are carefully bound, then cut and pulled... Read more about EN 1657 A 17th Century Band Sampler - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer: "This northern German sampler consists of random symbolic spot motifs, with a simple zigzag border. Religious symbols are commonly found on continental samplers. On this example, we find the wreath carried by angels (the wreath as a symbol for eternal life): the ship... Read more about FAK-MEK 1779 - Cross Stitch Pattern

This sweet little American sampler features two little houses above alphabets and a short verse:

Would you be wise
Each moment prize

It is surrounded on four sides by a double sided satin stitched sawtooth border. Stitches used include cross, outline, stem filling, counted... Read more about Fanny M Forister 1828 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Fanny Hancock's father, Ebenezer Hancock, was cousin to the famous John Hancock. Born in 1785, Fanny sewed her sampler at age 11. She married Nathaniel Parker of Boston in 1803, and died in 1834. The colors on the back side of her sampler retained much of their original brilliance, and are... Read more about Fanny Hancock 1796 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer: "Our own original design created in collaboration with Terry Meinke, draws upon the needlework traditions of two centuries, in both England and America. The idyllic landscape and more naturalistic figures (as opposed to the blocky shapes of later figures on American... Read more about Fishing Lady - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer: "Mourning pictures were not an uncommon art form in England and America during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Evolving from European commemorative art honoring deceased heroes, mourning pictures were a cherished way to remember loved ones, designed to... Read more about Four Angels Mourning Sampler - Cross Stitch Pattern

What makes this early Victorian English sampler so intriguing are the wonderfully naive figures of Adam, Eve and St. Michael flanking the Tree of Life. St. Michael's sword is drawn to slay the serpent, but he hardly looks formidable with his large feet and doughy body. Playskool-like Adam and Eve... Read more about Frances Marshall 1838 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer: "Hannah Mosher was born March 12th, 1786, in Hollis, New Hampshire, the fourth and last child of Abijah and Hannah Mosher. On March 7, 1813, she married the Rev. Walter Chapin of Woodstock, Vermont. Apart from this sketchy biographical information, found in the History of... Read more about Hannah Mosher 1798 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer: "From Dover, Massachusetts, comes Harriot Boardman's sampler, originally worked on a distinctive green linsey-woolsey found only on some North Shore samplers. A three-sided sawtooth border surrounds alphabet and numeral tests with geometric cross bands, two deer with... Read more about Harriet Boardman 1804 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer: "A beautiful meandering four-sided floral border in an unusually rich color palette surrounds this traditional Scottish sampler, also featuring a beautiful arcaded floral band at the top and a substantial mansion house in the lower register. Trees, tulips and flying birds... Read more about Helen Vertue 1812 - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer: "This original design blends a mid-18th century floral sampler border with a late 18th century lettering and cartouche style, and a mid-19th century sentiment. Instructions are provided for working the sampler in a different color scheme (red, blues, greens) on a neutral... Read more about Home Sweet Home Sampler - Cross Stitch Pattern

Note from the designer: "This intricate and involved sampler features many traditional German sampler motifs dating from the sixteenth century including a large parrot, a peacock with silver tips on its wings, the Lamb of God, as well as a depiction of the Crucifixion flanked by Mother Mary and... Read more about A German Sampler Dated 1704 "IES" - Pattern

Displaying the traditional color scheme of Scottish samplers, this beautiful and delicately stitched piece also employs a variety of interesting counted thread stitches including queen, doublerunning, four-sided, back, counted satin filling, cross, Algerian eyelet, and cross over one (petit... Read more about Janet Burnet 1830 - Cross Stitch Pattern