Tuesday 22 April 2014

1832 Mary Whitlow Sampler Motif

I've been inspired to stitch a little motif from the Mary Whitlow sampler I saw earlier this year . . .


Recently we were fortunate to spend a day in Hobart and while we were there we toured the historic Narryna, a Georgian town house built between 1837 & 1840. Opened to the public in 1957, Narryna is a museum with a wonderful needlework collection including garments, patchworks - such as the little hexagons bed coverlet made in 1830, embroideries such as samplers, Georgian stump work, mid-Victorian Berlin wool work and high-Victorian bead work. 

Also housed at Narryna is the collection of baby's bonnets that inspired Christina Henri's Roses from the Heart project to commemorate the experience of convict women in Australia.

The walls of the Nursery were home to several early samplers, among them a sampler by Mary Whitlow, dated 1832.

 
I loved the uncluttered simplicity of this piece . . . the use of only one colour . . . and the (almost) symmetry of it.

It was also wonderful to see the other samplers at Narryna, including one dated 1779. Some of the samplers are in a very fragile state, but beautiful just the same. And you can just imagine the time when they were stitched by young girls learning the art of needlework to stand them in good stead for later in life.

While not wanting to replicate an entire sampler, I've chosen to render my interpretation of one of the motifs on Mary's sampler. Using my trusty 27 count linen, I've stitched one piece into a lavender sachet and the other into a pin cushion.



 
I enjoyed working on these little projects. Sometimes the inspiration from little things bring as much satisfaction as from the big things. What's inspired you lately?


Pattern: Mary Whitlow Sampler, 1832
Publication: http://www.narryna.com.au/

Fabric: 27 count linen
Threads: DMC 503, 504, (760, 761, 3779), (894, 961, 3832)

Friday 18 April 2014

Hot. Cross. Stitching.

Inspired by all the Easter stitching goodies I've seen on Pinterest this week, I decided to put thread to needle and do some stitching of my own.


I like the "dusted" look of this little French Knot Bunny. I made a stencil of a rabbit and traced it on to the linen. A quick outline in back stitch and then it was on to the French Knots . . .


Originally I planned to make this in lovely soft pastels, but then I liked the simplicity of the white on natural so much that I just stuck with that.

This is an idea that could be used for all sorts of shapes, letters and words. And with threads or markers - see here for more ideas about that.


And then there's the Cross Stitch Bunny using the Spring Rabbit pattern from The Little Stitcher. This little guy went together pretty quickly. I like the simplicity of this design and was thinking of making it into a little lavender bag. But then I was inspired by Cindy's little fabric weights over at Fluffy Sheep Quilting . . . so it's now my latest pin cushion, filled with silica sand so it's nice and substantial to do double duty as a fabric weight!

I don't usually do much in the way of decorating for Easter . . . but the rabbit designs seem to have caught my imagination this year. What Easter crafting are you up to?



Pattern: Spring Rabbit
Designer: The Little Stitcher
Publication: http://thelittlestitcher.blogspot.it/

Fabric: 32 count linen
Thread: Cosmo 8040

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...