Simple Samplers to Elegant Embroidery
New England’s Girlhood Needlework

Carol Huber

The samplers and silk embroideries made by young women are among the highest-quality, non-professional works of art in any medium. As an accomplishment of women, needlework was both useful and aesthetically beautiful. It was a formidable part of female education; every young girl from families of even modest prosperity attended some sort of school and there she made a sampler.
Samplers taught the alphabet, numbers, and basic stitching, which was necessary for marking linens and clothing for the household. Once these basic, functional skills were mastered, the girls whose families could afford to continue their education moved on to more elaborate pictorial needlework that developed their aesthetic sensibilities. These pieces were worked under the tutelage of a skilled and talented instructress and were displayed in the home as proof of accomplishment and status. Today, they are eagerly collected.

Samplers and Needlework Pictures
References to samplers date back to the 1500s. Until the late seventeenth century samplers were primarily functional; they were worked as pattern references and were rolled up in the workbasket to be consulted when a pattern was needed to adorn household furnishings or clothing. They were long narrow pieces that are now referred to as “band” samplers. The more elaborate and colorful needlework pictures of this period were usually made of silk using tent-stitch or were of raised work, commonly called “stumpwork” today. The patterns and techniques used in this country were identical to those of England making it impossible to identify the American pieces unless there is a strong family association.
In the early eighteenth century the samplers became more rectangular and pictorial, and increasingly incorporated alphabets, numbers, verses, and pictorial designs. They were made by young girls between the ages of five and 15 who proudly took them home from school to be framed and hung. At this time the silk tent-stitch gave way to wool and silk canvaswork, a simple type of needlepoint.
By the end of the eighteenth century samplers, while retaining their pictorial look, became freer and less formal in their designs, and elaborate silk embroideries replaced canvas work. By 1830 silk work had more or less died out and samplers became larger, bolder, and more simple in execution, due primarily to the introduction of analine dyes and merino wool.
Silk embroidered and watercolor pictures became the rage in America in the late eighteenth century and prevailed through the 1820s. The designs chosen for embroidery included scenes from a variety of sources – Biblical, historical, literary, allegorical, mythological and memorial. The designs were taken from paintings and engravings, or were drawn by the instructress. Mourning scenes became particularly fashionable after the death of George Washington, so much so, that they were sometimes inscribed “To Friendship” or left blank to be filled in at a later date if there was no close relative to be memorialized. Greatly misunderstood today, these embroideries were not morbid works of art, but loving remembrances of cherished family members much like today’s photographs of deceased loved ones.
Besides samplers and pictorial pieces, there was a third, and highly collectible, genre of needlework that was produced primarily in the Boston area from the 1730s to the 1780s. The daughters of affluent families often stitched rich and highly embellished versions of their families’ coats of arms in order to display their status and rank. Some of these are among the earliest examples of silk work. These extravagant pieces were worked at the best schools by girls of the “best” families and were taken home to hang in the parlor for all to see. They are not, incidentally, to be confused with hatchments, which look somewhat similar, but which were painted on wood and used for funereal purposes.

Girls’ Education
In the seventeenth century girls were taught needlework by women within the community where they lived, but by the early eighteenth century most instruction was done in schools. Many teachers offered boarding along with instruction thus making it possible for young ladies from the country to attend the finer schools in towns and cities. It was not unheard of for a girl to spend an entire year at school, and several of the well-known academies attracted students from England and the Caribbean. As there were no schools for teachers, these women educators perhaps attended a basic school as youngsters themselves or were self-taught, and instructed schoolgirls out of necessity. For whatever reason, they needed to earn an income, and needlework skills were very marketable.
Advertisements in the newspapers of the period show how keenly schools competed with each other for students. In 1739, Mrs. Laitaill advertised in the Boston Evening Post that she “teaches all sorts of Needle-Work, Tapestry, Embroidering and Marking.” Elizabeth Pitson “continues teaching young Misses Reading and Seamstry,” as she advertised in the Boston Gazette & Country Journal in 1769. Eleanor Druitt tried to dispel a rumor in her ad in the Boston City Directory in 1796, “As it has been apprehended by some Ladies, said Druitt don’t teach Plainwork; therefore begs leave to inform such she does, with equal Care and Assiduity, as she performs the rest of her undertakings.” It is obvious from these advertisements that teachers were providing instruction in a wide range of needlework, from the basics to very elaborate.
Advertisements provide insight into not only the needlework style of the day, but also into the wider curriculum that was offered to young women. “Mrs. Rowson’s Academy for Young Ladies, at Medford, Mrs. Rowson begs leave to inform her Friends, that her Academy is ready for the reception of Spring Scholars. —those Ladies who have places engaged, are requested to be as early as possible in repairing to them. Terms of Board, Tuition, Board per quarter 30 dls, – Tuition in Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, English Grammar, Geography, use of the Globes, and useful Needlework, 6 dls—Embroidery in its various branches, 6 dls—Painting and Drawing flowers, figures, or landscape, 6 dls – Use of Books, Pens and Ink, 50 cts – Use of Piano-Forte for practice 3 dls – Music, 5 dls. Entrance, per lesson 75 cts – Dancing, 5 dls entrance, per quarter, 8 dls – Washing, per doz. 50 cts.—Writing Books, Paper, Pencils, etc. at stationers’ prices. Mrs. Rowson returns her grateful acknowledgments for the patronage she has hitherto experienced – a continuance of which it will be her unremitting endeavour to deserve,” Columbian Centinel, Boston, April 21, 1802.
Not to be outdone, a rival school to Mrs. Rowson’s advertised, “EDUCATION, Mrs. Saunders & Miss Beach, inform their friends and the public, that they continue to receive young Ladies at their Academy, in Dorchester, for the purpose of instruction in the following branches: – Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Ancient and Modern Geography, Astronomy, Use of Globes, Use of Maps, History, Rhetoric, Botany, Composition, English and French Languages, Drawing, Painting in Oils, Crayons and Water Colours, Painting on Velvet, Ornamental Paper Work, Drawing and Colouring Maps, Embroidery, Tambour, Plain Sewing, etc.
It is presumed that no Seminary of the kind in this Country ever offered superior advantages for the advancement of young Ladies in the accomplishments usually deemed necessary to constitute a polite education. The Pupils have access to a well-chosen Library of above fifteen hundred volumes including the best Classic Authors, French and English, the use of large Maps, etc. The finest patterns for Drawn in Figures, Landscapes, Fruits, Flowers, etc. The House of Mrs. Saunders and Miss Beach is very spacious, the accommodations excellent, the situation admirable and remarkably healthy.” Columbian Centinel, Boston, April 21, 1819.
It is obvious from these ads that young ladies were given an extensive, and expensive, education. The needlework masterpieces that have survived from the two schools cited above are primarily silk embroideries, the most difficult and costly of all of the needlework pictures made in America.
Silk embroideries required a high level of proficiency with the needle and were attempted only by the more advanced needlework students. They were worked primarily in silk threads on a silk background, but often included other materials such as watercolor, ink, paint, metallic thread, gold foil, fringe, fabrics, velvet, paper and spangles. Designs were taken from prints in the collection of the school or academy, or were drawn freehand by the teacher or the student. They were transferred to the silk background by means of tracing and the silk was then laced to a wooden stretcher to be embroidered. The faces and backgrounds were sometimes painted either by the teacher or the student. For the finer pieces a professional artist might be employed. Finally, the completed embroidery was sent to the framer for a reverse painted glass and frame.
Existing records show instances of faces costing $8 and frames $6, and these charges were in addition to those for the silk and the thread. The costs of tuition, board, and materials meant that a young lady’s education was in many cases more expensive than of a young man attending Harvard or Yale.

Collecting Needlework
Until recently silk embroidered pictures were overlooked in the field of decorative arts. They were not understood and little had been written about when, where, why and how they were made, or who made them, or who taught the young ladies that did make them. But thanks to several intent scholars, dealers, books, articles, and Betty Ring’s colossal, “Girlhood Embroidery”, we have new information and insight into these masterpieces.
The legacy left behind in these beautiful needleworks gives us a wonderful insight into their world of art, literature, and values. Although the schoolmistresses have long been forgotten, and many have not been identified, the work of their students can still be found in abundance.