A Stitching Sampler: Black Cotton and Multi-colored Thread

mid twentieth century
11" x 11 3/4", 28 cm x 30 cm

This lovely thing is a stitching sampler, more than likely done by a student at a sewing school: decades ago, girls and young women often enrolled in stitching classes and produced albums of their work, or samplers such as this one.

The cloth is black cotton and the 12 different stitched designs or patterns are done in various colored cotton thread.

Some of the stitching patterns have a northeastern Japanese feel and evoke the sashiko stitching done on garments from Shonai, Yamagata, for example. As the origin of this sampler is unverified we have to be content in making comparisons and assumptions as to where it was made.

It is a marvelously rich piece, both in appearance and in content.

To imagine someone taking the time to learn these complex patterns--probably counted thread--in order to apply them to a garment for their use (but more likely for a loved one) is a prosaic thought, to say the least.

Very recommended.