Kōrero: Sewing, knitting and textile crafts

In the 19th and early 20th century girls demonstrated their embroidering skills by working samplers. Sally Cann of Bridge Street, Nelson, made this sampler in 1853. It contains examples of common stitches like herringbone, chain and cross-stitch. Sally has stitched a strawberry border and zig-zags around the ducks at the bottom. There are some mistakes (‘February’ is spelled wrong) and idiosyncrasies, like the irregular border around the ducks, but these are to be expected in a young girl’s sampler and add to its charm.