Welcome to The Scarlet Letter

WE ACCEPT PAYPAL BUT THIS OPTION DOES NOT SHOW UP ON OUR ONLINE ORDER FORM. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO USE PAYPAL SIMPLY SEND YOUR ORDER, AND YOUR MAILING ADDRESS TO ME AT samplers@scarlet-letter.com AND I WILL SEND AN INVOICE TO YOU THROUGH PAYPAL.

Rebekah Hacker(1777-1799) was the daughter of schoolmaster Isaac Hacker (1750-1818) and Anna Estes Hacker (1754-1802) of Salem, Massachusetts. Rebekah was one of ten children, and died unwed at age 22. After her death, her sampler passed into the family of her brother, Jeremiah Hacker, who lived in Philadelphia.

This beautifully detailed sampler will be available in early December. Stay tuned to The Scarlet Letter!

Catherine Buchanan was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, in 1786. She made, possibly, her first sampler- a simple alphabetic, numeric piece with verses- in 1796 when she was ten years old, and stitched this masterpiece two years later when she was twelve. Both sampler graphs are included in this booklet so that you can follow a girl's progress through her needlework tutorials. The kit contains materials for only the 1798 sampler, but both charts are printed in full color.

A classic Quaker sampler from the Delaware Valley, Ann Fleming 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 County. It is worked in chain stitch with counted thread satin stitched leaves.

Ann Golding's sampler is in nearly perfect condition, meticulously executed in cross stitch and petit point. It features an elaborate four sided floral border of roses and violet. The upper register includes butterflies and birds, centering a magnificent peacock. Below that are potted plants centering a basket of flowers. The lower register depicts an elaborate rambling mansion house with a tiled roof, flanked by towering trees, small cottages, and flying birds. The sprawling lawn in front of the house contains a lion on a pedestal, topiary, and other plants and animals.

One half yard and more of first quality evenweave linen pieces, all large enough for small samplers, ornaments, pincushions, all different colors and thread counts, are now available for purchase. Sold separately this is a $35-40 value. While supplies last. Buy a scrap bag..

In the August 2016 Scarlet Letter newsletter, you will find an essay about embroidered embellishments on clothing including photos of my collection. If you don't subscribe to the newsletter, you can sign up here. If you missed this issue, a PDF version is available in our newsletter archive.

Mary Ann Drought is a very unusual Irish sampler. The upper third could pass as Scottish with the illuminated alphabets and beautiful, delicate double running stitch motifs. Stitches used to execute the sampler include double running, half cross, counted satin, petit point, tent, outline and cross. The attention to detail is extraordinary.

This antique German sampler is a beautiful example of a mid 18th century sampler from Saxony featuring unusual and illuminated alphabets, pattern bands and spot motifs including crowns and flowers.

Blessed Are the Sons of Peace is a needlework picture in the style of the middle eighteenth century. The title of this exciting and vibrant needlework picture comes from a psalm written by Isaac Watts (1674-1748), whose works inspired many verses stitched on samplers and needlework pictures during and long after his death. I wish to thank Sigrid Eckel for so beautifully stitching the model. More photos are available here.

Harriet Harms has just won a blue ribbon at the Williamson County Fair for her execution of the three Juda Hayle samplers. Read her story here. "Congratulations, Harriet!

Catherine Buchanan's first sampler, stitched in 1796 when she was ten years old, begins with sectionalized letters of the alphabet. The latter sampler stitched in 1798 features two verses with freehand stitched floral bands above a delightful scene. See more photos.

From before the early eighteenth century, a change in attitudes regarding nature in western art evolved, resulting in a bucolic, pastoral ideal: an inhabited landscape, lush with flowers and fruits, featuring shepherds and farming activities, usually with a hint at romance. The actual lives of the shepherds and farm workers depicted were exaggerated and romanticized to the extreme. This ideal sort of landscape as depicted in many eighteenth and early nineteenth century art works can be attributed to the Romantic movement, rather a broad artistic and aesthetic concept that appreciated a return to Nature in its purest elemental sense. Wordsworth defined Romanticism in reference to poetry as "emotion recollected in tranquility". It represents a place to escape from the rigors of the real world: an idealized world where roses grow as tall as trees, and sheep and cows munch languidly in ever-fruiting orchards. More about the Milkmaid

Eleanor Holmes stitched this sampler when she was twelve years old using a variety of stitches including cross over one and two threads of linen, four-sided, eyelet, and cut and drawn work in the outermost border.

This highly unusual Scottish sampler stitched by Margaret Muir retains its brilliant color on both front and back and incorporates many traditional motifs found on Scottish samplers as well as some unique variations.

Betsy Adam's sampler was designed after a piece stitched in eastern Massachusetts in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. It incorporates many traditional sampler motifs popular during that century.

A year before Queen Victoria was crowned, Ann Walton stitched a pair of sweet little samplers depicting a young boy and a girl at play. The boy is holding a hoop and a stick, and the girl holds what appears to be a basket in one hand and a bouquet in the other.

We have updated our customer gallery with a picture of Amy Ball stitched by Jill Lyons.

If you want to see more items that have been recently added, check out our list of new items. It shows all items that have been added to the TSL website during the past year. You can display the list at any time by clicking on the cherub logo in the right column of any webpage.