Sarah Harvey 1737

Description

The original band sampler from which this design was reproduced could be American, although we are not certain. The linen is homespun, the silk flosses, vegetable dyed in a very subtle earthy palette. It is finely executed, yet naive enough to have been home-made, or colonial-made. An unusual technique has been employed to give the birds and surrounding foliage smoother, free-flowing edges: they are first filled in with regular cross stitches, then outlined with stem stitch. Unusual letter and numeric forms occur on this sampler: e.g. the number 3, and the letter forms for lower case w and f. On 40 count linen, the reproduction sampler will be the same size as the original sampler.