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Mourning Samplers
Also called memorial samplers, these pieces of embroidery were traditionally made of the finest materials with the most elaborate stitching. They became very popular in 1800, and this fascination for them continued for the next 30 years. The Victorians had a most morbid preoccupation with death and dying. Anything gloomy was "in". These fit the bill perfectly. When the Father of our Country died, America went into mourning, and George Washington Memorial Samplers were worked, especially in the Moravian School. Many of these exist in museums and private collections in the New England states. They differ in small ways, depicting the preferences of the needleworker. Almost all were embroidered in silk threads on painted satin. Velvet and linen were popular ground fabrics, too. They were often the "final exam" in Dame Schools, and took a long time to complete. The best stitches were used, mostly crewel with some cross stitch. Some mourning samplers were made to memorialize the death of a family member. Parts may have been sewn with hair from the deceased making the sampler very personal. Made of almost anything in the way of fabric and threads, they were the heirlooms passed down through the family, and kept and guarded as much as any personal diary. They included an epitaph of some sort, and possibly a gravestone or marker, willow trees, etc. The earliest known mourning sampler made in America was made around 1780. Interesting articles on the net: http://www.cameoroze.com/101/soc_mourn.htm http://www.scarlet-letter.com/rsdescr/19thengl/mourn.htm http://www.masshist.org/cabinet/august2002/august2002.htm
References: American Needlework by Georgiana Brown Harbeson Samplers & Samplermakers by Mary Jaene Edmonds |
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