Buildings : Hampton Court - Mary Cotton's sampler

A sweet mid-twentieth century sampler featuring Hampton Court.  Done by Mary Cotton in 1950, and measuring 38cm x 44cm.  It was sold unframed.  I wonder why she chose Hampton Court?  Perhaps this design was sold there?  It looks as though it was a printed design; it includes both cross stitch and embroidery, but the cross-stitch doesn't appear to be counted cross stitch.  And it's always so nice to have a maker's name on the work.

If you know any more about this design, please do leave a comment.

Edward VIII : coronation : tablecloth with flowers & coat of arms

A pretty floral-edged tablecloth made to celebrate the coronation of Edward VIII - floral emblems and the coat of arms.  I wonder what the stitcher thought when he abdicated?  She didn't undo her stitching and change the king's name; and she didn't finish it.  It was apparently found wrapped in newspaper in an older lady's home.  Measures approx 32inches square.  Probably sold as a pre-printed tablecloth with the edges already hemmed, just needing embroidery.

I wonder if there are almost-identical examples with George VI on them instead of Edward VIII?

If you know any more about the source/designer/publisher/producer of this design, please do leave a comment to add to the information available here.

Elizabeth II : calendar sampler

This was listed with no indication of size, provenance or any other history.  I guess the ER to be Elizabeth rather than Edward.  From this only photograph, the design appears to be calendar style, an image for each month of the year.  It did not sell for its starting price of GBP35.00

If you know any more about this design, please leave a  comment to enlighten us all!

Post-war sampler, 1947 : Freedom, Justice, Peace

An embroidered postwar patriotic sampler, dated 1947, with guardsmen and symbols of Britain including cottage, castle and church and the Union Jack, celebrating the victories of 1945 and the war's end.

The frame measures 10 1/2inches by 12 1/2inches, so this image gives you a sense of the design size.  I would guess this design to be based on a transfer.

If you know any more about this design, please do leave a comment.

Elizabeth II : coronation : 40th anniversary sampler

I haven't seen many sampler designs celebrating the 40th anniversary of Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953.  This was worked in 1993 and is, unusually, embroidery rather than cross-stitch.  The vast majority of later twentieth century examples of patriotic samplers are cross-stitch.  The majority of the ones that are embroidery originated with the Royal School of Needlework, but I have no information to make this connection beyond guesswork.

This one is 15inches x 13inches, worked on Irish linen.

The quote says:

There is no magic formula that will transform sorrow into happiness, intolerance into compassion or war into peace, but inspiration can change human behaviour.

Queen Elizabeth II

The other sampler I've seen featuring her words is this one using part of her first Christmas message as Queen.  I have seen a couple of George VI samplers quoting him.  It was, after all, radio and television that made monarchs' voices heard.

As ever, if you know more than I do, which is very likely, it would be great if you'd leave a comment to add to this entry.

George VI : coronation : Vera Hooper's sampler

It's more unusual to find a coronation sampler that comes with a maker's name.  The description given with this example:

Sampler made at school to celebrate the coronation of George V1 the father of our present Queen who unexpectedly succeeded to the throne on the abdication of Edward V111. The emblems embroidered represented the British Empire at that time.

Size 15x10 ins

I wonder where the school/teacher found the design, and how many pupils completed it.  The blue background is less common than a pale one.  The lettering could have been altered from ER to GR, Edward to George, as was done with other designs.  There are other designs for both George VI and Elizabeth II that feature the animals representing Empire/Commonwealth nations.

If you know any more about this design, please do leave a comment.

George VI : coronation: sampler with roses, coat of arms & buildings

A delicately stitched embroidery/cross stitch celebrating the coronation of George VI. 

Unlike some of the 1937 samplers, where Edward became George, I've not seen any Edward examples of this one; perhaps it was designed after the abdication.  My guess would be that it was based on a transfer.  It's a delicate-looking design, in every example I've seen: mostly embroidery with a little cross-stitch (but it looks embroidered, not counted thread work - eg. the red crown in the coat of arms).  The framed size of this example is 13inches x 15.5inches: it sold for just over GBP42.

Design-wise, it has interesting connections to two other types of designs shown in other blog posts here.  The buildings are reminiscent of the impressionistic sketch buildings embroideries such as the Windsor Castle one in the previous blog (use the tag buildings to find more).  The lettering of the bordered inscription is like that used in the map samplers (such as the county map samplers) in other blog entries here (use the tag maps to find more).

If you know any more about this design, please do leave a comment.

Buildings : Windsor Castle

Another early to mid twentieth century sepia embroidery of a building with royal associations, this time Windsor Castle.  It's in the same impressionistic/sketch style as others I've seen.  Size:  17 x 12¾in (43 x 32.5cm) high x width.

I've seen enough of these, with enough different subjects but stitched in the same style, to think it most likely that they were sold as transfers.

If you know more, please do leave a comment.

Coronation portrait tapestries : Elizabeth II & Philip

This pair of portrait tapestries were apparently made to commemorate the coronation, but not finished until 1960 by a maker who only left the initials JMN on them.  The seller guessed that they might have been made for a town hall or other public building.  Unframed size: Height 41" (104cm), Width 29" (74cm).

I wonder if these were a commercial design?  They're a lot of design work to have been done by an individual, long before the time of photo-to-chart software.  The Queen's image is apparently based on the portrait on the front of the coronation programme.  The faces are stitched in petit point.

The last picture is of the back of the work, rather than Philip as vampire...!!

The seller set a starting price of GBP400.00 and a buy it now price of GBP560.00

If you know any more about these - designer, source, whatever - please leave a comment.

Map sampler : Great Britain (modern)

Designed by Angela Beazley, for the Classic Embroidery range. It is stitched on 14 count cream aida fabric and contains Stranded Cotton thread, metallic thread, gold plated needles, chart, and full instructions. Finished size: 40 x 34cm (16 x 14in).  Seen on eBay from seller atlascraft for GBP39.95 plus postage but probably available elsewhere as well.  Atlascraft noted that they can also provide 28 count evenweave as an alternative to aida.
It's in a style that has been done, with variations, for years: the map plus pictures illustrating the endeavours/features/landmarks of the countries.  This one looks to have quite a lot of detail in the individual cross-stitch pictures.  Earlier versions, like the Festival of Britain map sampler and the county samplers, are embroidery rather than cross-stitch, and so can be more variable in skill than cross-stitch.

Map sampler : Hampshire

A map sampler of Hampshire, with the same flowing style of wording as other map samplers previously featured on this blog.  Seems more and more likely that in the 1930s somewhere a series of these was published, likely using transfers for the designs.  This example has a maker's name, Dorothy Downer, and is dated 1935.

If you know more about this design or map series, please leave a comment to add this information.

Elizabeth II : golden jubilee : little card samplers (RSN/DMC)

Two little card / small sampler designs from the Royal School of Needlework and DMC, made to celebrate the golden jubilee in 2002.  On the one hand, small designs like these are quick to stitch and might entice a needlewoman to make them as a simple commemorative piece; on the other hand, their small size would make them less likely to be framed and put on a wall, and therefore maybe less likely to survive.

Elizabeth II : golden jubilee : Mary Hickmott crown design

For those not game (or too time poor) to make the larger sampler shown last week, this Mary Hickmott golden jubilee design combines a detailed crown with enough wording to document the occasion.  It is a magazine cross-stitch chart.  Another one that could quite easily be adapted to the diamond jubilee.

Elizabeth II : golden jubilee : Mary Hickmott sampler (larger)

From Mary Hickmott, a golden jubilee cross stitch sampler chart featuring a detailed Buckingham Palace along with other symbols of royalty.  This is more classic than the magazine chart shown last week, in its treatment of the images and its choice of font.  Unlike some, it could be adapted to being a diamond jubilee sampler with only a small amount of tweaking.

Elizabeth: golden jubilee: row sampler chart

A bit on the cutesy side is this magazine chart for a golden jubilee sampler.  With various royal symbols in rows in a generally symmetrical organisation, it's a little toytown in style.  Making liberal use of royal purple and (inevitably) gold, including metallic threads, it's an attempt to be 'modern'.  As seems to be generally true, it's cross-stitch rather than embroidery.  Cross-stitch is easy to print and incude in documents; the coronation samplers of the twentieth century were from an age of transfers sent through the post (whether embroidery transfers or cross-stitch done with transfers).

If you know more about this, or have a worked example photo which could be added here, please let me know via the comments.