Tuesday, October 6, 2009

ES's Floral Sampler by Danièle

Danièle from France recently sent me photos of her lovely ES's Floral Sampler. This is my newest reproduction sampler.

Danièle wrote me in French, "J'ai choisi de le broder sur du lin Permin 16 fils "teint-thé", au petit point; les fils utilisés sont les soies Needlepoint préconisées". (Danièle wrote that she tent stitched the sampler on tea-dyed linen from Permin using the same silk threads I did on my model. Maybe some of the French readers can help me figure out how the stitch count. I presume that 16 fils is per centimeter, but I'm not sure. In inches, I'm guessing this is somewhere between 32 and 35 linen threads. I could be totally off base in my thinking. EDITED--Jane wrote me that 16 fils is equivalent to 40 threads per inch--WOW!!! As you can see math is not my strong point! Thanks, Jane!) The chart lists DMC thread substitutions for anyone not wanting to use the silk threads.

In the first photo, you can see that Danièle replaced ES's initials with her own.

Here is a closer view of Danièle's sampler.

Don't you love the frame Danièle chose and the way she staged her photos with flowers? How perfect for a floral sampler! Perhaps the flowers are from Danièle's garden. Thank you, Danièle, for sharing photos of your beautiful work.

The original sampler, from which our reproduction was created, was undated, but thought to be from around 1840. The stitcher didn't sign her name, only her initials. Wouldn't you love to know more about her? Surely, she must have loved flowers, but what else do we know about her?

This sweet little sampler is so charming with its lovely flowers and irregularities, particularly in the border. My model hangs over the desk in my office where I can see it often.

5 comments:

Jane said...

16 threads per cm come to about 40 threads an inch. I'm enjoying your blog a lot!
Jane

Ellen said...

Thanks, Jane....wow does Daniele have great eyesight!!

Margaret said...

This is on my list of samplers to stitch. I just love this one! Daniele did a great job with it and with the photography too!

woolwoman said...

This version of ES is sooo sweet Ellen - I love this little sampler and it is on my to do list too. Danielle did do a beautiful job staging her photos. The french gals have such flair. We love them ! Mel

Anonymous said...

This is such a beautiful sampler and Daniele's stitching is perfection! And just look at that frame! This goes on my to do list for sure.
thanks for sharing Ellen and Daniele.
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