SC Samplers

1843 Jane McEwen Jackson with Mary Morrison Jackson
York Co., SC
17 1/4"V x 16 1/4"H
Photograph: Culture and Heritage Museums, York, SC


The latest issue of the Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts features an article on Carolina Piedmont samplers by Pat Veasey. The article expounds upon Pat's previous research, documented in the catalog Virtue Leads and Grace Reveals: Embroideries and Education in Antebellum South Carolina.

Citation for article: Veasey, Patricia V. "Samplers of the Carolina Piedmont: The Presbyterian Connection and the Bethel Group." Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts Vols. XXXI-XXXII. Issues 2, 1 and 2 (Winter 2005/2006): 103-148.

An Intriguing Find

1877 Memorial Pincushion (obverse and reverse)
Hartsville, Trousdale Co.?
5 3/4"V X 5"W x 1"D © TSS 118

Neither Janet nor I have ever seen a memorial pincushion. The example above was found in the attic of an old home in Hartsville, Trousdale Co., that had been inhabited by the same family for several generations. The stitched inscription on the front reads:

GOD TOOK
Lizzie
JULY. 8th
1877.

The back features a bird motif.

The sides once held pins that spelled out words or perhaps the alphabet, as can be seen in the this view:



Pincushions like this were once used to commemorate the birth of a child. With the greeting "Welcome, Little Stranger" or similar aphorism one one side and a design on the other, the cushions were sometimes presented as christening gifts. The pins represented the pangs of childbirth.

Was this pinkeep originally intended to celebrate the birth of Lizzie and then adapted to memorialize her death in infancy?

Modern Middle Tennessee Sampler

For the past three years, two groups of stitchers have been working on the Middle Tennessee Sampler, a sampler I designed based on Middle Tennessee motifs. Carol, who chose to work her sampler in a horizontal format, is the most recent finisher. Her sampler, worked in silk on linen, is picured below:


A detail of Band 4, which features turkey work:



Samplers worked by Patricia, Cathy, and Teresa can be seen in this previous post.

1831 Sarah Harriet Stephenson Model Finished

1831 Sarah Harriet Stephenson
Spring Hill, Maury Co.
16 1/4"V x 18"H © TSS 015



Connie Winslett finished the model for the 1831 Sarah Harriet Stephenson (TSS 015) reproduction this week. Many thanks to Connie for stitching so quickly and expertly!

Here is a sneak peak at one of the motifs--the little dog that gives this group of samplers their name (original sampler is on the left; reproduction sampler is on the right). I matched the stitching threads (from Olde Willow Stitchery, especially dyed for this project) to the back of the sampler, which account for the difference in color.

Make sure to pick up a copy of the spring issue (Vol. 54) of Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly, which will publish the complete chart and an article I wrote about Middle Tennessee samplers.

1925 Anne Orr Design Studio Sampler

1925 Anne Champe Orr Design Studio Employee
Nashville, Davidson Co.
22 1/2"V x 17"H © TSS 213

Janet and I documented this intriguing motif sampler during our last foray into Brentwood. Although our cut-off date is 1900, we completed a thorough analysis of this piece because of the signature.



Anne Champe Orr (1869-1946), a native of Nashville, was a well-known quilt and needlework designer. She was needlework columnist for Good Housekeeping in the 1930s. She was an entrepreneur, ultimately employing dozens of women to produce her designs and directing a successful mail order business from her home in present-day Hillsboro Village (21st and Belcourt, today the site of another Nashville institution, the Pancake Pantry).

This sampler was probably not worked by Anne Orr herself, as she held a noted antipathy towards the needle. In her book Hard Covers for Soft Times, Merikay Waldvogel quotes Orr's neighbor, Andrena Phillips, "I don't think Anne Orr knew anything about a needle…I thought it was strange that someone could do all those needlework patterns without knowing a bit about the needle."

We believe that this sampler was a product of Orr's "needlework cabinet," the model stitchers who crafted her patterns in embroidery.

Merikay Waldvogel will be presenting her most recent (quilt-related) research on Anne Orr at the 2008 seminar of the American Quilt Study Group, to be held October 2-6 in Columbus, OH.

Waldvogel, Merikay. "Refining the Tradition: Anne Champe Orr, 1875-1946." Soft Covers for Hard Times: Quiltmaking and the Great Depression. Nashville,TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1990, pp. 24-37.

Article on Tennessee Samplers

An article I wrote for Needle Arts, published by the Embroiderers' Guild of America, is in the latest issue.


The article is an overview of the work we do. Three samplers, one from each part of the state, are featured.

The Embroiderers' Guild of America is "is a national non-profit educational organization offering study and preservation of the heritage and art of embroidery."

Citation for article: Core, Jennifer C. "Tennessee Samplers." Needle Arts. September 2008: 12-15.

Documentation Day in East Tennessee

1845 Minerva E. Carmack
Hawkins Co.
13 3/4"V x 10 1/2"H © TSS 217

Hawkins County, in northeast Tennessee, was founded before Tennessee was incorporated as a state. The Rogersville area was settled beginning in 1775. This early settlement accounts for the significant percentage of samplers that we have found from Hawkins County (five of 30 East Tennessee samplers/embroideries to date).


Minerva E. Carmack stitched that she was "Aged/17.ys" in "May/1845" in the space around the house.