FCC, Plain Sewing Samplers, European, circa 1850
Price: $1200, Sampler sizes: 6½" square & 7" square

This pair of samplers demonstrates the plain sewing techniques of buttonhole making, darning and mending, and was made in the middle of the19th century in northern Europe. Schoolgirls were taught practical sewing as well as fancy or decorative patterns, and in some cases worked small samplers to prove their competency. Quite obviously, practical sewing was very important to young ladies as they anticipated running a household.

The maker initialed her work in the center of a mended square. Worked in silk onto cotton, the samplers are both in excellent condition and have been conservation mounted together into an oak frame with conservation glass.