Between The Lines: Innovation and Expression in Women's Sewing Samplers

From the Latin “exemplum,” samplers were developed by embroiderers and lace makers as “examples” of specific designs, stitches, and effects. Made from embroidered lines of colored thread on a white fabric ground, samplers were ubiquitous by the eighteenth century—with nearly every middle- and upper-class girl in the Western world producing at least two as part of her formal education. From Italy to South America and the Netherlands to Mexico, the sampler was a truly global art form. These colorful and intricate objects displayed a young girl’s skill in needlework, which was seen as a demonstration of her readiness to care for her future household and evidence of her literacy—and even of her moral virtue.

Traditionally, these objects have been relegated to the category of “female accomplishment” and dismissed as formulaic and imitative. The items assembled here challenge this perception. They explore instead how women makers from across Europe and the Americas expressed creativity and individuality from within the confines of this formulaic medium. Visually similar examples demonstrate how artisans created variation within established patterns. And a collection of items used to plan and execute these objects—such as a hand-drawn embroidery pattern—illustrates the complexity, nuance, and mathematical formulas required by the craft. Such examples reveal how women needleworkers used the linear system of the sampler as a site of innovation, working “between the lines” of convention to express their individuality.

The exhibition was organized by the Loeb and Caroline Culp, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art History, with the assistance of Ida-Rose Chabon ’24. Support for In the Spotlight is provided by Mary Ellen Weisl Rudolph ’61, P’98 and James N. Rudolph P’98. There are works that appeared in this exhibition that were loans to the Loeb and therefore do not appear on this website.