New Arrivals

Sarah Daws, circa 1840 is a gorgeous sampler from Hands Across the Sea.

Sarah stitched her sampler with cross stitch mainly over 2 threads. The lowercase letters of the verse are stitched with cross stitch over 1. There is a scattering of cross stitches over one on a flower stalk. Backstitch has been used to outline the two ladies’ eyebrows and lips.

Whilst a large sampler with some 72,000 stitches it is suitable for all levels of ability.

Choice of purchasing thread kit only, Printed Chart only or as full kit with linen. 

Full Kit options:

Includes linen of choice, Chart Booklet +  Soie d'Alger or Soie 1003 threads (+Free Shipping). 

Linen Choices:

• 30 ct 1 yard - Victoria Sponge Cake -72" x 36" ~ Recommended for Soie d'Alger Threads only  
• 37 ct Fat Half Corn Tassel - 35" x 36" ~ Recommended for both Soie d'Alger and Soie 1003 threads
• 38 ct Fat Half - Fuller's Teazel - 35" x 36" ~ Recommended for both Soie d'Alger and Soie 1003 threads
• 45 ct Fat Half -Foxtail Millet - 35" x 36" ~ Recommended for Soie 1003 Threads 
• 48 ct Fat Half - Marchpane - 35" x 36" ~ Recommended for Soie 1003 Threads 

Thread Options:

Au Ver a Soie®, Soie d'Alger version includes 34 skeins. Recommended linen for this thread is 38 ct or lower.

Au Ver a Soie®, Soie 1003 includes 25 spools. Recommended linen for this thread is 37 ct or higher.

***Please note, this item is excluded from any discounts or sales. 

About the Sampler from the Designer

"Sarah’s exquisite sampler is worked almost entirely in cross stitch with the exception of a handful of backstitches. Sarah did not include a date on her sampler, however, from other dated samplers in Nicola’s collection, which include some of Sarah’s distinctive motifs, we are able to date the sampler to around 1840.

Worked in brightly coloured silks the sampler clearly shows the influence of the Berlin woolwork patterns which became so popular in Victorian England. The sampler is contained within a particularly beautiful and intricate floral border that captivates and delights. When viewing the sampler the eye is drawn to the lower section of the sampler where Sarah stitched a truly splendid parrot flanked by two pretty young ladies. Sarah incorporated 3 seashells into her design."

"

Elizabeth Dinsdale, 1846 is a beautiful historical Sampler that includes a primer from Hands Across the Sea

Choice of purchasing thread kit only, Printed Chart only or as full kit with linen. 

Full Kit options:

Includes linen of choice, Chart Booklet +  Soie d'Alger or Soie 1003 threads (+Free Shipping). 

Linen Choices:

• 30 ct Fat Half  - Victoria Sponge Cake -35" x 36" ~ Recommended for Soie d'Alger Threads only 

• 37 ct Fat Half - Corn Tassel - 35" x 36" ~ Recommended for both Soie d'Alger and Soie 1003 threads

• • 45 ct Fat Quarter - Foxtail Millet - 18" x 25" ~ Recommended for Soie 1003 Threads 

• • 63/63 ct Fat Eighth - Sycamore Seed Pod - 18" x 29" ~ Recommended for Soie 1003 Threads 

Thread Options:

Au Ver a Soie®, Soie d'Alger - 37 ct version includes 21 skeins ~ e.g. 15 skeins for the Sampler + 6 skeins for the Primer.. Recommended linen for this thread is 38 ct or lower.

 Au Ver a Soie®, Soie d'Alger - 30 ct version includes 24 skeins ~18 skeins for the Sampler + 6 skeins for the Primer.. Recommended linen for this thread is 30 ct or lower.

Au Ver a Soie®, Soie 1003 version kit includes 15 spools for the Sampler + 6 spools for the Primer. Recommended linen for this thread is 37 ct or higher

The Sampler

• SDF 526 ~ Golden olive (2 skeins for 30 ct) - will be substituted with SDF 525
• SDF 2225 ~ Olive green
• SDF 2924 ~ Christmas red
• SDF 2941 ~ Peach
• SDF 3341 ~ Beige grey
• SDF 3346 ~ Mocha brown ~ dark
• SDF 3422 ~ Fern green
• SDF 3716 ~ Green grey
• SDF 3734 ~ Khaki green
• SDF 3821 ~ Old gold
• SDF 3833 ~ Mocha brown
• SDF 4535 ~ Beige grey ~ dark (2 skeins for 30 ct)
• SDF 4541 ~ Tan
• SDF 4612 ~ Mahogany
• SDF Noir ~ Black (2 skeins for 30 ct)

The Primer:

• SDF 926 ~ Coral red
• SDF 3423 ~ Blue green
• SDF 3745 ~ Golden olive
• SDF 4126 ~ Beige brown
• SDF 4242 ~  Hazelnut brown
• SDF 4622 ~ Shell pink

Au Ver a Soie®, Soie 1003 includes 15 spools for the Sampler + 6 spools for the Primer.

Recommended linen for this thread is 37 ct or higher.

The Sampler:

• SMS 089 ~ Mahogany
  
• SMS 147 ~ Old gold
  
• SMS 176 ~ Peach
  
• SMS 179 ~ Olive green
  
• SMS 196 ~ Fern green
  
• SMS 274 ~ Khaki green
  
• SMS 323 ~ Tan
  
• SMS 378 ~ Green grey
  
• SMS 597 ~ Mocha brown ~ dark - will be substituted with SMS 697
  
• SMS 603 ~ Mocha brown
  
• SMS 616 ~ Golden olive
  
• SMS 673 ~ Beige grey ~ dark
  
• SMS 681 ~ Christmas red
  
• SMS 740 ~ Beige grey
  
• SMS Noir ~ Black

The Primer:

• SMS 031 ~  Hazelnut brown
  
• SMS 060 ~ Shell pink
  
• SMS 073 ~ Blue green
  
• SMS 129 ~ Golden olive
  
• SMS 592 ~ Beige brown
  
• SMS 779 ~ Coral red

***Please note, this item is excluded from any discounts or sales. 

About the Sampler from the Designer

"It is with great pleasure that we present to you the needlework of Elizabeth Dinsdale. It is so unusual for three pieces of a young girl’s needlework to stay together through the centuries. We feel honoured to be the present custodians of Elizabeth’s work.

Two of the three samplers bear the date “May the 26^th 1843” and three very poignant words “LIFE IS SHORT” emphasised in capital lettering.

Contained within this booklet are two reproductions. Elizabeth’s simple primer worked when she was 12 years of age and the sampler she worked three years later. Several motifs in the sampler have been taken from the third sampler. Note the three urns of flowers and the pairs of deer.

A curious feature of the primer and the unreproduced sampler is that they both have the exact same date. Would Elizabeth have been working both projects at the same time, finishing them on the same date? How we wish we could ask her!"

Mary Ann Groom, 1876 is a beautiful historical Sampler from Hands Across the Sea

The sampler is suitable for needleworkers of all levels of ability.

The sampler is stitched with cross stitch over two threads of linen with a satin stitch sawtooth border that encloses the verse.

Choice of purchasing thread kit only, Printed Chart only or as full kit with linen. 

Full Kit options:

Includes linen of choice, Chart Booklet +  Soie d'Alger or Soie 1003 threads (+Free Shipping). 

Linen Choices:

• 30 ct Fat Eighth  - Victoria Sponge Cake -17.5" x 18" ~ Recommended for Soie d'Alger Threads only 

• 37 ct Fat Eighth - Russian Tea Cake -17.5" x 18" ~ Recommended for both Soie d'Alger and Soie 1003 threads

• • 45 ct Fat Eighth -Jersey Cream - 17.5" x 18" ~ Recommended for Soie 1003 Threads 

• • 48 ct Fat Eighth - Bride Cake - 17.5" x 18" ~ Recommended for Soie 1003 Threads 

Thread Options:

 Au Ver a Soie®, Soie d'Alger kit includes 6 skeins. Recommended linen for this thread is 38 ct or lower.

• SDF 1422
• SDF 2144
• SDF 2533
• SDF 3415
• SDF 4624
• SDF 5413

Au Ver a Soie®, Soie 1003 includes 6 spools.

Recommended linen for this thread is 37 ct or higher.

• SMS 072
• SMS 109
• SMS 149
• SMS 152
• SMS 188
• SMS 416 - will be substituted with 382

***Please note, this item is excluded from any discounts or sales. 

About the Sampler from the Designer

"We are delighted to present to you this sweet sampler that was worked by Mary Ann Groom in the year 1876 when she was ten years old. We particularly liked the border that frames the young maker’s stitching. Mary Ann worked with a limited palette, yet she has created a colourful sampler with some very pretty motifs.

Although Mary Ann did not record her age or location on the sampler, her granddaughter Jackie carefully noted on the reverse of the frame that

“This was done by my grandmother, mother of Robert Edward Wesley Whitbread, my Dad. Bless him”

Jackie also included her name, address and telephone number. We telephoned Jackie, and she told us that she had inherited the sampler and only sold it when she downsized. Jackie knew very little about her grandparents as they were never talked about. She believed they had died when her father was a child.

Mary Ann was born on April 24, 1866 in Tebworth, a hamlet located in Central Bedfordshire. Her parents were Thomas Groom, a labourer, and his wife Charlotte. She was baptised in the Methodist church in Toddington.

The 1891 census return records that as a young woman Mary Ann worked as a straw-hat maker."

Needlework From Distant Shores – Márta Kauser and Maggie Burridge are two small beautiful, small historical Samplers from Hands Across the Sea.

The sampler is suitable for needleworkers of all levels of ability. The sampler is stitched with cross stitch over two threads of linen .

Choice of purchasing thread kit only, Printed Chart only or as full kit with linen. 

Full Kit options:

Includes linen of choice, Chart Booklet +  Soie d'Alger or Soie 1003 threads (+Free Shipping). 

Linen Choices:

• 30 ct Fat Quarter  - Mariner's Map - 18 x 35" ~ Recommended for Soie d'Alger Threads only 
• 37 ct Fat Quarter - Russian Tea Cake -18 x 35" ~ Recommended for both Soie d'Alger and Soie 1003 threads
  
• 37 ct Fat Quarter - Fuller's Teazel -18" x 35" ~ Recommended for both Soie d'Alger and Soie 1003 threads
• 45 ct Fat Quarter - Foxtail Millet - 18" x 35" ~ Recommended for Soie 1003 Threads 
• 48 ct Fat Quarter - Bride Cake - 18" x 35"    ~ Recommended for Soie 1003 Threads 
  

Thread Options:

 Au Ver a Soie®, Soie d'Alger - 37 ct version includes 2 skeins. Recommended linen for this thread is 38 ct or lower.

 Au Ver a Soie®, Soie d'Alger - 30 ct version includes 5 skeins. Recommended linen for this thread is 37 ct or lower.

• SDF 2924 x 2 (5 skeins for 30 ct)

Au Ver a Soie®, Soie 1003 includes 2 spools. Recommended linen for this thread is 37 ct or higher.

• SMS 664 x 2

***Please note, this item is excluded from any discounts or sales. 

About the Sampler from the Designer

"Márta’s sampler was stitched in Budapest, Hungary in 1905 and Maggie’s in Pretoria, South Africa in 1900. Whilst the girls lived some 7,447 miles apart, they both stitched a primer sampler as part of their education.

We have made contact with Márta’s family, and they tell us that Márta Sarolta Lujza Mária Kauser was born in Budapest on May 6, 1895. Her parents were Nepomuk János Kauser and Sarolta Kölber. The Kausers and the Kölbers were wealthy families. They often married each other, sometimes for financial reasons. The Kölber family was given a noble title by Franz Joseph I. The Kausers were architects. The most well-known was Jozsef Kauser, who designed numerous public buildings, among them the interior of St. Stephen’s Basilica, a landmark of Budapest.

Márta died five months after her wedding in 1923 as a result of contracting the Spanish Flu.

Maggie Burridge has remained elusive. In a search of family history records, the family name of Burridge appears several times in the Transvaal. However, we cannot find a Maggie/Margaret. Maggie recorded that she stitched her sampler at Abingdon National Girls’ School, Pretoria in the June of 1900. This was during the Boer War.

The origins of the Boer War lay in Britain’s desire to unite the British South African territories of Cape Colony and Natal with the Boer republics of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (also known as the Transvaal). The discovery of gold in the South African Republic (SAR) in 1886 raised the stakes.​​​​​​ A large number of English-speaking people, called Uitlanders (literally ‘Outlanders’) by the Afrikaners, were attracted by the gold fields. This worried the Boers, who saw them as a threat to their way of life.

Maggie’s formative years were dangerous times for people of all races in South Africa. At the same time Maggie finished her sampler, the British launched an offensive to relieve the siege of Pretoria.

We hope that both samplers will bring you and your needle much joy and will soon adorn your red sampler wall."

Alice M Tippett, 1894 is an adorable, small historical Sampler from Hands Across the Sea

The sampler is suitable for needleworkers of all levels of ability. The sampler is stitched with cross stitch over two threads of linen .

Choice of purchasing thread kit only, Printed Chart only or as full kit with linen. 

Full Kit options:

Includes linen of choice, Chart Booklet +  Soie d'Alger or Soie 1003 threads (+Free Shipping). 

Linen Choices:

• 30 ct Fat Eighth  - Victoria Sponge Cake -17.5" x 18" ~ Recommended for Soie d'Alger Threads only 
• 37 ct Fat Eighth - Russian Tea Cake -17.5" x 18" ~ Recommended for both Soie d'Alger and Soie 1003 threads
  
• 45 ct Fat Eighth -Jersey Cream - 17.5" x 18" ~ Recommended for Soie 1003 Threads 
• 48 ct Fat Eighth - Bride Cake - 17.5" x 18"    ~ Recommended for Soie 1003 Threads 
  

Thread Options:

 Au Ver a Soie®, Soie d'Alger kit includes 9 skeins. Recommended linen for this thread is 38 ct or lower.

• SDF 524
• SDF 1844
• SDF 2533
• SDF 2916
• SDF 2932
• SDF 2936
• SDF 4112
• SDF 4623
• SDF 5381

Au Ver a Soie®, Soie 1003 includes 9 spools. Recommended linen for this thread is 37 ct or higher.

• SMS 022
• SMS 109
• SMS 217
  
• SMS 241
• SMS 307
• SMS 494
• SMS 523
• SMS 621
• SMS 654

***Please note, this item is excluded from any discounts or sales. 

About the Sampler from the Designer

"Alice records on her sampler that she attended St Ervan’s Board School. When the Elementary Education Act of 1870 came into force, school boards, public bodies in England and Wales, established and administered elementary schools in England between 1870 and 1902. Education was not free but the fees of the poorest children were paid by the parish. The schools were non-denominational and were not to impose any religious education, other than simple Bible reading.

We know that when Alice attended the Board School the headmistress was a Miss M M Winsor, and her assistant was Miss Dora Rowe who taught the infants. We suspect that it was Miss Winsor who taught Alice needlework.

Alice was born to William Tippett, a stone mason and his wife Mary Jane, née Parsons. Her birth was registered in the first quarter of 1883; however, she was not baptised until July 23 at the Bible Christian Church in the village of Penrose. The village is in the parish of St Ervan which can be found a short distance inland on the North Cornish coast. Tippetts can be found living in this beautiful part of Cornwall today and all the way back to the early 1600s.

William and his brother James built the chapel, and the foundation service was held on 24 May 1861.

The Bible Christian Church was a Methodist denomination founded by William O’Bryan, a local Wesleyan Methodist preacher, on 18 October 1815 in North Cornwall. Members of the Church were sometimes known as Bryanites, after their founder.

William died in 1893, and sadly, three years later, on 13 June 1896 Alice died at the very young age of 13 years. Her death certificate records the cause of death as diphtheria. In the 1800s diphtheria was a major cause of death. Though mostly a disease associated with the poor and a particular threat to children, diphtheria did not discriminate by class and age. Its cause, spread and a cure remained a mystery until the last part of the 19^th century."