Sampler

Title

Blackwork Sampler No.1

Object name

Sampler

Maker

Pansy Irish

Date made

1973

Place made

London

Description

Blackwork sampler consisting of 106 different patterns, worked by Pansy Irish in London in 1973.

Content description

Blackwork sampler stitched in black cotton threads on a bleached Linda (cotton) ground, worked by Pansy Irish in London, England in 1973. The sampler includes 106 squares of different patterns, with four squares at the top, four at the bottom, and 14 lines of seven squares per line in between. The geometric and geometricised floral patterns are worked in double running stitches. Patterns include honeycomb, variation on diamond eyelet, variation on rounded eyelet, open zigzag, interlocking 'I's, open lace, and octagonal square. Many of the designs are borrowed from late 16th and early 17th-century blackwork designs.

The Royal School of Needlework also has in its collection a second blackwork sampler worked by Pansy Irish.