Mary Carter – 1712 by Hands Across The Sea Samplers

Description

Each year Hands Across the Sea Samplers publishes a sampler which we consider to be not only beautiful but outstandingly so and worthy to be crowned our Queen of the May. We are pleased to offer to you Mary Carter our Queen of the May for the year 2020.

On the 12^th day of December in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and twelve Mary Carter placed the last stitch on her sampler. Little did she know that more than 300 years later, her work would be admired and enjoyed by needleworkers around the world.

Mary’s sampler was worked in the traditional bands of the 1600s on a long and narrow piece of linen. She used several reversible stitches, all exquisitely executed with skilled hands. However, we do not believe that her aim was to embroider a reversible sampler. The reverse of her sampler is extremely neat; Mary had pride in her work. There are no knotted starts and all her tail ends are neatly buried but her threads are visibly carried.  A variety of stitches were used (Cross Stitch, Reversible Cross Stitch, Algerian Eyelet, Double Running Stitch, Double Back Stitch and Bargello Stitch) together with a palette of 8 glorious shades of Au Ver a Soie silks. A DMC conversion is included.