Description
Nicola tells us “The sampler that Sarah stitched when she was 12 years of age in 1834 is most certainly decorative. The young girl showed great diligence in working the intricate border and cartouche surrounding her name. We were strongly drawn to Sarah’s sampler the moment we glimpsed her in an auction catalogue. The red house takes centre stage. The geometric motifs flanking the verse were another focal point of interest. Although we have seen these on other samplers, they are not common place. Sarah showed great industry with her needle and filled her sampler with many beautiful motifs, she would have been hard pressed to squeeze another motif in.
On March 2, 1822 Sarah Milthorp was baptised in Darrington. This small village and civil parish is located in the heart of the industrial West Riding of Yorkshire. Sarah’s father Thomas Milthorp was an agricultural labourer. Life as an agricultural labourer was hard work. Wages were usually low and housing standards often poor as labourers worked extremely long hours to scrape a living. Thomas’ children would have been expected to work on the land from as young as six years old, particularly at harvest time when everyone lent a hand making hay or harvesting crops. There is no record of Sarah’s education. From her marriage record, we know that Sarah was unable to read or write, as she marked her name with a cross in the parish record. She married Thomas Ward Bramham, a labourer, on June 1, 1840 in the Anglican church of St Luke and All Saints in Darrington. We suspect that Sarah’s adult life was as colourful as her sampler. Maybe the verse that she chose for her sampler was a sign of the life that was to come!
The loss of time is much.
The loss of Grace is more
The loss of Christ is such,
As no man can restore.
Stitch count for Sarah’s Sampler is 236 W x 248 H.
Sarah’s sampler has been reproduced using a rich palette of fifteen colours. The model was stitched on Creme Brulee from TabbyCat and stitched using Soie 100.3 from Au Ver à Soie. We have also listed conversions for Soie d’Alger and DMC.
The reproduction of Sarah’s sampler is predominantly worked with cross stitch laid over two threads of linen together with some Algerian eyelets. The verse is worked in cross stitch over one thread of linen. The sampler is suitable for confident beginners through to advanced needleworkers.
