1860s Violet D’s hearts & flowers sampler

Circa 1860s American or English young girl’s sampler by “Violet D” features alphabets, berry borders, flowering bushes and hearts worked in a variety of colorful wool yarns. Most of the sampler is worked in cross stitches but there is a satin stitch border and another worked in herringbone stitch, and she stitched her name in rice stitch blocks (a large cross stitch with half cross stitches over the corners). The linen is a coarse evenweave in a light grey-beige neutral shade.

The sampler measures about 8″ wide by 17″ high with hemmed edges and has been mounted on a fabric covered board with careful, unnoticeable stitches so it’s ready to frame. The backing board measures just under 8-3/4″ wide by 17-3/4″ high. There is a fair amount of stitch loss to the wool yarn, but the linen ground is in good condition with only one small hole between the “b” and “d” in the 3rd line f the alphabet and a couple of slightly worn areas which are not readily noticeable. It’s a charming example of a very young girl’s work.