On the Bookshelf

Embroidered Stories ~ Scottish Samplers by Helen Wyld

Lianne van Leyen

I find endless inspiration in books, magazines and print publications.  I love the look and tactile nature of turning the pages to discover something new, not to mention the smell of an antique book. Some of my earliest memories are of my sister and I going with my mom and her mom, Gramma Sly to yard sales and the annual book sale in Kingston, Ontario.  Watching mom and Gramma work their way through boxes of books to find just the ones they had to bring home and eventually doing the same myself.  

So to get started, I have selected, Embroidered Stories, Scottish Samplers by Helen Wyld.  First published in 2018, it is a small book with beautiful photographs of Scottish samplers.  The book draws samplers from the private collection of Leslie B. Durst.  She has collected and researched the social and community history of the stitchers of her Scottish samplers.  At the time of this book's publication her collection numbered 550 pieces. The collection and Leslie's friendship with The National Museums Scotland's former Curator of Costumes and Textile, Naomi Tarrant also informed Naomi's book 'Remember Now Thy Creator': Scottish Girls' Samplers, 1700-1872 which was published in 2014.  Sadly Naomi's book does not live in my library, so I hold out hope that I will eventually find my own copy.  Leslie's collection in the future is intended to be made as a bequest to the National Museums Scotland, increasing their current collection of 270 samplers, half of which are Scottish, through Leslie's generous gift.

The book shares photographs of samplers from Leslie's collection dated from 1732 to 1877, with additional resource materials or portraits depicted where available.  A few interesting snippets include: 

She shares historical sources for animals of the hunt that find their origins in 16th century books and textiles and further back into the 14th century on artifacts held in the collection of the V & A (The Victoria and Albert Museum).     

I found Anne Raffin's sampler (page 21) unusual and unique as Anne completed her sampler in 1789, aged twenty, older than I would typically associate with sampler completion.  She not only included the  baptismal dates of her siblings and the initials of her parents, but her came back to her sampler three years later to record her marriage. 

Isabella MacKay's sampler (page 24) gives a detailed chronology regarding the inclusion of the sciences into girl's education and the increased use of map samplers from the 1780s moving forward. 

Helen recounts how religion, architecture, education, the military, teachers and many other aspects of daily life during the period impacted the visual representation of these and many other subjects within the sampler.  As a living history interpreter, I found the following statement by Helen a poignant reminder of just how fundamental a women's skill with a needle was and how intertwined with her personal and collectively with her family's welfare:

"At the same time, in an age when household linen and undergarments were all made by hand, skills in 'plain sewing' were a necessity for most women. For some, sewing was also a means of earning a living, and a handful of the girls featured went on to be seamstresses.  Some found the necessity of this 'women's work', either as an expected accomplishment or a profession, oppressive,  In her 1815 essay 'On Needle-Work', Mary Lamb, who had supported her family working as a seamstress when a young woman, argued that 'needlework and intellectual improvement are naturally in a state of warfare' (Lamb 1815)."  

Happy stitchy reading!!