1897 Schoolhouse Samplers

1897 SCHOOLHOUSE SAMPLERS

ragamuffin schoolgirl sampler patterns

Lianne van Leyen

Working with Me as an Exhibiting Artist

Retreats, Presentations, Meet and Greets

Available Formats for Retreats, Presentations, Meet and Greets:

• In-person or Virtual

• Please contact me so that we can discuss your plans and needs by phone or email

I lead events in person or via Zoom, by the hour, or by the day, for a 7 hour teaching / at the front of the class or on a Zoom call day  

If you select Zoom, the license, group / session management and attendance is provided and administered by you / your group leadership 

If you select to do an event / presentation by Zoom, I recommend that you hold a dress and technical rehearsal for all involved from your side in the management of Zoom prior to the event, my attendance and participation is included in the cost quoted for my time by the hour or day

If you would like me to travel to work with your group in person and the location of the event / shop / venue is not located in Canada, immigration and employment laws for your country, state, province or jurisdiction will apply, must be understood and adhered to.

If you would like me to travel to work with your group in person, all related travel, mileage, airfare, lodging fees, meals, additional agreed upon expenses and additional travel days will be billed and payable at cost to you, your group, shop or Guild  

Depending upon the distance to and from my home in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to your site, additional travel time / days may be required and will be billed based on my daily rate.  Additional travel days do not include / can't fall on the days of the retreat / presentations,  but I can be available for social events, group stitching, going out to dinner, etc.  

For in person events, I am flexible with my time outside of the 7 hour teaching / lecturing times on non-travel days to be involved in social events, group stitching and going out to dinner with participants, etc.

Pricing:

I invoice and accept payments in US dollars via PayPal

Effective January 1, 2024 the applicable Canadian GST / HST rate will be charged for all taxable products and services that I provide in Canada

Payment for the event is due following the completion of the event, a deposit may not required prior to the event

• Tailored pricing options are available by the student or the hour, day or week 

• Please contact me so that we can discuss your plans, needs and pricing by phone or email

My Presentation Style and Event Attendee Restrictions: 

Despite my ability to carry a conversation, sometimes all on my own, I much prefer the back and forth that often comes when people have a shared interest and are engaged in a two way conversation.  I can work with questions presented as part of an event or held until the end, depending upon the preference and needs of your group.

I am skilled at tailoring, limiting or expanding my presentations based on time constraints, my audience's interests and assessing and responding to varying levels of engagement from event participants

I usually try to schedule my time so that I do not have other commitments that immediately precede or follow an event or presentation.  I tend to therefore be generous with my time, so that if things run long, I am willing to keep answering questions / talking for a reasonable amount of time.  If your group has a hard stop on the length of your event or the ending time for a presentation, please let me know.

I prefer to plan themes for my presentations, have objects on hand to share and show, such as photos, samplers, print materials or other items from my collection of vintage and antique sewing materials, tools and books that I reference in the course of my presentation and respond to participants.  Please let me know if another format is preferred / required, so that we can discuss it.

I don't place any restriction on the number of participants for in-person or Zoom sessions, however your Zoom license will need to accommodate the number of participants.  But I will ask that we work together to tailor the content and structure of the event to give the best possible experience to all participants regardless of the number that you sign up to attend.

Please discuss your plans for taping and distributing copies of my presentations with me prior to any event

Scheduling:

Part of the process to schedule an event will include a work-back schedule with due dates to ensure that your group has time to buy and receive supplies (if appliable) and arrange all the logistical details and I have time to produce and deliver custom patterns (if applicable) and plan my presention 

• Please read on for details regarding my general availability

• Please contact me so that we can discuss your plans, needs, pricing and scheduling by phone or email

May to September

From May to September I work full-time.  My weekly scheduled days off are subject to change, but with planning I can commit to Zoom presentations in the evenings and on my days off.  

September to May

Throughout my off-season I am hard at work building my collection, bringing my ragamuffin samplers back to life, publishing and releasing patterns and making connections with like-minded creatives, needleworkers, crafters, artists and artisans  

Connection is what brings meaning to my work and my life

During the Fall, Winter and Spring while I am home and away from my full-time job, I am available to tailor and give presentations, in-person or virtual retreats and create custom / exclusive work to suit your and / or your group's preferences, needs and schedule

Cancelations: 

Given past travel restrictions and our recent experience with Covid, if for any reason, Covid related or not, I am unable to make it to the in-person event or via Zoom, I commit to rescheduling the event to a date that suits the group or I am flexible, if possible, to keep the event date and move an in-person event onto Zoom

If you decide to move forward and we schedule an event / presentation, in return you agree that should something prevent it from happening on the scheduled date based on your group's needs, that you also commit to not canceling the event, but will reschedule the event to a new mutually agreeable date

Finally we both agree that no fee will be charged by either party to move the date of the event, regardless of the reason for changing the date      

Topics: 

• Please read on to learn more about what I can offer

• Please contact me so that we can discuss your plans, needs, pricing, scheduling and refine possible topics by phone or email

My sampler collection covers a wide variety of countries of origin, styles, themes, colour palettes, materials used, etc  

At present my sampler collection numbers 350+ pieces, stitched from 1726 to the 1970s, with the majority of them stitched between 1800 and 1860

I have deliberately built the collection to cover as much of the history and breadth of samplers as I can manage  

To enhance appreciation of samplers and their history, meaning, construction and place within the education of young girls and women (for the most part) through history, I have also collected an extensive selection of vintage and antique needlework tools, sewing ephemera, stitching collectibles and books, which includes many examples from the collection of the late Glee Krueger

I can include the following themes during presentations, retreats, meet and greets: 

• Samplers by theme / subject: Adam and Eve, darning, red work, perforated paper, maps, geography, acrostic poems, workhouse / charity / named / unnamed schools, mourning, girls and boys in red and blue dresses, Ackworth and Quaker, berlin wool work / wool work, early silk, surface embroidery, sister, show towels, etc.

• Samplers that demonstrate the expression or repression of creativity within the selection and use of materials, motifs, imagery, verses, etc.

• Incomplete samplers and what they have to teach us about their makers, the availability of patterns, progress of work, stitch paths, use of imagery drawn in ink and pencil, etc.

• Samplers from major collections: The Feller Collection, The Glee Krueger Collection

• Samplers by material: silk, linen, cotton, wool

• Samplers by region / country of origin: UK, U.S.A., Europe and Canada (Netherlands, Germany, France, Mexico, England, Scotland, Wales, Switzerland)

• Samplers chronologically through time: samplers with an inscribed completion date, from the 1700s through the 1900s, showing the development and the varied nature of the sampler making traditions across time and continents

• Sampler reproduction processes: including colour theory, selection and matching, technical aspects of charting using PC Stitch

• Tips, hints and an insider's view of collecting samplers, including common condition and conservation issues

• Needlework tools, sewing and print ephemera, stitching collectibles and books, which includes many examples from The Glee Krueger Collection