During the initial Lockdown, our Embroidery Studio received a huge number of enquiries regarding family samplers which are always so special to have.  One such enquiry had us scratching our heads.

This sampler was a family piece and had been handed down through the family to the current owner, our customer. The sampler was stitched by Sally Trezise White, the sister of the customer’s Great Grandfather, W.T.White. Sally died at the age of 11 from a fever, the sampler was worked when she was 8. The family lived at Bojewyan, Cape Cornwall, where her father Henry White was a village blacksmith. W.T.White prospered and moved his family to Redruth where he became the manager of various tin mines. The sampler, as you will see from the images, shows a set of gates, which is a slightly more unusual motif to have on a sampler.  We thought perhaps this represented the gates of the tin mines. It just shows how blinkered you can become when looking at pieces, as it took a colleague’s husband to point out when he heard the story, that as the poem reads;

Dying Christian to
His Soul vital spark
Of heavenly flame quit
Oh quit this mortal

The gates featured were in fact the ‘pearly gates to heaven’.

The sampler, dated 1843, was in a good condition with only a tiny hole, most likely a moth’s meal! So our expert team lightly hand cleaned the sampler using a low suction vacuum to remove any surface dust, debris and insect residue. We supported the piece onto an appropriate linen, then surface couched, securing it to the linen. The sampler was then mounted onto acid free card and put back into the original frame. We always recommend that if a customer has the history behind the sampler, that this is either, added inside the frame of the sampler, or on the outside of the backing board so that it stays with the piece.

The sampler will be hanging up in our customer’s home.  In addition, our customer wanted a copy in her house in Cornwall.  We had a photograph taken which was digitally reproduced to the same size.  Now both pieces are hanging in pride of place and will keep the story alive of this clever little girl for future generations.

If you have any restoration or conservation projects, please contact: [email protected]