MFE Flosstube episode 18:  

Thank you Margaret! :)

Thank you Bec! Glad you enjoyed it :)

Hi Sherrie! Thank you so much for the message - I've not been on RU-vid in a few days so I missed it! Thank you so much for your concern - it was quite bad here indeed but luckily all are safe and well. Some really big trees went down near our house - but seeing some of the damage we got away really well!!! :)

Thank you Marilyn! :)

Thank you - it's good being back! :)

Thank you Nancy - glad you enjoyed it! :)

Thank you so much! :)

Thank you! Yea there's so much to learn from just looking at a sampler - and it really makes you appreciate them even more! :)

Thank you Mary-Lou - so glad you enjoy it! :).

Thank you so much Sharon! Last work was done yesterday and all good now. Now I can really focus on what's important in life: samplers! ;).

@@ModernFolkEmbroidery good to hear......now you take care of you🌹🌷🎶🎶🎼and yes by all means focus on what brings you JOY.....that you might continue to share .... Blessings ~ Jacob

Thank you Marcia! Yes, definitely not the most comfortable - and double freaky as it's in your skull which really freaks me out :P. But all good now thank heavens! :D.

@@ModernFolkEmbroidery Oh Lord, Jacob ! I SO understand your unsettling feelings particularly regarding skull involvement !!! Bless you heart or should I say, denture area ! Just so long as the procedure was miles away from your vocal chords - want nothing to compromise that voice ( of which I shall await patiently for ) ( ^ ; * ) marcia

Aw thank you Mary, I appreciate that :)

Thank you Jessie! :)

That's a really good question Joan and I'm going to write that down to properly talk about. But to answer it a little bit - folks were surprisingly well-traveled at the time, and in the coastal areas especially there was a constant influx of influences from other areas and abroad. The black stitching was not, as some believe, a sign of mourning (though undoubtedly black mourning samplers have been made) but were a tradition that started in the very late 18th / early 19th century. And it also didn't have anything to do with poverty as these black samplers were mainly stitched by girls from rich farming families. As they themselves (or their parents) were rich and there was constant trade with cities like Amsterdam, they could have gotten all the colours in the world - yet they mysteriously only stitched these samplers in black. This is a tradition mainly found in Groningen. Frisian girls on the other hand would use colourful silks in their samplers. They share some similarities with Groningen samplers (or rather, Groningen samplers share characteristics of Frisian samplers) with certain motifs that are found on samplers from both areas. Frisian girls would sometimes stitch a black sampler, although they are rare. The Frisian ones were supposedly stitched as examples for the use of certain linen items - I belief some cribs had some black embroidery bits (although I could be wrong on that - I would need to double check that...!)

Thank you Sue - already looking forward to the next on! :D

:D Thank you!

Thank you! :)

Thank you Lorraine! :)

Thank you so much Vanessa - it really is something I love doing and it's so fascinating the stuff you can find out! :)

Aw that's so nice to hear Susan! I think that sometimes in school history is brought in such a dry way that it becomes very hard to find any enjoyment in it... but it really is interesting once you get the proper entry point into it! :)

Aw thank you so much to all 4 points! :D. And the new sweater is so so comfy - pure cotton so super easy to wash as well... :D

Oh that is really cool Letha - yay to stitching on linen and on 32ct! Best of luck with that one :)

Hehehe I know Betsy, I know... (hangs head in shame...)

Thank you Carolyn! I'm sorry to hear that... if you don't like the look after the first part I'd say call it a day and start with a new colour... it'd be a shame if you ploughed through with another couple of months to really realise that you don't like it at all, and it will really stop you from enjoying working on the design. It doesn't have to be black, but a good dark monochrome will make it stand out really nicely. You could opt for one of the two colours but maybe insert one strand of solid DMC to make it less stripey? It's always worth giving it a go before completely giving up on it... :)

Oh that's lovely - thank you Sarah! :)

:D Thank you Connie, glad you enjoyed!

Hi Kandi! It's the province of Groningen. It's mentioned in the booklets as well - and in a little while we'll talk a little more about Engeltje and her family as well! :) Hem is being planned. This year for sure! :P

Thank you Pam! I really love the whole history side and there's so much interesting information. I'm already looking forward doing the next one! :)

Thank you so much Candi! :)

Thank you Korey! Oh you'll be a stitcher in no time... just get a little piece of fabric, some simple floss, a needle and a little freebie pattern (there's a couple on my site if you want to check them out) and you're off to the races! Once you can do one cross, you can do them all :D

Thank you Joyce, gald. you enjoyed it! :)

Than you Nitya, that's really good to hear! :)

Thank you Carlene! :)

Thank you so much Maggy! :)

Thank you Kate - fingers crossed! :D

Dank je Heidi! Goh wat leuk van die tentoonstelling - die heb ik helaas gemist! :)

Hahaha! Yea I did consider it but then I thought it'd be more like body horror freak show and I don't think anyone (besides you perhaps...) is waiting for that ;). Definitely give L&R a try - they're fab!!!

Hi YOU DIDN’T ASK ME but I have to say I LOVE L&R floss!

Thank you Erika! Yes - the black samplers are really something that I love dearly... I wish I could find more but they're hard to come by! :).

Thank you Isabel!!! :)

Thank you Donna - glad you enjoyed it! :)

Thank you Teresa - I'm glad to read that! :)

Thank you Susan! And don't worry too much about something being a stitch (or two...) off - in the end it'll work out - the main thing is that the border matches up. If a motif is a little off - nobody will ever be the wiser! ;)

Oh that sounds wonderful! I love a good red sampler wall :D. And yes, it's always a risk when you don't know what you're getting - but like you said, it was hinted to quite a lot that it was an antique design. You can't win 'em all! :D

Thank you! I'm nearly out of the dog house - one last little thing tomorrow and I'm good (fingers crossed ;)). At least there's no swelling now haha! :P

@@ModernFolkEmbroidery dental work is the worst! Good luck tomorrow. Fingers crossed and and prayers being sent.

Thank you Linda - I'm glad to hear that! Until next time :)

Thank you Athena! That's so nice - I wasn't even aware of flosstube being a thing back then! :D Good to have you here :)

Thank you so much Cheryl! AIO was a really fun stitch to me - I had a blast stitching that one up. I loved working on that border... :D.

Haha yes, the good ol' rivalry between Groningen and Friesland (or Fryslân as it's known these days by its proper Frisian spelling...! :P). I'm Frisian myself, and I remember there always being friendly rivalry :P. The funny thing is that, when you go back in time far enough, that whole stretch (up to the very south of Denmark down to the coast of Belgium) was all Frisia once, including Groningen... don't tell Groningen folks though as they've always been Grönningers 🤣🤣🤣

Thank you so much Desiree! No, you haven't ruined it at all - I love it that folks pick out their own colours! The original is black but I would definitely encourage anyone to stitch with whatever floss colour you love best! :)

Thank you Linda! :)

😀

Hi Maud! Oh that's lovely to hear, thank you! Happy stitching!

Thank you Elizabeth! :)

Aw thank you!!! :)

Thank you Sherry! It's good to be back again :). The Cluny tapestries indeed have this walled garden thing going on as well. I was very lucky to see it a couple of years ago when we were in Paris and the tapestries are absolutely stunning to see. I do want to see the Unicorn Tapestries in the MET museum though, as they're also fantastic! :)

Thank you Tess! Haha - it's a tricky beast isn't it with all the fantastic options out there! I just dyed some linen myself and I'm really happy with that - it's great fun to do as well! You can also just close your eyes and stick your hand in the linen pile and pick one... and then pick a thread to go with it. It'll be quite interesting to see what you choose then!

@@ModernFolkEmbroidery if I had a stash big enough, I would totally do that! Because I tend to stitch full coverage I find I have to buy pieces specially for projects. I was in a fabric of the month club for a while, but the pieces are too small unfortunately. I might buy some dye and try and make my own though, that sounds fun!

@@TessStitches It's a lot of fun indeed! I dye with tea mostly - it's economical, and garners beautiful results. Just make sure to use black tea as that is a plant that can be really used as a dye - and you only need to 'brew' a big pot (pan) of strong tea. The longer you leave the fabric in, the darker it will get. It's great fun to do! :)

Thank you Nicole! Yea I can only imagine that it will be quite hard to get materials to certain corners of the globe. If you shoot me a message on my email (contact details can be found both on my RU-vid and my website) I can try and find out the DMC alternative for you - it'll always be a 'guestimate' but I'll make sure they'll be three colours that go well together :). It's still pitch dark here in the Netherlands at the moment so I'll try and do it later in the afternoon when I get some sunlight in my studio!

Yes! The Vierlande samplers are fully black as well and there's a theory that the black Groningen samplers might have influenced the Vierlande samplers - or perhaps it was the other way round! There's great uncertainty as to why exactly the colour black was picked - but they are very striking and the samplers are absolutely wonderful to look at I think :)

It's a mixed bag really - often you can't tell if they were or weren't but it's a bit of both really. There's lovely antique hoops that have survived (I've got one in my collection) and of course there's the standing frames as well. But I know that quite a few girls would have just sewn their crosses onto the linen or fabric they were using. In the Netherlands for instance many people don't learn to use a hoop at all but they just stitch in hand. So it depends on the technique of the teacher :).

Hi Diane! You can get it straight from my website, www.modernfolkembroidery.com - and you'll see it right on the homepage :).

Okay. Thanks for letting me know.