Middlesex Tree Sampler Needlebook

Project Size 3.5” x 4.5” Kit Contents The kit contains 32 ct Belfast Linen in Antique Ivory, eight colors of Soie d’Alger or Silk Mori, and finishing materials. The finishing materials including check silk, ultra suede, ribbons, and doctors cloth. Not included are mother-of-pearl buttons.  The free instructions are downloadable. Description and Techniques This piece is worked using tent stitch, split stitch, and lazy daisy. Family register samplers gained popularity on the East Coast from the late 18th into the early 19th century. Itinerant painters would travel up and down the coast, creating family trees for hire, and one artist’s paintings were replicated in needlework by an unknown school in the Middlesex region of Massachusetts. Most of the known samplers of this style were made by girls from Lexington or Watertown. This Needlework Nibble supports the conservation of newly acquired tree samplers at the Lexington Historical Society, which were added to their collection in 2014 and