A sampler design by Craftwise.

A very pretty sampler dated 1881 and containing three full alphabets. The stitcher, who has included both her name and initials, may have lived in the neighbouring village of Rowsley.

Size: 9¼ x 12 ins (23.5 x 30.5 cm)

A charming sampler which contains three full alphabets. The sampler is dated 1881, a date which is consistent with the inclusion of the letters J and U in the alphabets and the use of italic characters both features of late Victorian work. The border is a simple zig-zag motif, which is also typical of the period. Earlier samplers often used a floral or berry border, with a similar zig-zag form, which gradually came to be simplified to the geometrical form used here. Interestingly though, Alice has also included a good example of the older form of the border, featuring strawberries, as one of her horizontal bands.

The census of 1881 records three people called Alice Greatorex with birth dates consistent with the date and age on the sampler. The most likely match is with the daughter of Thomas and Mary Greatorex, who are recorded as living in Blue Street in Rowsley, a village about 5 miles from Bakewell. Parish records show that Alice was baptised in Rowsley church on the 20th June 1869. Her father was a gardener and she had two younger siblings – a sister Mary and a brother Thomas.

Here the original piece is pictured below the adapted piece for stitching.