Corona Sampler

Stitched by: Susannah

Pattern designed by: Self/public domain patterns

Self-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic has seen a rise in traditional crafts, like embroidery. Historically, girls learned to stitch at a very young age, usually well before they reached their teens. To show off what they had learned, they designed and stitched elaborate samplers, often featuring domestic scenes and proverbs or biblical sayings.

I’ve mixed old and new elements for my modern take on a traditional sampler. The lettering and the house are from 100 year old public domain pattern books, and I modernised the sampler with my own design of a border of stylised corona molecules, and a saying that’s more contemporary than traditional. As samplers often include the year they were stitched, I’ve added the date the pandemic was declared (11 March 2020). I designed and stitched this piece while socially distancing, angry at media footage of people crowding beaches.