Embroidered sampler

In the pictureOn a long, narrow strip of linen about 15 cm wide and nearly 90 cm long, embroidery runs in bands from top to bottom. Most of the upper part is letters and verses stitched in red and brown thread, and lower down come colorful bands of flowers, birds and geometric patterns. The colors have faded with time, giving the whole a pinkish and brownish cast.

BackgroundSuch "band samplers" were made by girls learning needlework in 17th- and 18th-century England and America, and served as a textbook in which techniques were mastered one at a time, working from top to bottom. Mary Griffits was born around 1713, so she was about fourteen when she finished this sampler in 1727. Thanks to the custom of stitching one's name together with the year, a girl's name has come down to us from 300 years ago.

Puzzle tipThe image is extremely tall, so the pieces come out narrow and long. Each band differs in color and pattern, so the first step is sorting the pieces band by band. In the lettered sections, judge top and bottom by line spacing and color rather than by the letters themselves; the floral bands at the bottom have distinct colors and are good to complete first.