Hands Across the Sea - Mary Carter 1712 - the 2020 Queen of the May

If you would like to order the complete kit for this project including all threads and linen required, please contact me on 07 5546 0558 or [email protected].  I am expecting to have the full kit available by the end of July 2020. 

Each year Hands Across the Sea Samplers publishes a sampler which we consider to be not only beautiful but outstandingly so and worthy to be crowned our Queen of the May. We are pleased to offer to you Mary Carter our Queen of the May for the year 2020.

On the 12^th day of December in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and twelve Mary Carter placed the last stitch on her sampler. Little did she know that more than 300 years later, her work would be admired and enjoyed by needleworkers around the world.

By the time Mary was taught needlework, the need to learn a great variety of stitches and complex traditional patterns had reduced. In the 1700s embroidered costumes and furnishings were replaced by extravagant woven and printed fabrics. In this century the format of English samplers was evolving, reflecting the changing perception of their purpose.

Mary’s sampler was worked in the traditional bands of the 1600s on a long and narrow piece of linen. She used several reversible stitches, all exquisitely executed with skilled hands. However, we do not believe that her aim was to embroider a reversible sampler. The reverse of her sampler is extremely neat; Mary had pride in her work. There are no knotted starts and all her tail ends are neatly buried but her threads are visibly carried.  A variety of stitches were used (see stitch guide for full details) together with a palette of 8 glorious shades of Au Ver a Soie silks from their 100.3 range, and Lakeside Linen Vintage Fawn.

The sampler was stitched by Ilana Kaye with exquisite workmanship and our grateful thanks goes to her for the heart and soul that she stitched into this stunning band sampler.

Thread Legend

Mary’s stunning band sampler has been reproduced with Au Ver à Soie silks from their Soie 100.3 range on 46ct Lakeside Linen in Vintage Fawn. The linen’s colour is between DMC shades 3033 and 3782. The spool quantities listed are those used in stitching the model. Much silk was used in padding the satin stitched areas. We have provided conversions for Soie d’Alger and DMC.

100.3 / d’Alger /  DMC ~ Colour Description

072 x 3 / 5384 x 4 / 3766 x 3  ~ Peacock blue ~ light

080 x 3 / F07 x 4 / 746 x 3 ~ Off white

152 x 4 / 2145 x 6 / 581 x 4 ~ Moss green

154 x 3 / 3812 x 4 / 738 x 3 ~ Tan ~ very light

199 x 3 / 2223 x 4 / 166 x 3 ~ Moss green ~ medium light

222x 4 / 3045 x 6 / 915 x 4 ~ Plum ~ dark

621 x 1 / 1811 x 1 / 747 x 1 ~ Sky blue ~ very light

776 x 2 / 542 x 3 / 726 x 2 ~ Topaz ~ light

Linen Sizes

The original sampler measures 8 1/16th inches x 18 inches which equates to 58/50 ct. The closest linen to the original sampler will be 60/52ct

The design area is 230 stitches (w) x 450 stitches (h). Our calculations have included a 3″ margin for finishing and framing.

28ct: Design: 16.43″ x 32.14″  Fabric: 22.43″ x 38.14″

32ct: Design: 14.38″ x 28.13″  Fabric: 20.38″ x 34.13″

36ct: Design: 12.78″ x 25.00″  Fabric: 18.78″ x 31.00″

40ct: Design: 11.50″ x 22.50″  Fabric: 17.50″ x 28.50″

46ct: Design: 10.00″ x 19.57″  Fabric: 16.00″ x 25.57″

56ct: Design: 8.21″ x 16.07″  Fabric: 14.21″ x 22.07″

60/52ct: Design: 7.67″ x 17.31″ Fabric: 13.67″ x 23.31″