Stitches: 

This band illustrates experiments with buttonhole wheel, chain stitch, Cast on Stitch,  Double cast on stitch,  twisted chain stitch, Whipped Spider's Wheel stitch, French knot, bullion knot, detached chain stitch, Palestrina knot, Oyster stitch and  Basque knot

Thread:

In this section DMC perle thread 3, 5, and 8 is used. Also DMC floss a hand dyed wool which is about the same weight as Appletons, mercerised cotton, cotton chenille, cotton (crochet thread), Danish cotton silk, knitting yarn and ribbon floss.

The Danish cotton, mercerised cotton, silk and wool were purchased in bulk from a weavers supplier.    

Fabric:

This section of the sampler is a dress linen which is not quite an even weave, hand painted with procion cold water dyes.

Dyes:

Procion cold water dyes for the cotton, wool and silk threads 

Size:

All samples are 15 cm (6 inches) wide and stitched together in one long band sampler.

The back story

If this is your first visit, I am in the process of documenting a hand embroidered band sampler, band by band. It is a series of 15 cm (6 inches) wide samplers worked over a number years then joined together, The whole piece now measures over 35 feet long. All bands are hand embroidered as I feel hand stitching is a fascinating skill to develop. For the history of the piece read my  introductory post   

Other band sampler stitchers 

Helen Conway of From Down the Well  has just started a band sampler

Jizee has been working on her sampler. Visit the TAST category of her blog   

On Another Note

If you are thinking of working a sampler I have a post in which I answered a few questions about width and fabric choice. Remember if you looking for a stitch guide to hand embroidery stitches, instructions can be found in my stitch dictionary and  you may like to take Develop a Personal Library of Stitches as it would be very applicable and will start on March 4, 2009. If you have not taken a class online before  this is How classes work

Anyone working a band sampler or stitching along please leave a comment with a link to your blog so people can visit you and see. Even if you just take a stitch or two I would love to see it and I am sure others will too.

Encrusted Crazy Quilting is another online class for crazy quilters which will start on Feb 25th.