What is this Vintage Sampler Pattern?

by TJ
(Plano, TX)

Vintage Sampler?

I have a couple of questions - the first one is how do I find out information on a vintage sampler pattern that I bought at an estate sale? I am enclosing a picture. I have looked at a ton of pictures online but cannot find it.

Also why are they called samplers? Are all needlework patterns called samplers?

Oh and maybe one more question - how can you tell if a pattern on a canvas is stamped or hand painted?

sorry if these questions are elementary but I am just learning about needlework.

Thank you so much.

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What is this Vintage Sampler Pattern?
by: Anonymous

I have never seen this pattern before, can't help with that.
Older needlework and newer work that copies the style are called samplers because they were a sample of a stitch or a pattern. Before there were magazines and patterns available everywhere, girls learned their stitches by making samplers. This was an item that was used like we a book now; we look at it and copy it. That was the function of samplers and why they almost always included alphabets. Not everyone could read or recall how a letter was shaped to stitch a monogram.
You can usually tell a hand-painted canvas from a commercially printed one by an artist's signature or an inventory number. Brush strokes are another clue.

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