Many things can be translated into charts for samplers—drawings from a child’s coloring book, photographs from a magazine, a fabric print, needlepoint charts, greeting card designs. The personalized sampler shown above is an invitation for a boy named Richard to visit his grandparents; the elements could be modified to make such a sampler appeal to [...]

Counting threads on an iron-on denim patch would be virtually impossible—but it is possible to embroider such a patch with cross-stitches, and to keep those stitches as straight and even as though you could count the threads. The secret is cross-stitch canvas. It looks like a thin penelope needlepoint canvas, with a dark vertical thread [...]

Using gingham or dotted swiss as a background fabric lets a beginner count checks or dots instead of counting threads when she makes a sampler. And embroidery hoops made of colorful plastic or natural wood can be used as frames when the embroidery is done. For these reasons, hoop-framed sampler pictures done on either [...]

Jackie has a special place to hang her hats, and she can proudly say it is a sample of her embroidery talents. The pegboard was sprayed with white enamel; the cross-stitches are made with brightly colored rug yarn.
Cross-stitching a name in big block letters across a pegboard is a good way for a young child to [...]

Samplers, bookmarks, and greeting cards embroidered on perforated paper instead of cloth were popular during the nineteenth century, but their popularity so waned that by the late 1040s this special-purpose paper was no longer made.
The paper is again available – you can find it craft shops or by mail order – and this almost forgotten [...]