August 18, 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the Women's Suffrage movement in the United States.  I designed a sample to commemorate this important anniversary.  

Details: 

• linen- Zweigart 32 count white Belfast linen
• thread- Sulky blendables 12 weight color 4032
• finished size 6 1/4 inch width, 5 inch height 

The sampler is designed to be a Quaker sampler, since many of the Suffragettes were Quakers.  White linen was chosen to represent the white dresses Suffragettes often wore to parades and marches.  Purple was also chosen as a suffragette color to mean loyalty, though women wore sashes of many different colors.  

There are many inspiring Suffragettes, and I chose seven to honor by putting their initials in the sampler.

Susan B. Anthony (SBA) 

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Elizabeth Cady Stanton 

Lucy Burns

Emmeline Pankhurst 

Lucy Stone 

Lucretia Mott

The design of this sampler is very simple, and my thought was that it could be customized to the stitcher's taste, and is a chance to be creative.  The fabric and floss can easily be changed to something in your stash.  

Download Suffrage_Sampler_Lessons_on_Linen

I have a shirt that I started a little while ago that I can't wait to finish.  It is a fabric a friend had left over from a project she finished, and graciously gave it to me.  I think that it is an old Anna Maria Horner print.  It is a really light weight fabric like a lawn, and I have just enough to make a long tank.  i don't tend to like to wear sleeveless things, but I was able to find a net-like, short-sleeve cardigan that is the same indigo color as the dark blue.  It actually is a really difficult color to match.  Its interesting to transition from sewing quilts and bags and trying apparel.  I'm just so used to sewing straight lines with a quarter inch seam.  We'll see how this turns out! 

Ha ha! I don't really know what to call this bag!  I found a pattern at a shop, and it was for a computer bag.  Unfortunately, the pattern was rather poorly written, and the directions were really hard to follow.  I first thought it was me just not following it, but I asked a group of friends I sew with, and they didn't get it either. :)  Anyways, I set off to make what was kind of a laptop bag or something, and then I just started adding more decoration.  First I wanted the cross stitch embroidery band, then I saw my dear friend making something with a half dresden plate, and I had to have that, then I just loved all the fabrics in this collection, and had to use those.  It just kept getting more and more involved!  This bag is actually from a few years ago, and I remember how much fun it was to make even though I ended up making the whole thing very complicated.  It is lined, and quilted.  The embroidery is just something I made up a long the way.  I just love the colors, and think its so pretty.  I strangely now don't use it very often because I don't want anything to happen to it! (heavy sigh)  I do that with a lot of things- I don't use my pretty Nicholas Mosse Pottery because I don't want it to break, I hate to use a nice notecard because it is too nice, and sometimes I don't use a gorgeous fabric because it could turn into a disaster.  I'm okay with this tendency of mine for the most part, but I had fun today using this bag.   


Details: 

fabric- Wordsmith collection by Moda 

thread- Danish Flower Thread 

linen- 30 count banding