SOME BASIC WAYS TO DYE YOUR LINEN

Good Morning, Prim Friends -

I've been experimenting with different methods of dyeing my linen for cross stitching. I don't see why you couldn't use any fabric that you want to age, though. I used the tea method that I shared in a post HERE. Tonight I overdyed the Polly Daggett sampler that I'm working on. I used espresso coffee that I've had bottled for 3 weeks. I re-wet the linen, dipped it in the espresso, added the

alum and it's hanging in the kitchen to dry. I'm

anxious to see what it looks like when it dries.

I'll take a picture and post it tomorrow; I've made

more stitching progress and I'm into the alpha-

bet section now. 

You can make a pot of very strong tea and bottle

that and let it sit for 3-4 weeks. You would use this tea instead of the boiling water for a darker result.

Don't forget to try both ways, dry linen and wetting the linen. The dry linen will take the

color in an uneven pattern if you like that look.

You can also let the brewed coffee sit for 3-4 weeks, espresso brewed and stored for 3-4 weeks and follow the directions in the post HERE.

Always add alum for the final time in the dye.

And in my book, it states that if you spray your

stitched sampler with Scotch Guard (Reg.trade-

mark) it will make black floss run, making streaks on the linen. There are some original samplers

where this has happened. I found that information interesting. I haven't tried it yet.

If stitching samplers is your thing, you should get a copy of the book American Samplers by

Ethyl Bolton and Eva Coe, published in 1921 by

the Daughters of the American Revolution 

(D.A.R.). It's been republished by Dover Publi-

cations, Inc., in New York.

There are the greatest verses printed  in  the book.

Verses were seldom original to the stitcher. They

were taken from the scriptures or from church

sermons. They also copied from other samplers.

Or they could have been about the girls' parents,

birth and death records of the family or about

sewing and stitching, love and marriage:

"when two fond hearts as one unite, the yoke is

easy and the burden light" 1822.

I'd like to make some pin keeps or cupboard tucks with the simple sayings.

I'm still hurting from the injection. It takes a while for the medicine to work it's way through the spine and if it is going to work it's supposed to in a couple of days. I had a bad day and night yesterday, my left leg pain was unusually bad.

Blogging and the stitching takes my mind off of the discomfort.

Tricia of Hillcrest Home and I finally got together yesterday. I emailed her and left her my phone number and she called me! She's a wonderful gal and we talked for over an hour. We plan on chatting on a regular basis. I'm anxiously awaiting my package from the giveaway and there are surprises in there that I don't know about.

I've been so lucky with the giveaways that I can't wait to finish the sampler and have my own giveaway. I feel a little guilty and think I should not enter anymore for a while!

I'll leave you with another verse that describes

how I feel:

"No star so bright as my delight" (1792)

Susan

4:05 a.m.

PROGRESS ON THE POLLY DAGGETT SAMPLER

Hi, Primmies -

I've made some progress on the Polly Daggett Sampler. I started in the upper right corner and I'm working right to left. I'm on the third
row:

Remember that the sampler has been charted to include Polly's mistakes and changes to thread thicknesses among other things.
As I read through the chart it's becoming obvious that Polly was not interested in needlework, at least not in working on this sampler!

Polly most likely was taught to stitch by a governess or in school.

We can assume this by the fact that a child would stitch her

teacher's full name or the teacher's initials somewhere in the sampler, as Polly did. She included the letters "A" and "J" near    the bottom of her sampler. 

Polly crossed stitches whichever way she felt like it and often did half cross stitches and left threads loose and hanging. She often crossed the wrong threads in the linen.  Perhaps she was thinking about the unrest in the colonies. If Polly stitched this sampler around the age that most girls were when they worked on

them, ten years old, it would have been 1770 when she stitched this.

That was the year in Boston that  British soldiers shot into a crowd

on March 5th; this has been referred to as The Boston Massacre.

Polly was born Mary Daggett, in a town called Holmes Hole (which is now Vineyard Haven) on the island of Martha's Vineyard.

She was born in the year 1760 and Polly was an affectionate nick-

name. The people of Martha's Vineyard had erected a liberty pole

on a hill that represented to the British their independence. When a British ship named HMS Unicorn arrived in the harbor her captain spied the pole and insisted that the people deliver it to the ship the next day. They needed it as a replacement spar for the ship. An island legend tells that Polly and her friends packed gun-

powder in holes that they had carved in the pole and blew it to pieces.

Polly married at the age of 19. Her husband was Peleg Hillman, a master mariner. He was quartermaster of a privateer ship named

the Oliver Cromwell. Polly only remained married for 10 years, she

divorced Mr. Hillman and lived out the remainder of her life in

the village of Tisbury. She was known as "Aunt Polly" to the island children and much loved by them.

'Nite, Primmies -

 Susan

We Dyed Last Night

Hi, Primmies -


I received my order of 25ct. linen and threads for the
Polly Daggett sampler. Here is a photo of it stitched:

Photograph copyright Allen D. Bragdon Publishers, Inc.

This is my scan of a picture from the book of the stitched sampler. The colors in this picture are much lighter than the actual colors used by Polly. I am using DMC floss

because the colors are a truer match to the colors used by

Polly, who stitched with silk. With the exception of one or

two samplers in the book, the floss used is DMC. Two

strands of DMC are the thickness of one strand of silk. It

will be stitched over two threads with a few exceptions

where I will use three or four threads and leave a stray

thread hanging here and there as Polly did. All of her

"mistakes" are charted as in the original which is going to

make this an authentic reproduction. Tomorrow I will

give you some of Polly's background and where she lived

when she stitched her sampler, and what was going on

in the colonies during her time. Today I'm going to show

you how I prepared the linen to "age" it to match the

antique original at the Dukes County Historical Society in Martha's Vineyard, Edgartown,Massachusetts.

I used Tea #1 dye recipe from the historic samplers

book. I was supposed to use Coffee #2 recipe but it called

for the coffee to stand for four weeks and I don't have time

to wait for that. I have to get stitching! So I improvised:

Boil enough water in your kettle to half fill a large pan or

pot. Use 5 or 6 bags of any breakfast tea and allow the tea

to steep about 10 minutes

While the tea steeps wet the linen in plain water if you prefer the dye to be fairly even. If you want the dye to

take unevenly put the dry linen in the dye pot, the

uneven color that some antique samplers have

Biggie wanted to supervise this stage of wetting the linen.

This is the cat that has to drink running water from the

faucet, not the bowl. He likes the shower, too. At this point he was bored...

Squeezed out the tea bags and into the dye bath it goes

Leave the linen in the dye pot for ten minutes and then I

checked the color, trying to match the color of the original.

(Tea dyed linen is supposed to dry one shade lighter than

when wet) I like the color, I think it will be a good match to the original when dry. The next step sets the color so it will

be colorfast in case you want to wash it when you are done

stitching

add one teaspoon of alum. I had some in the spice cupboard

from when Mom used to put up crock pickles. It's in the spice aisle at the grocery store

Mr. Glen Oaks wanted to be in on this so he added the alum and stirred it into the dye bath with the fabric still in there.

Stir it up well and you can leave the linen in the dye bath for another ten minutes if you need to for a correct color match. The mister didn't think it was quite dark enough the 

first time so we went with the extra time

We decide that this is a close match so I'm drying the linen.

I rolled it up in a towel because for this sampler I don't want wrinkles and uneven color lines. Remember, I'm trying to match the original.
Save your tea dye bath because if you decide the linen should be darker you can dye it again but you need to add

another teaspoon of alum to the dye bath each time you

re-soak the linen.

. Tomorrow the fun starts!

Susan 

The Katy Bemis Sampler

My work so far on the reproduction 1787 sampler
stitched by 11-year-old Katy Bemis:

I'm linking to Sew Darn Crafty Party Week 48


Susan

An Apology, A Thank You and A Giveaway

Hi, Primmies - I want to let my blogger buddies know that I slept today away and Mr. Glen Oaks didn't want to wake me.
I will be playing catch up with my reading and I will read
everyone's recent posts and be leaving comments. I hate to 
miss a day of leaving comments but I suppose I needed my
rest. The all nighters of no sleep catch up to you after a while, and it's frustrating to me to get so exhausted from driving and
being out of the house all day. Such normal things for most people; I used to be 'normal' heehee!
I thought I was getting stronger and more conditioned, I guess it will take more time still.  
I have had more wonderful bloggers sign up recently to follow my blog and I want to give all of you a big "THANK YOU".
I send individual email thank you's from the followers button on the dashboard and don't know if they get received. It says gmail sends one on my behalf to the recipients. So since I'm not sure if that works or not I'm taking the opportunity to
thank all of you here. And all of my followers that have been
reading right along with me these past months I THANK YOU as well! Every time I post and you visit it makes me so incredibly happy. 
I'm going to be stitching on the samplers now (The Katy Bemis that needs to get finished and the new one for the giveaway). I may not post every day. I want to get the giveaway sampler stitched and framed.
Yes, I said giveaway. I have 86 followers as of today and I think that deserves a treat for putting up with my incessant ramblings! So the "new" work in progress sampler will be the giveaway. It's one from the historical sampler book and that
book is very special to me. And since all of you are very special to me I want one of you to have a sampler from that book. If I get a lot of followers that want to be in the giveaway
I'll have a pin keep as a second giveaway. I've been anxious to stuff something with Mr. Glen Oaks' wood shavings from his planer and the sawdust that I've been collecting. 


I'm preparing a dye bath right now for the 25ct cream linen that I will stitch the new sampler on. I'll be doing a post sometime later when I finish reading your blogs. We'll see how it comes out. 
I'm having a cup of tea from the gallon I've made for the
dye bath and settling down to read your blogs.
Later, Primmies -
Susan