A Child's Sewing Sampler from 1844: Kentucky, USA

If you double click on the magazine text it should enlarge to a readable view and when you double click on the photograph, it should enlarge to an extreme close-up view of Mariah's stitching she made on the piece of cloth...The large alphabet version allows you to view every single stitch she sewed, after you see that, there is little for me to say...

except that it gives a new / old time ago meaning to "learning your ABC's and numbers" in Elementary

School...

This photograph and text appeared in the stellar "Antiques and Fine Arts" magazine: their 8th Anniversary Issue: January-February 2008.

Their website is also listed at: http://www.antiquesandfineart.com/

I thank them for publishing this wonderful art and art history.

This is a sewing sampler from a 12 year old girl, from 1844 in rural Kentucky, USA.

Hand-sewing a cloth sampler was a common rite of passage for girls transitioning into

adulthood.  Way before radio and television and computers, in the mid-19th century,

children literally "hand-made" their own entertainment and hobbies; sewing with a needle and thread was virtually universal among girls and women all around the world...

The crafts-womanship of this project is awe-inspiring in its exactitude precision and beauty, and it took Mariah Boil 3 months to complete this sewing project...  when was the last time or the first time you ever spent 3 months making a crafts project...?

Perhaps you might consider some hand-crafting project to do, or hobby to pursue... and see where it takes you...to new skills and places: inside yourself and to share with others...

phineas8888