I am so thrilled to present to my stitching sisters my finish of the reversible band sampler “Bathya” (you will need to click on the photos for them to open fully).

Every single stitch has been a joy. To achieve a truly reversible finish much thought and planning has had to go into each band. It has been like a jigsaw puzzle. A brain challenge !! However, once the stitch path was worked out my needle flew.

Bathya is a very special sampler with an amazing history -please see this video where Witney Antiques talk about the sampler shortly into the film.

She is also featured in many reference books.

Would you like learn how I stitched Bathya?

I will only be teaching Bathya on three occasions – the first in November at Fobbles in Cumbria, England.

As soon as the workshop was announced it was immediately oversubscribed so I will be running a back to back workshop. There are a handful of places left on Monday/Tuesday, November 4th/5th, 2018. Contact Beverley Trembath sooner rather than later if you are interested in attending.

The only other occasion I will be teaching Bathya is on a visit to the US probably in June 2019. This will be at Sassy Jacks Stitchery and The Attic Needleworks.

Bathya stitched her sampler with 15 vibrant shades of silks, ingeniously devising stitch patterns and motifs. These colours are taken from the front !!!

There is so much to delight in her sampler. She used a wide repertoire of stitches of varying intricacy. The stitches include two different versions of reversible cross stitch; one forms a cross on the reverse with a vertical stitch on the left and the other a four sided stitch on the reverse.

She also used double back stitch and diagonal double back stitch. These stitches appear plaited from the front and as two parallel rows of back stitch on the reverse, you might know them as closed herringbone.

Other stitches used were double sided Italian stitch; alternating double back stitch in groups of three, which represents the Trinity; detached buttonhole; french knots and satin stitch.

Bathya’s whitework bands are particularly elegant. Narrow whitework bands were an important part of a stitcher’s repertoire, they were used on collar bands both as an adornment and as stiffening so that the collars would stand proud.

If you would like to learn the techniques needed to re-create this stunning sampler please contact either:

Beverley at Fobbles in the UK
Kimberly Young at Sassy Jacks Stitchery in North Carolina
Jean Lea at The Attic Needleworks in Arizona