Ellen’s sampler is offered to you in two different formats ~ as a printed booklet and as an instant PDF download. Details of the PDF download can be found HERE.

I have been looking for a “Home Sweet Home” sampler to stitch since the beginning of my needlework journey with samplers. Whilst I like the “motto” needleworks so popular with the Victorians, I wanted a traditional schoolgirl sampler to hang in my home. I was so excited when Ellen Barber became available to purchase.

Ellen stitched her sweet sampler with cotton thread on approx. 28ct linen. Her sampler has been reproduced using a palette of eleven colours from Au Ver à Soie. We have provided conversions for Soie d’Alger and DMC. Only one spool or skein of each colour is required whether stitching on 28ct or 56ct linen. The sampler is suitable for needleworkers of all abilities and can be stitched on Aida, Linaida, or linen. The only stitch used is cross stitch over 2 threads of linen.

Ellen was baptised on April 19, 1885 at Burgh Castle, Norfolk. Her parents were James, a seaman, and his wife Clare. Ellen recorded on her sampler that she finished her sampler in the January of 1895 in Belton.

Ellen married Alfred George Edwards, an engine cleaner, on December 19, 1902 at the age of 18. In the 1911 census return Alfred was working as a railway goods porter. Ellen and Alfred had had 4 children with three boys living (a fifth son was born after the census). The family had relocated to Yorkshire and were living at 72 Mount Street, Henley Grove, Rotherham. They remained in Rotherham, where Alfred and Ellen both died in 1958. Ellen was 72 years of age.

We very much hope that the home Ellen made for herself and her family was indeed “Home Sweet Home”.