Linen embroidered sampler with coloured silks, cut work and needle lace. In two-sided cross and two-sided Italian cross stitch, with cut work and eyelets. Linen embroidered sampler with coloured silks, cut work and needle lace, England, dated 1678. In their earliest form, samplers were put together as personal reference works for embroiderers. They were trials of patterns and stitches that had been copied from others, and records of particular effects achieved that could be recreated again. This is a type known as a band sampler. With the composition of band samplers comes the first clear indication in England of the form being used as a method of instruction and practice for girls learning needlework. This unfinished example is one of a type that combines repeating patterns worked in coloured silks with areas of cutwork (holes that are cut and then bound by stitches) and needle lace stitches.