Embroidered sampler The earliest samplers were reference works for embroiderers. They showed 'samples' of patterns and stitches and recorded how to achieve particular effects. In Europe in the 17th century samplers provided instruction and practice for girls learning needlework. Making a sampler was part of a girl's school education throughout the 18th century and into the early 1800s. By this time embroidered samplers were very often a simple and undemanding exercise. This example from the 1830s, however, is a well-planned design and is finely worked. The girl originally embroidered her age and the date on the sampler. Some time later she unpicked them, possibly to conceal her date of birth. Wool sampler by Sophia Stephens, embroidered with silk; English, dated 1830s.