Historic Sampler Design Course

Course Type, Length, and Start Date

Design and History

4-months.   February 1st, 2025.   Late registrations taken

Subscription Payments

Payment in full by button above.  If prefer paying by Installment - click the gold link to be taken to PayPal for a subscription:

4-months Sampler Design Course ($75/month) 

Kit Contents

There is no kit, this is a online only course

Course Overview

Have you wanted to design or modify your own historic-looking samplers?  Perhaps you want to make a family genealogy sampler in a particular style?  Have an over the top 17th century band sampler in your head?  Maybe you love the monochromatic Quaker, Vierlande or French samplers and want to design your own.  Have a needle book idea you wanted to design?  This 4-month online course will teach the fundamentals of how to design using source material.

The course includes:

• Lectures in both pdf and video formats covering the theory of design, how to choose motifs, layout samplers, identify common design mistakes, balance motifs by color and weight.  
• How to choose a theme for your sampler and use constraints when designing to help you make decisions and avoid decision paralysis
• A method to use cut and pasting of motifs on base graph paper to design if using a computer isn't your forte. 
• Over 100 pdf pages of motifs from historic samplers of the following genres and organized into themes: American, English (1600-1900), Quaker, French, Scottish, German, Dutch, and a smattering of Spanish/Mexican and Scandinavian motifs.  The majority of motifs are from samplers in private collection and were selected to be representative and of enough variety to allow for design creativity.
• The electronic files in both .chart and .oxs format for all the motifs with video based directions on how to import them into MacStitch (Mac), WinStitch (Windows) or MobiStitch (iPad) software by Ursa Software so you can build new samplers using them.  These software platforms can be purchased separately directly from Ursa Software if desired (<$50)
• Examples from my own design work will be used to show how the designs were arrived at from themes, constraints, color work, mistakes, etc.  
• Use of several Pinterest boards which give extensive examples showing (1) layouts types using historic samplers (2) samplers from the same teacher with ones that weren't designed well and those that improved upon them fixing problems (3) examples of good and bad use of whitespace, weighting and color balance
• A series of design challenges, starting small with monochromatic small samplers and building to a non-rectangular shape/3-dimensional shapes to practice each of the principals separately.  These can be uploaded to the NING student site for discussion with the teacher/students to help get over problem areas if desired.
• How to layout the sampler to fit into spaces and produce the graph to fit after being stitched.  One of the design challenges will be to produce a mini-sampler for an unusual shape.
• How to choose and balance color for your sampler
• Choosing stitches.  The motifs are primarily cross stitch to simplify computer charting but we will go over how to recognize which alphabets/motifs can be changed to satin stitch, eyelet, four sided stitch, etc and how to balance the visual weight change as well as fill 17th century bands with unusual stitches.  Stitches will not be taught but appropriate reference material will be cited.

Course Flexibility

At Thistle Threads, we understand that life’s commitments can make it difficult to focus on a course every month. That’s why my courses are designed to be self-paced, allowing you to learn at your own rhythm. You can take breaks when needed, and the course material will remain available to you, often serving as a valuable reference for future projects once completed.

Course Access and Delivery

Upon the start date of the course, you’ll receive a username and password to access my teaching site on the Thinkific platform. Logging in will immediately give you access to the first lesson, ready for download. Course materials will primarily be provided in PDF format, but may also include additional resources like videos.

Once the course is completed, you’ll receive access to non-public YouTube playlists, where videos will be available for future reference and continued learning.

Access Timeframe

Course materials must be downloaded within three months of the course's conclusion. During the course, all lessons—including new ones and previously released content—will be accessible. So, if you’re unable to log in during a month, you can always catch up by reviewing any missed lessons at your own pace.

Prerequisites

This course requires no prerequisites