July 19, 2018
The Stitch Sampler vs The Doodle Cloth
One of my favorite aspects of playing with stitches is the resulting sample cloths that are peppered with a variety of color, stitch trials and errors, and other random bits of embroidery.
While preparing for summer embroidery classes for kids, one necessary item in each kit that we prepared was a blank piece of fabric, 10″ square. These pieces were linen of various types, pulled out of my stash, cut, rinsed, pressed, and surged along the edges. Their purpose is to give the kids a decent piece of fabric to practice on, so that they can master individual stitches before applying them to their projects.
As we were preparing the classes, I noticed that one of us called the piece of fabric “sampler fabric” and the other called it “a doodle cloth.” In class, we find ourselves each using our own pet term.
There’s a slight difference between a sampler and a doodle cloth, at least when it comes to concept, especially considering the way the term sampler has developed throughout the ages.
