Modern Day Samplers

Third graders, inspired by Colonial American samplers, stitched and painted their own modern day samplers.  The students viewed samplers sewn by young women in the 17th and 18th century.  They learned that a sampler was like a dictionary of stitches.  A fancy sampler was usually stitched with a picture and displayed with great pride in the home.  After some brainstorming, the students sketched a picture then transferred their image to a piece of burlap.  The image was sewn using a running stitch.  They painted inside the stitched outline and included a border, their initials and the year.