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Wednesday 23 January 2013

Spanish Samplers in the Round (or Rather Square!)


I have always wondered why there are so many Spanish sampler which are worked around the four edges of a square, it is such a distinctive format and pattern.
Perhaps in some way they were designed to emulate the Spanish table carpets that have a similar format. The example below is from Alpujarra in the deep south of Andalusian Spain.

1 comment:

  1. I think it's an inheritance from chalice veils. They're also worked "in the round," and would have been an appropriate small project for a fine and pious lady to have stitched in the 14th-19th century. Many of them are done in counted styles. Perhaps the form and proportion stuck. (No hard evidence here, just conjecture).

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