Sarah Storrs' Ackworth School Sampler & The Remarkable Jacob de Graaf

I get lovely emails all the time - thank you so much! On Saturday I had a very special email from a young man in York - Jacob de Graaf who sent me a picture of a sampler he had just bought because it reminded him of the Sarah Moon Ackworth Sampler, he thought Sarah might have picked up some of the patterns from a friend who was a Quaker. It was only when he got the sampler home that he noticed there was much faded medallion which had a date in it - the date was 1795. I was delighted to tell Jacob that Sarah Storrs was scholar 1244 at Ackworth School and that she and her sister Mary, who also attended Ackworth, came from Wigley - about 5 miles east of Chesterfield. Sarah was at Ackworth for one year only - which is possibly why her sampler remained unfinished until she worked on it and dated it a few years later. I am always interested to see unfinished Ackworth samplers as they give some insight into the order of working. In this case the medallions around 3 edges have been composed first.

Jacob told me he had charted the sampler and completed it with his own additions. I realized then that I was talking to a new designer! How wonderful to discover a young man creating sampler designs based on old patterns.

I quickly investigated his etsy store which has patterns for instant download - you may want to look there right away - just click here. Jacob says: In 2001 I graduated from the School of Fine Arts in Kampen, The Netherlands. Since 2005 I've been living in the beautiful city of York with my partner and two cats. A few years ago I wanted to make a little embroidery piece, but quickly found that none of the patterns out there reflected what I was looking for. As I didn't want to simply copy an old design, I decided that I'd have to take the jump and try my hand at designing my own patterns. I created a few pieces, and people liked them. I set up an Etsy shop as it seemed the perfect place for my work. I decided on the name "Modern Folk" as it's made for modern people, but it is also my personal take on folkloristic patterns. Well done Jacob - I wish you lots of success!