What Sewing Samplers Tell Us About Women’s Lives from the 17th to 19th Centuries • Hacker News Board

Re: What Sewing Samplers Tell Us About Women’s Lives from the 17th to 19th Centuries

#11

Post by KGIII » Mon, Oct 16, 2017, 11:50 PM UTC

mmjaa wrote: post #3

As a huge fan of 8-bit titles from the golden age of the 80's, I can't help but feeling like these pieces are a kind of pixel art. The intricate detail and consideration for colour placement, while also reducing the load to a minimum (those amazing glyph bitmaps!) is very much aligned between these works, worlds apart..

Well, they are both done in a grid, using squares that are (ideally) uniform in size and shape. The same limitations apply to both.

A quick check says it doesn't meet the definition, but they seem pretty similar to me. They are conceptually similar and I think the automated embroidering machines, those that turn pictures into patterns and then stitch them, work on that principle.

I think...

I could maybe ask the lady at the Grange Hall. She has one of those machines. Err... Don't tell her, but the output is uninspiring.

Re: What Sewing Samplers Tell Us About Women’s Lives from the 17th to 19th Centuries

#12

Post by KGIII » Mon, Oct 16, 2017, 11:54 PM UTC

KittiHawk wrote: post #5

My favorite things to embroider are fractals and flowers, fractals because you can keep your place without a pattern handy and flowers because you can freehand them easily. It's a therapeutic, contemplative activity when done for leisure. I can't imagine having your personal worth judged by your stitching though. It's such a frivolous thing.

The missus made me a quite large star map, complete with constellations marked and labeled. It took her forever. So, it may not be good to judge her worth - it might be good for judging her dedication to complete a task. It took her the better part of a year and a half.

Re: What Sewing Samplers Tell Us About Women’s Lives from the 17th to 19th Centuries

#13

Post by johndotsun » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 12:15 AM UTC

In the "M C" sampler near the top next to the pumpkin thing there are two of those "cool s" that were the subject of an article I remember being posted here discussing their origin. Proof that the "cool s" is at least several hundred years old rather than just a few decades that I've been seeing on articles discussing it.