Modern Folk Embroidery - Northern Posies: A Groningen Style Design - Booklet Chart IH

Northern Posies is a sampler inspired by the black samplers of the province of Groningen. Bordering Friesland to the west, Groningen produced stunning colourful samplers that look very similar to those worked in Friesland. At some point in the late 18th century, we see a shift from colourful to striking black samplers, with a distinct visual language.

Whereas Friesland samplers are known for their rather chaotic structures, those from Groningen were often worked in near-perfect symmetry. If motifs weren’t mirrored exactly, stitchers would select motifs that could be worked so that a very balanced image resulted. The reason why the Groningen girls stitched with black floss is unknown. It certainly wasn’t because of poverty, since most girls came from very wealthy farming families. It didn’t have anything to do with being in mourning either.

Personally, I think it might be a move toward more sober stitching driven by religious convictions. The province had a high number of strict reformed Christian communities, to which many of the farmers’ daughters who produced these stunning samplers belonged. We see a similar move in the late 18th century with the Religious Society of Friends (better known as Quakers) in England. Quaker girls produced both extremely colourful and black/dark samplers, of which the earliest dated work is very colourful. In the Vierlande region of Northern Germany (close to the town of Hamburg), girls produced colourful samplers at the same time, but also chose to stitch their samplers in black (sometimes adding an accent colour).