Stitch Historic Samplers from Fox and Rabbit Designs

I came across Fox and Rabbit Designs recently, and while they have a variety of cross-stitch designs to choose from, what most interested me when looking through their website is the patterns that are reproductions of sampler patterns first stitched hundreds of years ago.

For example, there’s the Botany Bay sampler, shown here, which was probably originally stitched by 10-year-old Margret Begbie in the late 1700s or early 1800s in Scotland. (Botany Bay was the original name for the Australian colony used in the UK.) It features ships, buildings and other symbols of the colony, and comes with an interesting backstory, too.

A woman named Margaret Begbie was sentenced to transportation to Tasmania in 1845, so it’s possible that’s the same woman who stitched about this far-off land and ultimately ended up going there herself.

There’s also Dorothy’s sampler, a Dutch design from 1792 covered with birds and flowers. The original stitcher is unknown. Or Elizabeth Cooper’s 1866 pattern that includes an alphabet and numbers, butterflies, birds, flowers, a greyhound dog, and a religious verse.

These projects are all so cool and it’s really interesting just to look at them, but it would also be fun to stitch them to allow their history and stories to continue. Check out all the reproduction samplers here.

Fox and Rabbit designs is an Australian company that produces cross-stitch charts and hand-painted linen. They have a Patreon where you can get more patterns, or you can buy individual patterns from their website. Many of them have the classic look of old samplers (they call them antique-inspired, which sounds a little nicer than old) but there are some with a more modern design as well.

If you want to learn more about them and see what’s on offer on Patreon, check out their Instagram page.

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Cross Stitch Samplers with a Historic Twist

There are so many fun ways you can go when stitching Halloween cross stitch patterns or giving your place a slightly spooky or witchy vibe any time of year. I love the look of little potion bottles, whether they’re real bottles lined up on the mantle or shelf or cross stitched versions like these.

The gorgeous Elixir of Life cross stitch pattern from Makaronka Stitch is decidedly not Halloween in its vibes, so it would be fun to stitch and display any time of year. This is also definitely not a pattern for beginners, as it uses 37 colors and 34 blends to make the beautiful colors. It also uses full and half cross stitches, back stitch and French knots. The design measures 82 by 115 stitches, which comes out to 5.8 by 8.2 inches or 14.88 by 20.86 cm on 14 count fabric.

If you’re looking for something a little smaller but still a lot of fun, check out this set of six potion bottles from MIYA Stitch. I love how each bottle seems to have its own personality, from one with a pumpkin and witch hat to one with crystals, mushrooms, or a butterfly and flower. The patterns are 60 by 88 stitches each. That’s 4.3 by 6.3 inches or 11 by 16 cm on 14 count fabric. The full set uses 26 colors and blends.

Or try this set of five mini potion bottles from Plenty of Strings. I love the colors on these and they’d look great as a set on one piece of fabric or individually stitches as shown. Each one fits in a 3-inch hoop.

These minis from Giselles Cross Stitch are really cute, too, though they are meant to be worked together as one piece. The whole pattern uses 26 colors and measures 93 by 107 stitches, which comes out to 6.6 by 7.6 inches or 16.8 by 19.4 cm on 14 count fabric. They’re perfect on black or a dark blue fabric.

I also like this bigger set of potion bottles from SamXstitch, which is meant to be stitched as a set but you could also work individual bottles in their own frames if you’d rather. The full design uses 10 colors and is 123 by 173 stitches. Taht comes out to 8.78 by 12.36 inches/22.31 by 31.39 cm on 14 count fabric.

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