A special treat for fellow alphabet lovers, this stunning French sampler took my breath away. With colours still vibrant and some of the most beautiful alphabets I’ve ever seen, I’m thrilled to be able to share it with you.
Stitched in a French convent school (the Convent of ‘Notre Dame’ – ‘Our Lady’), this piece will not only make a knockout impact when stitched completely, it also works wonderfully as a reference. You can use all those alphabets and numbers to customise your own work – when adding initials, or creating a personalised gift.
To show you how you can use these samplers, I’ve created ‘Joyeux Noël’, a Christmas small using elements from the larger sampler. Like many older samplers, the letter ‘J’ was missing from the breathtaking floral alphabet in the middle. I always feel terribly left out when there’s no ‘J’, so I wanted to chart one for you. This grew into ‘Joyeux Noël’ – which is charted and included.
The cover of this chart is illustrated by my stitch of ‘Joyeux Noël’ (on 36-count ‘Toasted Mallow’ by Number12StitchCo on Etsy using Cottage Garden Threads), and a picture of the antique stitched by Angèle Rességuier in 1886. The original was stitched in wools on a soft canvas (of a type we don’t have now). I used the antique for illustration for two reasons – to show you the beauty of the antique, and also to support my health. I started stitching the whole piece, but due to ill-health had to put it aside. I really wanted to share this piece with you sooner rather than later, so I hope you can forgive me for that.
One of the lovely things about alphabet samplers is how different they can look according to your choices. As ‘Joyeux Noël’ shows, if you stitch ‘Notre Dame Alphabets’ on a clear, warm fabric using bright colours, it will look incredubly graphic and perhaps even quite modern. Or, you could stitch it on heavily mottled fabric in washed out overdyes to replicate a more antique look. I can’t wait to see what you choose!
To support these different choices, I charted ‘Notre Dame Alphabets’ in DMC. These DMC colours are very close to the original. However, you could stitch the piece in your preferred flosses. An ovredye suggested conversion is below and others to follow (Cottage Garden Threads & Cascade House Embroidery Silks) – and do contact me if you have another conversion to share.
The chart that contains both ‘Notre Dame Alphabets’ and ‘Joyeux Noël’ is available from your needlework store now. Hard-copy charts, PDFs, Cottage Garden Threads and Cascade House Silks conversion threadpacks will be up in my Etsy store in a few weeks. Do share your pics with me on Instagram – I can’t wait to see your beautiful work!
Notre Dame Alphabets DMC threadlist: 816, 676, 501, 469, 733, 904, 814, 355, 738, 301, 729, 300, 154, 926, 931, 927, 930, 3685, 3041.
Overdye conversion: 816/Weeks Dye Works Bordeaux; 676/WDW Yukon Gold; 501/WDW Cypress; 469/Gentle Arts Baby Spinach; 733/GA Cornhusk; 904/Classic Colorworks Steamed Broccoli; 814/GA Pomegranate; 355/WDW Carolina Cecil; 738/WDW Straw; 301/CC Brown Sugar; 729/WDW Whiskey; 300/GA Cinnamon; 154/WDW Concord; 926/CC Old Money; 931/GA Cornflower; 927/CC Frosted Sage; 930/WDW Deep Sea; 3685/GA Briar Rose; 3041/Highland Heather.
And here’s a pic of the back of the sampler – where you can see the vibrancy of the colours (and feel better about carrying your threads!)
Mojo Stitches 