Hampton Court Sampler, in wooden casket with an oval aperture close up detail
Hampton Court Sampler, in wooden casket with an oval aperture
Hampton Court Sampler stitching close up
Hampton Court Sampler, in frame

Hampton Court Sampler Embroidery Kit

(2 customer reviews)

£175.00

More kits are coming soon.  All our kits are created by hand, with love, by our small family team and require many hours to make, due to the number of components. We therefore tend to make in batches according to requirement, which is why they are often ‘out of stock’. Please let us know you are keen to purchase a kit by filling in the box below. You will then be emailed as soon as stock is ready and we aim that the batch of kits produced will fulfil current demand.  However, if you require a kit urgently, e.g. for a birthday or similar, please do feel free to email us via the contact form, and we will do our best  to help.

But please note that being on the Notification List does not automatically guarantee you a kit.  It will still be first come, first served – so don’t delay in making your order.

4 in stock

Description

This is a design very close to my heart since I viewed this building every day on my way to work for over 10 years, so I know its intricacies very well indeed! The panel is inspired by the  narrative scenes of 17th century raised work which invariably included images of contemporary buildings, with plants, flowers, and gardens, and often with a giant fish leaping from a formal pond! I love these whimsical scenes which seem to come straight from a child’s story book. Hampton Court certainly has many a fascinating to tale to tell and makes a superb subject for stitch!

The piece is designed as a sampler to teach a broad range of raised embroidery stitch techniques which are excellent for depicting formal buildings and gardens. Many are taken from 17th century embroidery but are juxtaposed next to those of my own invention.

The building itself combines Queen Stitch, used to depict the diamond brick patterns commonly seen in this period of building, with burden stitch, needlelace over felt padding and raised stem stitch, further embellished with tubular metallic purls and a tiny hand cut wooden door!

The pond is worked by colouring the ground fabric using pencil crayons before overlaying with metallic organza and adding thefish using spangles and a wired 3D tail. The gardens combine use of metallic mesh ribbons, silk chenille and couched silk gimps and silk wrapped purls (made specially for Jenny), worked over padding to create a sense of depth.

The border includes the quote: ‘Isn’t it true, what small can do, with a thread, a thought & a stitch or 2?’ which is taken from the folk song ‘A Stitch in Time’ by Mike Waterson. It speaks of a horrid husband who is very mean to his wife and yet gets his comeuppance when, rather inebriated, he falls deeply asleep and his wife strikes upon the notion to sew him to the bed with blanket stitch! He awakes to find her ready with the frying pan to teach him a good lesson!

On completion, you may like to purchase a wooden casket made specially with an oval aperture in the lid to house the project and including internal lift out tray and hand-made lock and key.

Alternatively, you may purchase a frame to fit the finished design with an oval window mount.

 

Additional information

Weight 590 g
Dimensions 31.5 × 22.5 × 1.7 cm

Kit Contents - Hampton Court

  • 100% silk duchess satin base fabric with design pre-printed
  • Metallic organzas and 100% silk organza
  • Pre-printed felt padding
  • Gilt pearl purls, made in the UK
  • Silk-wrapped purls, made for Jenny in the UK
  • Smooth coloured, silver-plated and gilt metallic smooth purls
  • Bright check coloured purls
  • Au Ver à Soie 100% silk chenille
  • Superfine silk flosses
  • Stranded cottons
  • Space-dyed cotton perle, hand-dyed in the UK
  • Invisible thread
  • Polyester sewing threads
  • Metallic mesh ribbons
  • Coarse metallic mesh
  • Rayon gimps, made for Jenny in the UK
  • Glass seed beads
  • Gilt and silver-plated spangles
  • Sequins
  • Paper pattern
  • Pre-made miniature wooden door
  • Pre-cut canvas panels
  • Sheep wool padding
  • Pot of conservation quality adhesive
  • Mini beeswax
  • All needles required
  • Detailed fully-illustrated instruction manual

Extra Kit Information

Each kit is designed with your stitching joy in mind and is lovingly created for you over many hours by our tiny family team in  the UK.

Every material you could need to complete the design, however small, is included in carefully labelled packets. Some kits include over 100 components!

We use only the very best quality materials, and many are made for us by specialist craftspeople sourced by Jenny throughout her career, and hailing from around the globe. Jenny’s skilled family members are often commandeered to make various bespoke components which could never be found otherwise.

Once you purchase a design, we want to you to enjoy and finish the project and therefore are always on hand to answer queries, however small or daft you feel they may be.

The highly comprehensive instruction manuals are written and hand-illustrated by Jenny, rather than using generic stitch diagrams. These are full of the tips and tricks required to express stitches and designs at their very best.

All design shapes are pre-printed on to the various materials included in your kit, to ensure that you have accurate design shapes to work from and can progress straight on to the embroidery without having to transfer the design yourself.

We also aim to provide various items for display or construction of the finished embroidery, allowing you the satisfaction of framing the piece yourself or turning it into a more unusual item such as a bag or book.

I hope that this special design will provide you with a VIP ticket to ‘Jennyland’, an all-consuming experience which will transport you a world of stitching pleasure and imagination. Enjoy!

KIT FAQs

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHAT DOES MY KIT INCLUDE?
Your kit includes all the fabric, threads and needles required to complete the design, together with a highly comprehensive illustrated instruction manual, written and drawn by Jenny. All threads are carefully packaged and labelled to denote where they are to be used in the design. We suggest you have a look through all the components to familiarise yourself with the complete kit before starting work. Where relevant, kits also include the materials required to construct the completed embroidery.

WILL I NEED ANYTHING ELSE TO ENABLE ME TO COMPLETE MY KIT?
Yes, but only basic embroidery equipment. A list of the items required can be found in the front of your instruction manual. All items can be purchased from our website. If you have any queries about equipment, please feel free to contact us for advice.

HOW MUCH EXPERIENCE DO I NEED TO BE ABLE TO COMPLETE THE KIT?
Most of our kits are designed for embroiderers with some experience, but the instruction manuals are extremely comprehensive and will teach you all you need to know.
If you have any difficulties, or need advice on the difficulty level of a certain kit, you are welcome to contact us.

I FIND TRANSFERRING DESIGNS ON TO FABRIC DIFFICULT
Don’t worry, the designs are all pre-printed for you!

CAN I POST IMAGES OF MY KIT/WORK ON MY BLOG/SOCIAL MEDIA/WEBSITE?
We will be delighted if you wish to show images of this project on your blog/social media/website, as this often inspires others to have a go! However, as a courtesy, please do let me know if you plan to do this, and be aware that blogging of techniques, step-by-step or close-up images, either of the project in progress, the instructions, and the kit contents, is an infringement of copyright. Please always credit the design source and always include Jenny’s website and contact details so that those reading your blog can get in touch. Please highlight any infringements of this copyright which you observe from others.

I AM STRUGGLING WITH A SECTION OF THE DESIGN
One of the most important aspects of buying a kit from us is that you have direct contact to Jenny by email and she will be happy to assist you and provide advice. We cannot always answer within the hour but we will get back to you as soon as possible. If you are really struggling and need more help, we can arrange a lesson for you or to complete the section for you.

I AM MISSING A COMPONENT IN MY KIT OR HAVE RUN OUT OF A THREAD
We do our absolute best to ensure these situations don’t occur, but your kit is made by humans rather than machines and we do occasionally have a senior moment! Please feel free to let us know and we will be happy to supply more.

I AM NOT HAPPY WITH MY WORK AND WOULD LIKE TO RE-WORK
We totally understand this – most embroiderers incline to perfectionism! While we sadly can’t provide more materials for free, please just let us know what you require and we will be very happy to supply more.

MY DOG/HUSBAND/HOOVER/SOFA/CAT/GOLDFISH ATE MY THREAD!
It happens! Not a problem. Just let us know what you need
and whilst we can’t send these for free, we are more than
happy to supply more.

MY THREAD IS DIFFERENT TO THAT IN THE PHOTOGRAPH OF THE DESIGN
Thread colours may vary somewhat due to dyeing processes and can appear different in reality due to photographic distortion. Due to limitations posed by suppliers, we also reserve the right to substitute project materials with suitable alternatives to those illustrated if absolutely necessary.

HOW CAN I FIND OUT ABOUT NEW DESIGNS?
Please go to Jenny’s website where you can join the mailing list to find out about all new releases. We promise only to send you relevant embroidery-related news and not to pass your details to third parties.

CAN I SUBMIT MY WORK TO A CRAFT SHOW OR COMPETITION?
We are delighted if you have enjoyed working the project and would like to submit your piece to a craft/country show competition etc. Please do let Jenny know if you are doing this as she would love to hear how you get on. Please always credit the design source and always include Jenny’s website and contact details so that people viewing the piece can get in touch.

CAN I TEACH THE DESIGN TO OTHERS?
If you have enjoyed working the project yourself and would like to share this with friends or wish to work the design with your students, you are welcome to contact Jenny for more kits. The kit and accompanying instructions must otherwise not be copied, reproduced or taught in any form without prior permission. This will otherwise infringe copyright. Multiple kit orders are welcome and can be supplied on a wholesale basis by arrangement. Please contact Jenny for more details.

I WOULD LIKE HELP WITH THE CONSTRUCTION OR DISPLAY OF MY FINISHED WORK
Excellent news. We hope you have enjoyed the journey and are delighted with the finished result! If you would like help with mounting or finishing the design, please feel free to get in touch. If you would like to order a frame, box or similar for displaying the finished piece, please visit the webshop.

Extra Requirements

To complete this kit, you will require the following equipment which can be purchased in the webshop by following the links below:

PLEASE NOTE that those items marked * are ESSENTIAL, whereas the other items are beneficial but NOT essential:

 

2 reviews for Hampton Court Sampler Embroidery Kit

  1. Wendy Holt –

    Hampton Court – wow!! I have just completed this lovely project. The kit and its’ presentation are fabulous – beautifully put together, so I could just start stitching! The instructions were the best ever – very well organized, beautifully illustrated and so easy to follow. I enjoyed every stitch!
    I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to be quietly (and expertly) challenged to get out of their comfort box and work on something wonderful!

    • Jenny-Adin-Christie –

      Hello Wendy
      I am just delighted to hear how much you have enjoyed working the Hampton Court Sampler and how much you appreciated the kit structure. Thank you so much for takign the time to leave such lovely feedback!
      Jenny xx

  2. Sandra Jones –

    I have just completed this exquisite Hampton Court sampler! It was such a pleasure to stitch. Guided by Jenny’s clear and detailed instructions, each section was a wonderful exploration of technique and design. I can thoroughly recommend it to lover’s of embroidery looking for something truly special to stitch and treasure.

    • Jenny-Adin-Christie –

      Hello Sandra,
      I am so glad that this design has brought you such pleasure and thank you so much for taking the time to leave this lovely feedback.
      Jenny xx

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