Win Samplers of Seduction embroidery kit, A Brief Dictionary of Stitches

Samplers of Seduction is a collection of beautiful embroidery kits accompanied by self-guided online courses. These kits are a labour of love born of Rebecca Devaney’s experience studying Haute Couture embroidery at École Lesage and then working as a professional embroiderer in the ateliers of Paris for Chanel, Dior, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino and many more. Rebecca has assembled these kits from the finest makers of embroidery materials worldwide.

As the Samplers of Seduction collection continues, each new embroidery kit will be inspired by a different vintage pattern hidden in the archives and museums of Paris. The beautiful custom-made embroidery boxes will come in unique designs, bringing more colour, joy and beauty to your shelves.

Embroidery Kit

A Brief Dictionary of Stitches is the first embroidery kit in the collection. It comes in a gorgeous Rococo pink and raspberry embroidery box hand-made in Paris with the celebrated Arjowiggins paper, especially for Samplers of Seduction! Inside the box, the kit contains an embroidery pattern screen-printed by French artisans on the softest Italian linen, woven by the Graziano family for centuries. The sturdy birch wood embroidery hoop is carved, sanded and waxed to smooth perfection by Elbessee in England. The heirloom 9cm gold-plated embroidery stork scissors are forged by Locau, a company that is passionate about reviving and preserving the craft of scissor-making in France. A little needle book holds the sharpest Bohin embroidery needles, manufactured in Aigle for over 200 years. An envelope contains the finest silk embroidery threads made by Au Ver à Soie in Paris, a family-run business who have been spinning their sumptuous Soie d’Alger floss for over 200 years now! There’s even a Notebook with Rebecca’s hand-drawn illustrations of the stitches and clear, easy instructions to complete the pattern.

Self-guided Online Course

As the Samplers of Seduction collection continues, each embroidery kit will accompany a self-guided online course. The first in the series, A Brief Dictionary of Stitches, has been designed for beginners or those who would like to revisit their favourite embroidery stitches using only the finest materials. Rebecca has taught this course for twenty years, and it’s her favourite! The course includes almost five hours of video tutorials filmed at the charming Au Ver à Soie studio in Paris. This beginner's embroidery course is a lovely occasion to relax and enjoy creativity, inspiration and craft moments. What better way to spend your time!

The course begins with a presentation on the fascinating history of embroidery samplers and how they were used in education and seduction! Then in each session, you will learn new stitches

with fantastic close-ups, creating your sampler at your own leisurely pace. Throughout the course, Rebecca shares tips and tricks on how to make embroidery an easy, pleasant, and more artistic craft.

You will learn how to set-up an embroidery frame, thread a needle with ease, tie knots and of course, the basic embroidery stitches, sixteen of them in total (straight, back, stem, couching, blanket, fly, feather, chain, daisy chain, french knots, bullion knots, herringbone, stars, seeding, long and short, satin and diagonal satin stitch).

Enter the prize draw to win a Samplers of Seduction kit worth €200.

Enter to win, competition closes noon, 15th April  2023.