We have been good friends for many years and shared a passion for stitching and a love for creating gorgeous designs. We launched our sister company, Historical Sampler Co, 25 years ago and are lucky enough to have an amazing customer following. In 2018 we created our own subscription box service, Cotton & Twine, which has grown beyond our wildest expectations into a fantastic community of fellow Stitchers from around the World.
How We Started
Suzanne and I have been friends for over 30 years, we first met when our husbands worked together and the four of us have remained good friends ever since. We both got married in the early 90’s and then went on to have our first babies within months of each other.
As young mums, we shared an interest in crafting, particularly cross-stitch. We struggled to find designs that we liked and so in 2001 we started designing our own cross stitch patterns. We then decided to sell the patterns and so the Historical Sampler Company was born.
We set about designing our first collection of cross stitch designs. This took some time as, by this time, we had 5 small children around our feet! We took a brave step and with the help of lots family child care, we attended our first retail show at Olympia, London in the spring of 2002. To our surprise our designs were well received and we really enjoyed meeting new customers, some of which still buy from us today. The success of the Show spurred us on to continue with our designing. At that stage, we only had 7 designs but since then we have built our collection to over 150 including cross stitch and tapestry designs . The company has grown steadily since that time and we are now stocked in a large number of outlets around the World.
When we first started the Company we worked from a spare bedroom in my home, we then moved into a beautiful wooden cabin in my garden and then in 2020, as the business had expanded so much, we moved into an office building with warehouse. We are so lucky to work in this industry and be surrounded by beautiful threads and fabrics.
At the outset, our aim was to produce a high quality product. We sourced the best fabric and thread we could find. We use Zweigart fabric for both our cross stitch and tapestry designs as we believe they product the best quality fabrics. We even have some of our fabrics specially dyed for us by Zweigart to achieve the vintage feel of our products. We supply in our cross stitch kits pre-sorted DMC threads and also include a gold plated needle and printed black and white chart. In our tapestry kits we provide a digitally colour printed Zweigart canvas, Anchor tapestry wool and a colour printed chart.
Originally our main aim was to create traditional Samplers based on original antique designs. We then started to include birth and wedding samplers in our range and from there have expanded to all areas of design. We gain our inspiration from popular images and keep up to date with current trends. We really hope you enjoy our range of designs.
Cotton & Twine
Originally our main aim was to create traditional Samplers based on original antique designs. We then started to include birth and wedding samplers in our range and from there have expanded to all areas of design. We gain our inspiration from popular images and keep up to date with current trends. We really hope you enjoy our range of designs.
In March 2018 we launched a monthly cross stitch subscription box. We have named this new venture Cotton and Twine. This is a monthly craft subscription box which is filled with unique designs to stitch for your home together with carefully sourced beautiful gifts from around the World. We also include tasty treats to enjoy whilst you are stitching.
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Love
Joanne and Suzanne
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