Summer Sampler Class for Youth

Saturdays, July 1 through August 19 for children ages 7 to 17

In the 1800s, needlework was an important part of a girl’s formal education. Girls as young as 7 years old produced needlework samplers that proved their ability to write their letters and numbers and complete different types of stitches.

This class offers children and young people a chance to learn the art of needlework samplers, working at their own pace. Girls and boys ages 7 through 17 are invited to join – no experience required!

The class meets every Saturday July 1 through August 19 from 10:00AM to 12:00PM, in the Grandma Moses Schoolhouse at Bennington Museum. Participants will learn how to use a needle and thread to complete the provided sampler kit. Working in class and on their own throughout the week, they will see what they can achieve. Each student will submit whatever amount of stitching they have been able to produce at the end of the summer for display in the Schoolhouse in the fall.

Fees are $85 per student for Bennington Museum Members or $100 per student for Not-Yet-Members. Price includes 8 classes and all materials.

Registration for this class is now closed.

Lead instructor Michele Pagan is a recently-returned Native Vermonter, who spent her childhood in Bennington. Bennington Museum was her first exposure to the work of museums. Today she is a textile conservator in private practice, “saving history one piece of fabric at a time.” She has a particular interest in early American samplers and the stories they can tell us. A practicing conservator since 1984, her previous clients and employers include the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, The Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History, the U.S. Department of State, Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, the State of Vermont, and the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, HI, among others.  She holds a certificate in Museum Education from Tufts University, and she just completed the Smithsonian Institution’s online certificate for the C3 Framework for Teaching Social Studies. She presently works out of her studio in East Dorset.