The earliest samplers were created by young women learning needlework during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Their purpose was to provide the inexperienced needlewoman with a practical guide for stitches and motifs while giving her the opportunity to practise them. Once completed on a long strip of linen the sampler would be rolled up and kept for future reference.

However, during the eighteenth century this practical exercise was combined with another purpose. As the shape of the sampler changed from a strip to a rectangle so its form changed from what was essentially a practise sheet to a carefully planned pictorial composition arranged symmetrically within a border. By the time this example was stitched in 1810 this was the standard format. It was also common to include quotations from religious or literary sources, usually with a moralising overtone. Some of the subjects depicted in this sampler, such as the stags and insects, can be found in other samplers elsewhere and may have been derived from a common published source or teacher.