The earliest samplers were reference works for embroiderers. They showed 'samples' of patterns and stitches and recorded how to achieve particular effects. In Europe in the 17th century samplers provided instruction and practice for girls learning needlework. From the 1750s, makers developed a type of sampler in which they demonstrated their darning skills. Eliza Broadhead, who worked this example, was once a pupil at the Quaker School in Ackworth, Yorkshire. Here she has used brown wool and a coarsely woven ground. This suggests that her needlework skills would be used for practical rather than decorative items.