(RE)Crafted Sampler Shirts. From Process to Product

At MarketPlace India, we love hand embroidery. It transforms our clothing into a unique expression of the artisans who craft it, adding just the right amount of texture, whimsy, and sophistication. But it goes deeper than design alone. Hand embroidery sits at the very center of MarketPlace India, forming the backbone of both our mission and our collections. It is the critical component that provides income and employment for the women artisans who work with us, allowing them to work from home according to their family needs and schedules.

Every season, we develop hundreds of embroideries for new styles—that’s a lot of stitch information to keep track of. We manage this using one of the oldest, most tried-and-true tools, something generations of embroiderers around the world have likely created their own version of: the sampler. A sampler is simply a piece of cloth embroidered with sample stitches and motifs, used to teach embroidery by example.

Our seasonal sampler illustrates every stitch and motif that will appear on each garment. These samplers are beautiful, richly detailed documents that map the embroidery for the season. We distribute them to our cooperatives, where they serve as models for artisans to learn from. In turn, each artisan creates her own copy of the sampler, which is evaluated by supervisors. If there are errors, the artisan reworks her sampler until it is perfect.

Over many seasons, as you can imagine, we collect a large number of samplers—each one uniquely wonderful. Functionally, however, they become chindi, or deadstock fabric left over from the clothing-making process. Because these samplers are so special, we wanted to find a way to upcycle them into new garments to share with you.

This season, we created two styles using sampler inserts: shirt 72C-58 and phone bag 72L-03. We have already developed more styles with these samplers for our upcoming fall season and look forward to continuing to explore their possibilities.

We are excited to debut our first foray into repurposing samplers this summer. We designed an organic white camp shirt featuring special panels that alternate patches from leftover samplers. The thread colors and patch combinations vary, making every piece completely unique. We hope you will treasure these embroidered pieces of our process as much as we do.