At the end of June 2026 Vicki Aimers, PhD researcher and artist, undertook an artist residency at the museum. Sofia Roffey, a BA English and Spanish student at the University of Exeter also joined us as part of her internship where she spent two days shadowing Vicki to research and write this article.

Stories in Forgotten Textiles

When most people look at an embroidered sampler, they see rows of neat stitching, carefully sewn alphabets and decorative borders. PhD researcher Vicki Aimers sees something else entirely.

She sees the stories that are missing.

Describing herself as an “Illustrator of Gaps,” Vicki is fascinated not only by what survives in museum collections, but by what has been lost. Rather than trying to fill those gaps with certainty, she embraces them, using absence as a starting point to uncover the overlooked lives of women through textiles.

Working with the Museum of Cornish Life in Helston, Vicki has brought over a plain work sampler stitched by Margaret Ann Lanyon from Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery. At first glance, it appears to be an ordinary exercise in sewing. Yet hidden within its stitches is a story of education, resilience and everyday life in Victorian Cornwall.

Her research has revealed far more than sewing techniques. It has opened a window into the lives of women whose experiences were rarely recorded in traditional historical accounts.

Many of the museum’s own samplers remain carefully catalogued but are rarely studied in depth. Unless a researcher specifically comes looking for them, they can sit quietly in storage for years. Vicki’s work has therefore benefited both her own doctoral research and the museum itself, helping staff build a richer understanding of their collections. In return, she speaks warmly of the support and enthusiasm she has received throughout her time at the museum.

But for Vicki, research does not stop in the archive.

Community workshops are central to her practice, creating a conversation between historical research, practical making, public engagement and personal reflection. Rather than treating these as separate activities, she allows each to inform the next, continually reshaping her understanding of both the objects she studies and the women behind them.

Again and again, she has watched people form unexpected emotional connections with historic textiles.

Working with old fabrics and embroidery, she says, often “ignites something within them.” Many participants begin thinking about their own family histories. While photographs preserve a person’s appearance, textiles carry something different. They hold what Vicki describes as an “aura” — a physical reminder of the hands that stitched, repaired and cared for them generations ago.

More Than Needlework

Today, samplers are often admired for their decorative beauty, but historically they served a much greater purpose.

For centuries, they formed a key part of girls’ education. From as young as four or five years old, girls learned stitches, embroidery techniques, literacy and moral instruction, often incorporating biblical verses into their work. By the age of fifteen, a completed sampler represented years of patience, discipline and practice.

In many ways, it functioned as a Victorian curriculum vitae.

A carefully worked sampler demonstrated that a young woman possessed the skills expected of her: diligence, precision and domestic competence.

There were two principal types. Plain work samplers taught practical sewing techniques such as mending, patching and garment construction, while fancy work samplers showcased decorative embroidery. Together, they provide historians with remarkable insight into women’s education, domestic labour and social expectations.

Reading Between the Threads

Margaret Ann Lanyon’s plain work sampler resonates particularly strongly with Vicki.

Rather than viewing it simply as an exercise in sewing, she sees it as a powerful metaphor for Margaret’s life — one defined by repair, resilience and perseverance. The sampler’s emphasis on mending becomes especially poignant knowing that Margaret was widowed at a young age following the death of her husband, John “Jack” Pearce, in 1896.

Yet Vicki is careful not to place words into Margaret’s mouth.

Instead, she focuses on the spaces where certainty ends. So much of women’s history was never written down, leaving only fragments behind. Rather than treating those absences as obstacles, Vicki sees them as opportunities to ask new questions.

She hopes to reveal what she calls “a story that may never be told.”

It is precisely because these stories remain incomplete that they matter.

Vicki describes samplers as a “hidden language” through which women communicated skill, identity and experience. Every stitch becomes a small act of expression, offering clues about education, work, family life and community. Even when the people themselves have faded from the historical record, their textiles continue to speak.

Making History by Hand

Vicki’s creative practice mirrors the layered nature of her research.

She begins each period of work with blackout poetry, using found text to unlock ideas and shift herself into a creative frame of mind. Although she admits it lies outside her comfort zone, she sees it as an important ritual before immersing herself in archival material.

Her sketchbooks become places where observations, sketches and historical discoveries gradually come together. Rather than documenting finished ideas, they capture the evolution of her thinking.

As her research develops, materials themselves become storytellers.

For Margaret, Vicki has chosen an old quilt whose own history of patches and repairs reflects themes of care, resilience and endurance. Already mended countless times with different fabrics, the quilt echoes the life she believes Margaret lived.

It will eventually form one of nine artist’s books dedicated to Margaret, each exploring a different aspect of her story.

These are not books in the traditional sense.

Instead, Vicki challenges the very definition of what a book can be. She reimagines the spine, cover and pages so that every physical element reflects the life of the woman it represents.

One working title, I Can Find My Own Way, captures what she imagines was Margaret’s quiet determination. Inspired by Margaret’s experience of piloting boats in Gweek Harbour, Vicki plans to stitch a map directly into the quilt, weaving landscape, memory and identity into the fabric itself.

Alongside her research, she also gathers objects that seem to carry traces of these women’s lives — weathered fragments collected from Gweek Harbour, pieces of worn fabric and found materials discovered along the way.

“I gather a lot of things,” she says, “and in gathering, something always comes up.”

For Vicki, these objects are not simply collected; they become catalysts. Each has the potential to reveal an unexpected connection, allowing forgotten stories to emerge naturally through the process of making.

A Living Archive

That philosophy extends beyond the museum through The Tangled Thread Archive, Vicki’s ongoing participatory textile project.

Designed as a travelling exhibition, it invites visitors to become part of the research itself by creating their own stitches.

Fabric embroidered with the names of women uncovered during her research forms the foundation of the archive, but it is the public’s participation that allows it to continue growing. Each new stitch becomes another contribution to an evolving collective history.

Rather than presenting the past as fixed and complete, the archive acknowledges that history is always unfinished.

Like the textiles it celebrates, it continues to grow through many hands.

Through archival research, creative practice and community participation, Vicki reminds us that history is not found only in complete records or official documents. Sometimes it survives in a repaired seam, a worn piece of cloth or an unfinished sampler.

By embracing uncertainty instead of trying to erase it, she gives voice to generations of women whose lives have long existed on the margins of history.

Their stories may never be complete.

But thanks to researchers like Vicki Aimers, they are no longer forgotten.

To find more about Vicki Aimers: @palimpsest_project, @vicki_aimers, https://www.krowji.org.uk/tenant/vicki-aimers/

About the Author:

My name is Sofia Roffey, and I am a BA English and Spanish student at the University of Exeter. I wrote this article as part of my internship at the Museum of Cornish Life, where I spent two days shadowing PhD researcher and artist Vicki Aimers. During this time, I observed her research, interviewed her about her work, and joined one of her community textiles workshops, where I learned basic sewing techniques using a sewing machine.

This experience gave me valuable insight into the process of researching and writing a feature article. Before conducting the interview, I learned how to prepare thoughtful questions that would encourage detailed and engaging responses, while also considering the ethical responsibilities involved in research and interviewing. I gained a greater understanding of the importance of representing someone’s work accurately, listening carefully, and ensuring that their experiences and ideas were communicated respectfully.

What fascinated me most was how textiles can preserve stories that history has often overlooked. I wanted to share Vicki’s research because it highlights the powerful connections between creativity, community and women’s history, showing that even the smallest stitches can tell remarkable stories.