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This thread brings up a lot of great points but I especially love how @mimicofmodes brings up the difference between girlhood and adult embroidery. I've written about this a bit in an article for Nursing Clio but essentially samplers/needlework pictures were meant to emulative. https://twitter.com/mimicofmodes/status/1348352315439329282
They trained girls to follow patterns and forced them to relinquish a good deal of creative freedom. As such, samplers and needlework pictures often tell us more about mindsets of adults than the girls who stitched them.
That being said, needlework was not necessarily "oppressive." Last year I cataloged a collection of over 600 needlework patterns drawn by a woman who is widely recognized for her extensive library and botanical knowledge. She was also an enslaver who managed a large plantation.
For her, needlework did not exist in opposition to her intellectual pursuits; in fact, some of the patterns are cut from copies of letters written to her agent in London asking him to send her more books.
All this is to say, needlework was a part of women's lives. It did not preclude them from pursuing other activities nor was it necessarily conservative. Like any craft, needlework is complex and needlework objects have the potential to tell an array of stories.
Of course there is a typo in my first tweet. Please forgive, it's been a long week.
