Darning does not just have to be practical and utilitarian. It can be beautifully decorative,  intricate and visible, often mimicking the woven structures or knitted stitches of the item being repaired. Dutch needlewomen, in particular, produced exquisite darning samplers in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, some of which are in the V&A. This one dates from 1820, maker unknown, although others are signed. Tom of Holland who for ten years ran The Visible Mending programme, has written about Dutch darning samplers on his website.