It would appear that these plain sewing samplers started to be made in charity schools and orphanages and were then added to the curricula of schools in general. The various schools generally emphasised the production of homemade garments, using hand stitches and processes such as the making of buttonholes, gathering, insertion of gussets, tacking, etc.
In order to prove that a girl had mastered such skills, the samplers might take the form of miniature garments (such as underwear, petticoats, dresses and aprons) that incorporated these and other techniques. Sometimes these garments were made into little sampler books (Victoria and Albert Museum T.86-1967), on other occasions they were sewn onto long lengths of cloth with decorative sewing techniques, such as various forms of embroidery. These so-called band samplers, which included examples of plain sewing and decorative techniques, and sometimes even miniature garments as well, could measure up to seven metres in length. This form of sampler (band sampler) was especially popular in Belgium and The Netherlands.
Source: CLABBURN, Pamela (1977). Samplers, Princes Risborough: Shire Publications, p. 23.
V&A online catalogue (retrieved 22nd June 2016).
GVE