Martha Edlin worked a series of embroideries during her childhood that for 300 years were passed down through the female line in her family. Following the normal development of needlework skills in a young girl from a prosperous family in the mid-17th century, she worked a sampler in coloured silks at the age of eight, and this more complicated piece in whitework and cutwork at nine. By 1671, her eleventh year, she had embroidered the panels of an elaborate casket, and two years later a beadwork jewel case.The needlework skills she demonstrated in these pieces would be an important attribute in later life, both in the management of her household and the personal adornment of herself and her family.