[2] Sometime before 1785, Mary and Sarah Balch opened a school together in Providence using their knowledge on needlepoint samplers from their hometown of Newport.
After her death, the school was run by one of Balch's previous assistants, Miss Walker.
[1] Sometimes considered "playful", the Balch style of embroidery often included figures in elegant clothes and naturalistic florals in borders or on arches.
[6] This style of using real buildings as a focal point in samplers was thought to have originated at the school.
[5] A feature of Balch's style of mourning embroideries included using stitching instead of ink for the details on memorial monuments.
[2] According to Joseph K. Ott, in modern times, the Balch School "produced the highest number of embroideries that can be attributed to a single source.