Frequently, the first reaction to the news that Plimoth Plantation is making a 17^th century embroidered jacket is “Hmmm. Bit fancy for the colonies, isn’t it?”

It’s absolutely true. It is extremely unlikely that anyone in Plymouth Colony, either a resident or visitor, ever wore a jacket of the sort we’re making. These jackets were a fashionable style for the wives and daughters of the wealthiest merchants and the gentry, the class of people above the one to which most of the Plymouth colonists belonged.

So why do it? Well, the jacket is intended for Plimoth Plantation’s upcoming exhibit (not till the summer of 2008, though, we need time to accomplish this project!) on the history of personal adornment. We want to explore the way two peoples – the Native Wampanoag and the English colonists – viewed and judged each other’s appearance through their own cultural lens; to investigate the assumptions each made about the other based on their own society’s ideas of what a proper man and woman looked like. We want to use the experience of the past to lead those who visit the exhibit to examine their own assumptions about proper appearance, and to consider the misunderstandings, past and present, that occur when people pre-judge each other. Pretty ambitious, we realize. (The exhibit team has an impressive track record with ambitious projects, though, if I do say so. Plimoth Plantation’s current exhibit tells the 400+ year history of Thanksgiving through the perspectives of the Native Wampanoag and the English/American cultures in about 5000 square feet. You can still see this one, but it has to come down before adornment can go up, so you want to come see it soon.)

The centerpiece of the adornment exhibit will be two garments – The Jacket and a Native Wampanoag turkey feather mantle. I’ve mentioned before that the feather mantle was settled on as the Native centerpiece for several weeks before we decided to make an embroidered jacket to keep it company. Choosing the English item was difficult.

We didn’t want an item of everyday clothing, the sort of work clothes the colonists likely wore most of the time. Nor did we even want an example of the working class’s ‘Sunday best.’ We wanted an iconic garment, something that summed up the aesthetic of early 17^th century English society, which captured the extravagant opulence that was the hallmark of dress at this period.

We also wanted something we could accomplish. We didn’t want to have to make compromises right from the get-go because historic materials were unobtainable, for instance, and substitutes are prohibitively expensive. We also didn’t want something that would require years of intensive research before a recreation could be attempted; or an item of which no example survives for study.

We wanted something that would speak to a modern audience, that would be attractive to look at, that could partner the feather mantle. Once it was suggested, an embroidered jacket was the obvious winner; it was almost a “why didn’t we think of this before?” moment. And the overwhelming and positive response has only confirmed that it was the right choice.

Kathleen Wall, Plimoth Plantation’s Colonial Foodways Manager (which doesn’t begin to capture all she does), attended the 2007 ALHFAM (Association of Living History Farms and Museums) annual conference, which was in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Seems in Santa Fe, they have patron saints for everything, and have plaques, or tiles, or pictures, or MAGNETS honoring these many saints. Kathleen thoughtfully brought us a magnet of St. Rose of Lima, the patron saint of Needleworkers, Embroiders (or Embroiderers) and Quilters, just in case we might need some patronage. I was just delighted – not only by the thought but by the attractive, colorful image. Right now St. Rose is stuck to a metal desk in the office, but next week she’ll move with us over to Accomack. Just in case. Thanks so much, Kathleen.

One sample today – Judy L’s. Laura’s out of town with her family and Kathy suggested I might want to process the sample (Laura’s got a system of filing and recording, and all sorts of efficiency). I decided to take some pictures instead. Here’s Judy’s worm. Don’t you just love the worms?

Here’s a question for you. We have embroidery bees scheduled for August, September and October. We have to skip November; we get kind of busy around here in November, (massive understatement) what with Thanksgiving and all. I’ve been wondering about December. Would anybody be interested in a bee in December, or is it too close to the holidays with all the travel and visiting and other activities? We could skip December too and schedule the next ones for January & February. Let me know.

That’s about it from here today.

Samples received! Maybe there was a holdup at the post office, or something, because we got FOUR samples late yesterday.

Samples from Norma B, Rosemary C, Margaret H, and Carol S have safely arrived and been logged in by Laura.

Today, Kathy and I discovered a miscommunication, which will mean we’ll be in a different room on Friday. Later, I also discovered this was my mistake. Sorry, Kathy. We have Accomack reserved for Tuesday – Thursday, but on Thursday night we’ll have to move. We have our choice of alternate rooms, though, and I’m not worried. Actually, I’m relieved. I’m thinking (but shh, don’t say it too loudly) that this is the Big Glitch and now that we’ve found it and made a contingency plan we won’t have any more surprises. We’ll see.

The last of the five new role-players started work in the 1627 English Village today. His wardrobe is ‘thin’, which is shorthand for ‘yikes! He needs more clothes right away!’ but the heat’s off for the moment. And he’s so good-natured and easy to please he made me feel like I’d given him robes of cloth of gold, not a baggy brown linen cassock.

Other than that, it was a pretty quiet day. I took a few hours off to attend an event at my son’s first-grade class. Tricia’s kids are out of school and her family is taking some R&R for a couple of days, but I have a feeling she’s brought her work with her, even though we didn’t talk on the phone today.

It’s time for some more gratitude. Tricia wrote this section but the heartfelt ‘thank you’ comes from both of us:

The Wisnefski Foundation made a generous donation which made it possible for us to have the Needle Arts Studio episode shot at Plimoth Plantation. The show had no budget for a location shoot, which this project really required. Without the Wisnefski Foundation’s support, we would not have been able to take advantage of this opportunity.

Buffalo Sampler Guild – Visiting here just after the project was proposed to me, the guild was very helpful in brainstorming how the greater community could be involved. Many of the suggestions made were implemented (including this blog from their youngest teenage member!). They also did a great job of keeping the project ’secret’ for us.Jeannine’s Sampler Seminar – Jeannine Koons allowed me to tack on a extra talk at the last minute to pre-announce the project to her attendees so that we could gauge interest and start collecting names of interested stitchers. She also directed two businesses, Thistle Threads and Books-and-More to donate their traditional 10% of gross sales at the boutique to the project. These funds were used to help support the hiring of the crew for the PBS filming which will happen next week.

Celebration of Needlework – Pam found a spot for a special lecture on the project to solicit stitchers. They also made a donation to the project for materials.

Happy Flag Day.

“So, want to make a coif and forehead cloth to go with the jacket?” Tricia asked me that a few weeks ago, during the time that she was wrestling with how to get all the jacket pieces out of one piece of linen and still be able to fit the pieces into the frames we had (or thought we could get). My first thought was that the stress of the impossible puzzle had finally sent her around the bend. In my mind the jacket alone was still looming as a gargantuan goal and a logistical nightmare. This coif & forehead cloth wasn’t exactly a new idea, though. Months before, when we were laying out this project in broad strokes, one of the goals I outlined was to increase the embroidery skills and knowledge base of the Colonial Wardrobe Dept staff. Expanding skills is a worthy object on its own, but ultimately I was intending to create a coif and forehead cloth to match the jacket, like the suite of entirely metal thread embroidered jacket, coif, and forehead cloth in the collection of Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. So my second thought was “why not?” Why not indeed. So we’ll be working on a coif and forehead cloth too, over these next months. Why not.

Thanks to Libbet, who left a comment confirming my suspicion that an embroidered coif & forehead cloth in the Burrell Collection is displayed upside down and backwards. I was hesitant to say so definitely, only having seen it in a photograph, but it is put together upside down and the forehead cloth is sewn on with the point going the wrong way. This is an easy mistake to make, especially if one has never tried to wear a coif; yet another example of how doing can teach you things even long and careful looking won’t reveal.

A forehead cloth, or in some period records, a cross cloth, is a triangle with tape or ties on two points. It is like the kerchiefs that were popular a few years ago and in the 1970s. It was worn in the 17^th century over a coif, with the point facing forward, towards the forehead. They seem to have been part of informal wear, sometimes worn to bed.

Thanks also to the several ambitious embroiderers, some working solo, some in teams, who have left comments or sent notes to say that they are also working on embroidered jackets. If you send me some pictures (less than 3MB each) I’ll post some, so we can see what you’re doing and cheer you on.

Most of the daily work on this project right now is focused on getting ready for the first bee, which will start in less than a week (really? Next week already?). Much of what we’re doing, while necessary, is unglamorous and doesn’t seem particularly blog-worthy. For instance, today Kathy, Laura and I decided how many of each kind of table (small round and long rectangular) we’ll need, and in what arrangement. Not very exciting, but needed to be done. We’ve made lists of supplies we need – power strips, extension cords, nametags, coffee mugs. We’ve ordered a bunch of stuff and are crossing our fingers that it will all arrive in time, including daylight lamps, boxes to store supplies on the stitching tables, scissors for those boxes, and frame parts. I know Tricia is working on the master instruction book, which will have all the motifs and what colors & stitches they should be worked in.

I haven’t received any samples since Friday; I’ll keep noting here when I do so you’ll know yours arrived safely.

First, the light housekeeping:

Reminders for the June stitchers:

• If you have and are able to bring a magnifier and/or a lamp, please do. We’d appreciate it very much.
• If you’d like a seat cushion and can bring one, please do.
• Please avoid strong perfumes. One of our number is allergic.

Thank you.

A question was left in the comments (thank you, I love comments!), about whether a pdf of the ladder stitch with zigzag interlacing is or can be available. The answer is that Tricia is working on a book of goldwork stitches and this one and many of its relations will be included.

Alison’s sample arrived safely. No mail today, not sure why. Perhaps there’ll be a double batch tomorrow.

Now the gratitude:

An effort of this sort really relies on an extended network of people taking time from their regular duties to look up data, pull out samples, get permissions, find materials, and all sorts of things. We wanted to periodically acknowledge the growing army of behind-the-scenes individuals and institutions who have been working the help this project and its ‘extras’ become reality. Here is just the first installment of thank yous. Any omission is inadvertent, will be corrected, and is purely the result of our being overwhelmed at this point!It is fabulous to see how many people in this community are excited about the project and its potential to energize and expand on the historic needlework field.

Manufacturers and Distributors

Access Commodities – Lamora Haidar has been tireless in giving advice and helping us locate enough silk in particular dye lots for the jacket. In addition, she has supplied frames and is trying to revive a manufacturer of slate frames. And most importantly – she has invested in having a new line of threads fabricated by Golden Threads for the jacket and will make them available through distribution. We can’t thank Access Commodities enough for that type of support.

Zweigart USA – Jim and his staff have donated 7 yards of Kingston Linen to the project for the jacket and sample kits. They also worked tirelessly trying to get us the linen after it got delayed in customs.

Lakeside Linens – Pat was wonderful to take time from her day to help me locate who in the USA might have a secret stash of high quality linen that could be used if our linen didn’t make it out of customs. She suggested Dave at Norden was my best bet.

Norden Crafts – Dave and his staff located a few small pieces of Kingston Linen that allowed us to get started while we waited for our larger supply to get released from customs.

Golden Threads – Bill Barns has allowed us to bend his ear of dreams of metal threads of old. Then he made them! Bill is currently making a new line of just wonderful threads that will be distributed by Access Commodities. More in the blog later about these amazing recreations!

Benton and Johnson – Neil has also allowed me to pick his brain about gold threads and passed on much valuable information and samples. They are keeping us in gilt paillettes for the jacket.

Coats and Clark USA – Ann Blalock has supplied us with threads for educational programs at the Plantation to enhance the stitchers’ experience. They have also offered to help us with extending our programming to children around the USA.

Jill & Tricia