Along the theme of education that I started the other day, an early goal of the project was to somehow share this with the general public. If you have visited Plimoth Plantation before (and you should), you will know that there is a Craft Center where modern artisans who are experts in 17^th-century techniques demonstrate historic crafts in front of the visitors. I have to admit that this is my absolute favorite part of the museum. I really enjoy watching Peter Follansbee carve the same motifs that we stitch every day. (Here’s a picture of Peter, Plimoth Plantation’s joiner, in the Crafts Center. This is from the talk about 17th-century furniture Peter gave to the June session participants. Everyone enjoyed his presentation.)

I am happy to share that during the August session, we trained a member of the staff who is a talented embroiderer in her own right to work on the jacket. Kate spends one or two days per week in the Craft Center demonstrating and explaining to the public textile techniques such as bobbin lace, double running stitch, and knitting with silk. Kate will now add working on the jacket to her repertoire and be demonstrating on jacket pieces on the days she is in the craft center. We are putting together some materials to help support her so she can have visuals to show the public what we are working on. This was a very important element of the project to me – the fashionable element of the embroidered jacket obviously is striking a chord with those that are new to embroidery and is beginning to inspire people to stitch. I am thrilled that the making of the jacket will be shown to the public. We now hope to find funding to allow us to expand this part of the mission. If you know of any opportunities that we should take advantage of, please let us know (send Jill a note directly at jhall@plimoth.org ). If you are interested in supporting these efforts, please send contributions to Plimoth Plantation in care of Kim Corben, PO Box 1620, Plymouth, MA 02362. Please write “Restricted to Jacket Project” on the check.