Tricia is writing today, and I can’t tell you how pleased I was to see this “blog kit” in my inbox – truly pennies from heaven. My Day Job is demanding my attention right now, and I’m also fighting a nasty sinus germ. Thanks so much, Tricia, for jumping in. And I’m glad you and your family had such a great visit to Plimoth.

 

The Crafts Center

I mentioned in the blog weeks ago that one of our goals has been realized – stitching in front of the public in the Crafts Center. I visited this weekend with my family and was able to get you all photographs to see how we are doing this. Pictured are Kate and the wonderful visuals she uses to educate the visitors about embroidery of the period and the jacket project. Kate is embroidering on the coif in this picture. I was excited to see that a sample was there showing detached buttonhole up-close and she had the instructions from the blog for the stitch laid out for people to see.

If you wonder what the sign says, well it’s the answer to the most often
asked question – "When will that be finished?" She says that her "When It’s Done" sign gets a laugh from the visitors and breaks the ice so they will begin to ask her questions. Of course, you almost had to pick me up off the floor when I saw it. Doesn’t that resonate with all of us who have embroidered in front of others before!

You may be able to see in the background a number of photos mounted of jackets and portraits. We talked at length about other ‘wishes’ we have for visuals, information that could be mounted nearby or other take-aways. This is an unusual opportunity to reach a cross-section of the public and we want to take full advantage of that within the mission
of Plimoth Plantation. On that note, when I am talking to individuals in the embroidery community, they are most excited about this aspect of the project. Often stitchers will ask me "have you thought about approaching group XYZ or ABC about getting involved?" The answer is usually, "YES – we have thought about it, but we are so busy trying to keep the basic jacket stitching going that we haven’t gotten to that part yet.”

The reality is that this project is not officially funded yet – we had to start before that process is complete or else we wouldn’t get it done in time. So we don’t yet have the manpower to do all the things we would like to do and that seem a natural extension of the project. Well, tonight I am going to put the challenge out to our readers to be local helpers. Many of you belong to organizations who are interested in public outreach – think about ways you could use the project to outreach in your area and we will try to help. Or, think about ways you could support what we are doing and contact us. For those who have stitched on the project, the Plimoth Plantation public relations office has been contacting their local newspapers to place stories.

We have found that the fashionable aspect of this object has really ignited an interest in younger women and girls that come in contact with the project – how could you use it in your area to generate interest in history, culture, and embroidery? As outreach we put the instructions for the stitches on-line and have heard from many of you how much you have appreciated them.  In fact, we have been notified that a guild is using the instructions as part of a fall program – that is wonderful! We are getting orders for the sample kits from this region and thank you very much for helping to fund the project and spread the knowledge in one effort!  What can you do in your area?

Tricia