One thing we haven’t done yet is name all the motifs on the jacket. We may have mentioned some or talked about twelve major motifs, but I don’t think we have yet listed them all out. To help us with putting directions together and keeping track, we have used a numbering system for each motif. This number of the motif is shown in parentheses after the name. Well, here we go:

Flora

Strawberries (2) and strawberry flower (1)
Borage (4)
Columbine (6)  (note- this flower still eludes us but Susan North feels it might be*)
Pea Pods (9)
Sweet Pea (10)
Honeysuckle (11)
Honeysuckle Bud (12)
Bud or Rosehip (13 or 18)
Thistle (16)
Foxglove (19)
Cornflower (21)
Rose (22)
Pansy (23)
Pink or Carnation (24)

Fauna

Bird (5)
Butterfly with spiky wings (20)
Butterfly with rounded wings (15)
Simple Worm (7)
Worm with Head (20)

What you will notice is that there are numbers that are skipped.  They are the unique types of leaves that exist on the pattern repeat. Those who have been here already know that Motif #3 is a BIG and complex leaf. We call it a trefoil leaf. It can take the better part of a day to stitch. And it is the motif that is more prevalent on the whole jacket!  In all there are 27 motifs for the pattern repeat. What really gets me is that not only do we have these 27 different motifs, but they have color variations too. Plus we have one rogue motif on the piece. We are calling it our ‘where’s waldo’ motif. This folded flower – I suspect it might be a folded pansy or an unidentified bud – exists in one spot on the entire jacket.  Susan North gets the credit for pointing it out to me. The wonderful thing about this is that it exists on the panel at the Embroiderers Guild. More proof that there was a large master pattern that was being modified for each piece. This one was an oops. 

It will be a fun oops. We plan to have a picture of this unique motif on the display so the visitors can have fun looking for it. I won’t tell you where it is either – you have to visit or stitch to find out!

Tricia

Jill adds, Plimoth’s Associate Director of Historic Landscapes and horticulturalist Bob Hoxie was looking at the jacket a few weeks ago. I showed him the mystery flower and asked what he thought it might be, and he also said columbine, independently of Susan North’s opinion. That makes two votes for probably columbine. I’m curious to see how it looks stitched with the modern threads. Some of the period gilt sylke threads have faded which combined with the tarnishing of the silver on them makes them just look sort of a funny grey color. In the modern untarnished full color threads it might look a lot more like a columbine.

I’ll post photos of the motifs a few at a time. Today I have Motif #3, the trefoil leaf, and Motif #19 foxglove.

After a hurried email conference, we’ve decided we won’t be able to host lacers at the first two January sessions. The kits won’t be going out in time for folks to work the samples before the session, and we’re still a little up in the air as far as stock for the spangles.

Do sign up for one of these sessions:

Sunday January 20 – Wendesday January 23

Wednesday January 23 – Saturday January 26

Friday February 8 – Monday February 11

Monday February 11 – Thursday February 14

Friday February 29 – Monday March 3

Monday March 3 – Thursday March 6

See you in Plymouth!