Thistle while you work
Kris and Heather are embroidering to close out the week. Those are Kris’ hands. Heather’s working on a thistle. Thank you, Wendy, for the photos and for the title for today’s post. Yesterday we walked to the 1627 Village in the freezing cold and gathering clouds (seems it only snows around here when we’ve got a session on) to look around a bit.
One of the week-old kids (goat baby) poked his nose out of the shelter to see us, but the newer babies were kept in by the careful mamas. Rose the heifer demanded to have her chin scratched. Tom took some time out of thatching the roof of the newest 1627 house to talk about whether old embroiderers wore eyeglasses (in the 17th century he meant, and no, we don’t know) and a little about how we decide where to put the houses in the Village. Then we stopped in at the wardrobe office to look at some of the mended clothes.
Tomorrow Karin will show Heather and Kris the three samplers in the Plimoth originals collection. Yes, I’ve only talked about two before. We have another, which in my 17th century near-sightednessI didn’t “count”. It’s dated 1808 or 1809 and apparently is a pretty nice early 19th century example. When I started here in 1988 it was hanging in one of the offices of the administration building. D’you believe that?
Samples received: from Deborah P and Angel A
and the first lace sample from Devon T! Wow - that was extremely fast!
AND yesterday I mailed out 21 more kits for stockings and gloves, thank you to all the knitters who have volunteered.
January 25th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
For those out there who think embroidery is just for little old ladies - our two stitchers this week are both barely 30 something. We had a great time talking about our respective toddlers on the first day. Last session, one of the stitchers and I compared stories of our very young kids and their exploits (much to the laughter of the rest). It’s great to see how many young women have been working on this project, we’ve had quite a larger number so far. I am beginning to feel better about the future of these fine hand techniques!
January 26th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Its possible that embroiderers (or others) wore glasses. They were developed into a form we might recognise in Renaissance Italy, and refined a bit in England. They looke like two monicles hinged together to form a “V” at the top and rested on your nose. I can’t remember when they put two lens together and tied them to their head (like swimming goggles) but this may have been period too. Either way they were not perscription, but probably still expensive.
January 26th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Wow! Coming along nicely. Interesting information on glasses - eeesh. I couldn’t work without them! And I’m only 30 something!
The blog is all coming together really nicely, but I miss the pretty header with the bird!!:-( But, hey, we can’t have everything! I’m just delighted to read the updates!
Thanks for keeping us posted!
January 26th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Tricia, I was at the last session (we chatted about our brilliant children) and I am 27, so yup, some not even 30 something’s have been part of this wonderful project. Is there at all a projected timeline for the gilt twist yet, we are getting desperate!?!
January 26th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
It finally dawned on me when talking to Dad that I hadn’t seen any updated posts in a while and I pieced together that you revamped the blog and it broke my Reader feed. I’m all subscribed again and catching up. I can’t imagine that you could have found any better way to photograph that tatted coif.
January 27th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I’m another just-barely-thirtysomething, and the owner at the Sampler strongly encouraged me to try a sample kit for this project (she said that if I’m willing to tackle the stumpwork mirror frame, I should be able to handle this). I don’t know about other younger women, but I think that if there were more challenging projects, you’d see more of us. I sought out stumpwork very early in my learning process, reasoning that I could figure it out from the directions, and I could. My friends who just tried knitting in this past wave of popularity were definitely not satisfied to learn on scarves with garter stitch! One, who is a talented artist, went straight from knit/purl to designing soft toys. She’s already had at least one pattern published.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
In answer to your question about embroiders and glasses I don’t know but do know of something called a lacemaker’s lamp which was used for enlarging the work and also helping you work from candlelight. One of my fellow embroiders at my Embroidery Guild Branch here in Yorkshire, England brought one in for our show and tell last year.As far as I can remember it looked like a normal candlestick but with an extra piece on the side with a glass globe that could be filled with water that would then magnify the work. I have tried to find an image of one like it but can only find all glass ones and this one definitely had some wood on the base. She had inherited from a relative so it was not that old. I embroider and re-enact with a group here in the UK and have just found your blog - it is wonderful and I wish you every success with the project. I have just recently started blogging to share my work so do come and visit me and good luck with your project. I hope one day to go to you area of the US so will come and visit!
Thanks
Alison
http://stitchesoftime.wordpress.com