Lace sample arrived from Jill H.

We’ve got a lot to accomplish this winter, but fortunately we’ve also got help. Joining Shaina and Penny in the Colonial Wardrobe workroom are Kelley, Alex and Emily.

Kelley is a Colonial Interpreter who during our open season works in both the 1627 English Village and aboard Mayflower II. This winter she’s been doing yeoman work mending the piles of period clothing and textiles that came to us in December. Kelley’s also working on handsewing a pair of stays (corset in modern parlance) for herself. Stays aren’t a large piece of clothing, but stitching all the channels for the “bones” takes a long time.

Alex is a student at Massachusetts College of Art and has been interning with us one or two days a week for the whole school year. Here’s a picture of Alex with one of the two smocks she’s made. Alex has also made a woman’s jacket (out of plain pink wool, but the same shape as the embroidered one) and is now working on a man’s doublet (upper body garment) made of sturdy canvas. Alex is also working on the embroidery stitches under Wendy’s direction. Hopefully we’ll be able to have her work on the jacket some before the end of her time with us. Here’s a photo of Alex with her latest smock.

Emily is a sophomore at Bennington College and is doing her Field Work Term with us (FWT is Jan 2 – Feb 15, and the students have to work in their field basically full time for those 6 weeks). So far Emily’s made a smock, a shirt, and done a pile of mending. She’s also been practicing the detached buttonhole stitch in hopes of being able to work on the jacket. Emily is currently working on a pair of hand sewn stays for Norah. Here are photos of the stays with the bone channels partially stitched, and one of Emily doing a second (or third?) fitting with Norah. They looked very good on, and now it’s just a race to see if she can finish all the work before she has to go back to school.

*”lackey” is for Emily’s mom. I don’t really think she’s a lackey.

Tags: Alex, Emily, intern, Kelley, lackey, Norah, smock, stays

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