Tallying the Progress
Today Wendy counted up the motifs that were done this weekend. I had high hopes for this session and I was not disappointed. There were many hands working and a great deal was accomplished:
16.5 worms. The plain worms, not the fancy worms. We don’t have directions for those yet. But the plain worms gave us plenty of head-scratching moments, as we tried to figure out what color each should be, comparing the photos of the original and the different pieces of the jacket. The half worm disappears into a seam, and it was the back half that was stitched, which led to some merriment. Oh, and Debbie thinks they’re actually slugs, since they have little feelers on they little heads. Are slugs ickier than worms?
3.5 pansies. Pansies take a LONG time to work, and they’re not as spectacularly colored as the pansies I’m familiar with. Still very pretty, and after these 3.5 were done, there are not that many left.
2 whole pinks. Pinks, or carnations, and in the 1627 village gillyflowers (hence very popular with me). Also take a long time to do, and we’re almost done with them, too.
6 leaves, 1/2 a pea pod, 1/2 a rose hip, 1/2 a thistle calyx, 1/2 a honeysuckle, 1 set honeysuckle buds, and one little edge of a pea pod that vanished into a seam. It was just a tiny line, but it was fiddly to work since the way it was oriented meant a long column of one buttonhole stitch per row rather than one long row of stitches. Abigail did that one. Some of those half motifs were partially done at other sessions by other stitcher, some were the kind that disappear into seams or off the edges of the pieces.
AND TWO of the dreaded trefoils. That’s a thistle in the bottom of that photo, with the calyx of course the green part below the blossom. Debbie did one of the trefoils and Linda did the other. Linda was with us only on Saturday.
Not to mention 9 lace motifs in only two days (that was Bryce, speed lacer.)
Here’s a picture of Wendy working that very first rose motif. She stayed late tonight to finish it, “so her boss won’t yell at her.” We’ll see what Tricia thinks of the result, maybe next time we can add another motif to our repertoire.
Thanks, everyone. I so enjoyed this weekend.
Tags: Abigail, Bryce, Debbie, honeysuckle, Lace, leaf, Linda, pansy, pea pod, pink, rose, rose hip, thistle, trefoil, Tricia, Wendy, worms
April 15th, 2008 at 4:53 am
And thank you for the great update on what was achieved this weekend. Well done, everyone.
Slugs are definitely uckier than worms, IMHO. I have always wondered why they are refered to as worms. I’ve always thought of them as catapillers, but then I suppose they would need legs. Slugs make sense, looking at them but why on earth would any one want to include slugs on something so beautiful! You do get ‘fancy’ slugs in nature but to me they are all horrible, uck! (Except the ones of the jacket of course
)
CA
April 15th, 2008 at 6:50 am
They’re caterpillars! Much more structured than slugs, and as they represent the young of many species of lepidoptera, they can be ….various colors. There may not be one right color even for this jacket.
I wish you would put out a little stitch guide with pictures of some of the motifs. Just following the blog has given me immense respect for you, Plimoth, and the Laton Jacket, which I had always hoped was actually worked by Margaret Laton (which’d be why she looks so pleased in that portrait).
I am working on a 70’s-style hippie chambray shirt ode to the archaeology dig I was on last month. It takes forever and it is not great art, but I had forgotten how much I love embroidery. Success to your needles!
April 15th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Laura,
I wish we could add the stitch guide with the motifs, but at this moment the instructions for the jacket motifs will need to reside at Plimoth as part of a licensing negotiation with the Victoria and Albert Museum. The V&A owns the two jackets we are working from. We do expect to be able to sell a complete set of instructions (our book each stitcher uses is now over 1″ thick) in the future when we have the whole thing done! It might be worth the wait, I would like to include close photos of the reproduction jacket as well as motifs on the old jacket.
April 15th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
I wonder, sixteenth century England had strong societal mores dictating that we remember we are but dust and answerable to our Creator. I seem to recall from some long ago class that Medieval art often included a small reminder that we need to be humble before our God - the fly on the fruit idea. While this jacket is from a decidedly Renaissance time frame, perhaps our little slugs/worms/caterpillars are still reminders to the privileged wearer that while her jacket is a beautiful riot of color and shape, she is not yet in the Garden of Eden and must not let vanity overawe humility.