March 16th, 2009 by Rich
As Director, I first want to thank the readers of the blog for your contributions to our project “The Plimoth Jacket: A Paradise of Silk and Gold” and let you know of some changes at Plimoth Plantation which will directly effect it. By this time most of the stitchers and lacers involved in the project will have received a letter letting them know of what has transpired at the Plantation over the last three months. You may have heard that Plimoth Plantation has recently restructured its operations in response to the deepening economic crisis. It required a reduction in force eliminating seven positions – several of which were involved with the Embroidered Jacket. Unfortunately, the budget and fundraising shortfalls have resulted in a canceling of the exhibit that was the impetus for the reproduction jacket.
Before lamentations begin, I want to assure you that the embroidered jacket will be finished. This restructuring means the completion of the embroidered jacket will need to be managed independently from Plimoth Plantation, and I am pleased to report that Tricia Wilson/Thistle Threads has agreed to accept this responsibility.
“The Plimoth Jacket: A Paradise of Silk and Gold” is an extraordinary project that has created great interest in the textile community. The change in our exhibit plans will not mean the end of the project; it will be one of Plimoth’s great objects – not unlike Mayflower II in many ways. Our plan is for Tricia to manage the completion, and then it will go on display for a period of approximately two years at a prominent museum, to be followed by becoming a permanent loan to another very prominent museum. Both museums are of international renown; and they are enthusiastic about the jacket, but our legal agreements are in process so we are not able to name these two institutions at this time. They are also interested in presenting symposia and other outlets to share the important knowledge this project has discovered/re-discovered.
As owner, Plimoth Plantation will continue to be the “fiscal agent” for the jacket, and contributions restricted to the purposes of the jacket will be fully honored. We will further make every effort to honor the individuals who participated in this recreation by way of labeling and other collateral material that will be displayed with the jacket as it moves to the host institutions.
Tricia has been busy scheduling the last sessions for the completion of the jacket. The sessions which have been announced are continuing forward as planned. I hope that these unforeseen changes will not dampen your enthusiasm for the project, which will still realize its goals albeit in a different time frame and venue.
As part of these changes, the blog will no longer be updated on this site but will be hosted by Tricia at www.thistle-threads.com/blog. Please continue to follow the progress of the jacket and research surrounding it by visiting it. New sessions, jacket progress, and research will all be posted at this new location.
We understand that many of you may be concerned about these changes, please do not hesitate to contact either of us with questions. Tricia can be reached at tricia@alum.mit.edu.
With every good wish,
Sincerely,
John McDonagh
Executive Director
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March 16th, 2009 by Rich
After a wonderful day in NYC visiting the Twixt Art and Nature exhibit, Judy was back at work on Friday. She made great progress on the plaited braid, working about 8 partial coils. You can see her progress here. She is also getting quite good at tapering the plaited braid. She promises that later today she will let me photograph the process of tapering - her secret is a pair of tweezers! I am sure that there are many of you out there who would like some tips on filling in those awkward spaces. I have been working on the directions for birds, going back and forth between the photos of the jacket and working it out. I will be posting those blogs over the next week.
BTW - the Twist Art and Nature exhibit - a joint exhibition between the MET and the Bard Graduate School of the Decorative Arts - runs until April 12th. If you love 17th century embroidery and have any abilities to get to NYC, you can’t miss it. Of course there is the lovely embroidered jacket on display and the video which covers this project, but the quality of the pieces on show are amazing. What is really great to see is how many people are in the exhibit. It is very busy, I hope this will spur more museums to exhibit their wonderful collections.
Tricia
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March 13th, 2009 by Rich
The gold tendrils are going forward again and growing on the linen. Judy Laning is here in Boston this week to work on the Jacket. I will be posting on her progress over the next few days. She has decided to work on the Left Under Arm, which is one of two pieces that haven’t had almost any gold put on it. The other is the Right Under Arm - we are saving that one for another dedicated stitcher who is coming to Boston in early April - she will be staying for 10 days to work on the piece.
This is Judy’s progress tonight since she landed at Logan. Very dedicated! But tomorrow we both run down to NYC to see the Bard Exhibit and the Jacket they have on display. So no progress tomorrow night. Tune in on Friday again!
-Tricia
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March 6th, 2009 by Tricia
We have scheduled the first session of 2009. It will be Friday, March 27th to Monday, March 30th in the Wardrobe Department at Plimoth. The Plantation will be open for the spring and the department will be finished outfitting the interpreters so there will be space.
We have a set of stitchers who are already signed up but have room for more. We need a variety of stitching done - silk (trellis stitch and detached buttonhole), gilt sylke twist (detached buttonhole), gold thread (plaited braid, spider web, and reverse chain), as well as sewing on hundreds of oes. So depending on your favorite technique - drop me (tricia@alum.mit.edu) an email if you would like to come and stitch with us and I can send you more information.
We are over 80% finished with the jacket and about 50% done with the coif/forehead cloth. So we won’t have very many sessions left to go. I will be posting the last session dates in the next week so anyone who wants to help can plan to participate.
Tricia
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February 25th, 2009 by Rich
We are gearing up for more stitching right now and birds are top on the agenda. We have a few individuals who are visiting the area in the next five weeks who will be staying over a week each to work on the jacket. (Thank you!). Also, we will be scheduling a session for either the last weekend of March or first of April. Stay tuned - I should know the dates in a few days. We have been waiting until the wardrobing of the interpreters is done for opening on March 21st so we don’t get in the way in the workroom. Plus we HOPE old man winter will be almost done here in New England. We have had a tremendous series of weekend winter storms.
We have quite a few of the birds to work on and they are the last of the silk work on the jacket. We waited until we got better photographs from my visit to the jackets in October. Thank goodness we did. A few tweaks needed to be made from my original stitching of a bird (see the logo above). What is interesting to me about the birds in general is how the six different birds on three jackets and one panel are all done in spiral trellis and trellis. The pieces don’t look like they came from the same workshop but there seemed to be a ‘code’ about birds. The cross hatching of the trellis stitch does give nice texture and maybe you could say it looks like feathers.
Tricia
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