After that meeting Mark went away with research and ideas. A few weeks later, which was last November, he arrived in the Wardrobe Department with, in Wendy’s words “a battered coffee can under his arm and a big grin on his face!” Wendy goes on:

The most amazing things tumbled out of that coffee can! Mark had made the tool, a small hole punch, a poker, a pusher and a die! And SPANGLES!!!!!!! They looked like the pictures! What joy!

Here’s Jill again. Since then, Mark and I have talked about how he went about making the spangles. Some of the process is clear from the originals, that they were punched, for example, and from a strip of gilt silver, like a ribbon, not from a big flat piece like a sheet of paper. Some, though, of what he’s done is conjecture. It’s one way to solve the puzzle of how to get this result, not the only way and not necessarily exactly the way 17th-century artisans did it.

Since that day, the trouble has been how & where to get some silver electroplated with gold and rolled to the correct thickness. Mark has solved all those problems, with the help of some new friends. A few weeks ago he and Wendy and Tricia questioned whether the gold layer was thick enough; they solved that too. Friday I got this message from Mark:

Hi Jill,

I have spangle stock in hand and i can have a quantity made for the 29th. I must show you the gilded ribbon it’s cool.

Mark

We are in business.

The next session on March 28 will see Robbin and Carolyn working with the reproduction spangles and the real lace pattern (the repro of the Laton lace, not the equally lovely but not-the-property-of-the-V&A pattern that went out in the kits) to work out any bugs.

I can begin taking real honest & true reservations for the subsequent scheduled sessions. Three lacers who were ready to come in February and got bumped have first dibs, and I will send out an email to them first thing in the morning (unless they see this and get in touch with me first) to find out if they would like to/are able to come for any part of the April 11 -14 session.

The next sessions are:

Friday May 16 – Monday May 19

Friday May 30- Monday June 2

Friday June 20- Monday June 23

If these sessions are not convenient, please call and let me know. I avoided Mothers’ & Fathers’ Day and Memorial Day thinking everyone would have other plans. If your idea of a great holiday is to come make lace, we can work that out. Let me know.

I’ll be scheduling more sessions; we’ll be working through the summer. Don’t worry – the office is air-conditioned and Plymouth has one of the coldest beaches on the Atlantic coast (that’s a good thing). Please feel free to suggest weekends or weekdays in July, August and September that would be good for embroidery or lace making.

We can have two lacers working at a time. Some have asked if they can make lace for one or two days and embroider for the rest of the session. That is absolutely OK, if you do an embroidery sample kit and learn the embroidery procedure. Also, we’ll have the same deal for lacers as for embroiderers, which is that once you’ve come during a session and learned the drill, you can then come anytime, whenever it suits you whether or not we have a scheduled session. Contact Kathy for embroidery and lace kits, kroncarati@plimoth.org or 508-746-1622 X 8114

As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns jhall@plimoth.org or 508-746-1622 X 8119 – and yippee!!

May be sent to

Plimoth Plantation

c/o Kim Corben, Development

PO Box 1620

Plymouth, MA 02362

Please write on your check or enclose with your contribution a note saying:

“Restricted to Embroidered Jacket Project” or something to that effect.

And thank you so much for asking!

Cheryl asked how much we need. I will sweep together the estimates and let you know in dollars, but here’s a list of expenses.

Every time we have an embroidery session we need to buy food supplies. It is most cost effective, not to mention most delicious to have Marcia cooking for us, we spend much less than if we bought food through a restaurant, but depending on number of participants and number of days we need $200-400.

We need to buy some supplies for the lace making; pins, prickers, cards for the prickings and some other things.

We need to buy the silver and gold for the teardrop spangles.

We need to buy the gold and silver threads for the lace.

We’ll need more GST, especially the first three colors – bisse, carnation and redde.

These are just materials costs; I’ll have to look up the figures on what we allowed (in the grant application) for a hired embroideress for the vines. Plus, I’m sure I’m forgetting something….

Ah, yes, I was just reminded about buying the sequins, the little round bits that’ll be sewn onto the cloth itself. (These were and, I think, still are made by coiling a wire and smacking it sharply to flatten it, Susan. The teardrop ones, though, were punched out of a flat piece of metal, almost a metal ribbon. The historic spangles themselves told us, by the striations visible at high magnification, by the ‘burls’ on the edges of the spangle and the edge of the hole, and by the irregular spangles, the ones punched too close to the edge of the ribbon or too close to their neighbor spangle. That’s the abridged version, but more will be coming soon, and with photos.)

Tricia has promised more blogs, including instructions for the plaited braid stitch and more on the teardrop spangle quest. I have on hand a few more blogs written by Wendy on spangle history, teardrop and other shapes, and I will start with those tomorrow, hopefully.

See you then.

1. Are you going to Celebration of Needlework in Nashua, NH May 2 – 5? Would you like to stop in Plymouth coming or going to stitch on the jacket? We’re having “shoulder sessions” the couple of days before and after. Call me [508-746-1622 X 8119] or email jhall@plimoth.org to sign up.

2. Thank you to everyone who weighed in on the Mystery of Melanie Anne’s grandmother’s embroideries. I love starting conversations here that continue in the comments. I’m looking forward to unveiling the forum so we can have even more conversations.

3. Speaking of conversations in the comments, I should have clarified what I meant by our experimenting with using reeds as stiffeners in stays (corsets). We have used marsh reeds, the sort native to this area, that maybe perhaps the early colonists might have used if they made or repaired stays. (That, and getting reeds native to England that might have come over in already-sewn stays was Too Much.) I have heard of using basketry reeds to stiffen stays as a substitute for the unavailable whalebone. I tried that a few years ago, but the reed we got came in a coil. I cut it to size and filled the channels, but it kept shifting and curling. I was told to soak it to take the curl out, and I tried, BUT it still curled. How to describe…it didn’t curl against or away from the body of the wearer, but sideways. It did not look good. I gave up on the basketry reed.

4. Picture! Catherine from Kansas came to a session in January with her friend Deb. The weather they left at home was so cold we joked that they’d had a beach vacation in Plymouth. This is one of the exquisite pieces Catherine brought for show & tell.

At our last session, Chris was our only new stitcher. She was also our only stitcher from out of town – from Michigan. I think (I hope) some folks are waiting for our spring sessions to avoid the New England winter weather. But for some, like Chris, and like Catherine and Deb a few weeks ago who are from Kansas, a trip to Plymouth is a beach holiday compared to the weather at home.

It was great to meet Chris, a talented stitcher and fun to be around. She showed us a pair of her granddaughter’s jeans that she is embroidering. These have an underwater theme – fish and kelp. Chris turned the ruffles on the side into a coral reef by blanket-stitching the edges. These are the second pair her granddaughter asked for; the first have flowers on the bottom of the legs and a bouquet on the pocket. What a special gift for a precious child. And I bet she’s so proud of her one-of-a-kind jeans and her talented grandmother.

Chris was having a real vacation after leaving us; she was headed to visit friends in Florida. She’s on her way home to frozen Michigan now, and I hope she’s had safe, happy travels.

samples received: Lisa G (embroidery); Susan L (lace)

One thing that touches me every time is how grateful the stitchers are to be involved in the recreation of this jacket. It amazes me, because I feel so grateful to all of you – after all, if you didn’t show up, on the blog, in person, by buying kits, by contributing your knowledge and experience, by stitching, well, I don’t even like to think about it.

I need to thank the members of Team Lace for their hard work developing the lace kits that are winging their way all over creation these days. (So many in fact that Kathy asked Tricia to put together another dozen!)

First, a huge debt of gratitude to Carolyn H, who spearheaded the whole endeavor. Without her energy and commitment, the lace would be nowhere.

Holly van Sciver of Van Sciver Bobbin Lace for consulting for development of the lace sample kit, and especially making the final pricking for both the kit lace and the Laton lace (the one we’ll use on the jacket).

Shirley E — working on a final version of the pricking
Robbin D, Catherine K — beta testing the instructions and pricking
Tamara D, Devon T, Susan L — helping out with identifying period appropriate techniques, and especially with working diagrams.

The last two posts have sparked more thanks. This from Robbin:

A large part of the thanks (to the Mayflower Sampler Guild for the donation to support the sampler conservation) goes to the designers over the years who have given us designs for Christmas ornaments. These have been turned into limited edition kits that we’ve sold to raise the conservation funds. So thanks also go to the designers who have given us designs over the years — Martina Webber (Chatelaine), Ellen Chester (With My Needle), Rae Iverson (Moss Creek Designs), Lauren Sauer (Forget Me Not in Stitches) and Catherine Theron (Theron Traditions), along with Linda Connors, our outgoing program chair who arranged for so many wonderful donations.

And from Jen:

I have to agree that Wendy is awesome. She is humor, wit, mischievious devil and guardian angel all in one. One of the many blessings of working on the jacket project is meeting the other fabulous and generous folks pushing and pulling it into existence.

Well put.

Here are answers to Robbin and Linda’s questions from the comments. This new blog program has the capability for us to create and post pages that can be linked to, which will give Rich and me the ability to put up a page with, say, a standard write-up of the Textile Conservation Fund, plus a couple of Karin-approved pictures (I’ll ask her for those next week, Robbin). Then anyone could download that to share with guilds or local needlework shops or what have you. In the mean time, check out the blog entry for November 14, 2007 titled “Ta-Da!”

Which brings me to more gratitude. I was able to find that entry in about 30 seconds flat, thanks to Lyn from Ontario, Canada. Lyn has undertaken an extraordinary job in service to the cause – she’s indexed the entire blog. Last October she brought me a binder with the first 5 months of the blog printed out on numbered pages (sounds obvious, but isn’t) with an INDEX of topics. To see our work all put together like that, looking like an accomplishment, and with the gift of time Lyn had lavished on organizing my chatter, well, I was just overwhelmed. I nearly blogged about it several times, but it was such a special treat, I didn’t have the words.

Yesterday I found a box in my office with an updated index. Lyn’s note said “I thought 250 days was a good time for an update of the indexed blog text.” 250 days. I hadn’t thought of our odyssey in those terms. Anyway, when I wanted to know where the textile fund announcement was, I merely flipped to the index and then right to the page. This index is helping immeasurably as I manually recategorize the old entries and add tags. I still don’t really have the words, but being able to see the blog in a concrete, whole form like this is more than a gift of a time-saver. It’s sort of a gift of encouragement.

Here are two pictures of Lyn, one of her skilled hands working as she has done more than one session already (and planning at least another trip as soon as the SNOW is gone) and another of her looking over a project with Sharon. I didn’t get many pictures of Lyn because she was always at the frame.

So, thanks. Thanks to all of you, for giving me a reason to keep writing.

Today Plimoth Plantation’s Textile Conservation Fund received a very generous donation from the Mayflower Sampler Guild. The guild’s donation will support the conservation of the “EC” sampler, dated 1660. In this picture, Tricia and Wendy are drooling over I mean examining “EC”. It’s a fantastic sampler, and includes both whitework and colored silk embroidery. Anyone may contribute to the Textile Conservation Fund by sending a contribution clearly marked ‘for textile conservation fund’ to Plimoth Plantation, care of Kim Corben, PO Box 1620 Plymouth MA 02362.

Sincere thanks on behalf of EC to the Mayflower Sampler Guild for helping her into a more comfortable and secure condition.

Samples arrived from Abigail W, Margi O, Lucinda T, and Heather R.

I went looking through the blog for the entry where I explained all about the sample kits, and I didn’t find one. I’ve written about the kits several times but never here. This bit is old news for some, but better to hear it twice than miss it completely so…

From the beginning of this project we have been planning ways to involve the whole community of needleworkers. This blog is one; we’re also placing articles in as many magazines and journals as possible and making presentations to groups. Also, and most importantly, we’re inviting embroiderers to travel to Plymouth, MA to work on it, not on samples but on the real jacket itself. We’ve already had one embroidery session and the second is coming right up August 8-10. It’s not too late to jump in, however.

We have a simple system to coordinate those who would like to participate in this once in a lifetime opportunity and to ensure that the finished piece most closely resembles an original 17^th century jacket. Each prospective stitcher must complete a sample piece (available as a kit from Plimoth Plantation, see below) and send it to Plimoth Plantation. These samples will be used to assemble teams of stitchers whose individual thread tension and stitch length match each other. This way we will be able to create a jacket that represents a team of professional workers (as the originals were produced), and we will be able to accommodate as many embroiderers as possible.

To order a sample stitching kit, please contact Kathy Roncarati at (508) 746-1622 ext. 8114, or kroncarati@plimoth.org.

Each kit includes the same materials which will be used for the jacket, 50 ct cream Kingston linen and Au Ver a Soie Perlee silk, in sufficient quantities to work both the sample (to be returned to Plimoth Plantation) and one complete motif (to be kept by the embroiderer).

The sample does not require a great deal of time to complete. A small area of detached buttonhole stitch and its outline, trellis stitch and its outline, detached buttonhole with free edge and its outline, spiral trellis and its outline, knot stitch, and ladder stitch in silk will enable us to create teams. The kit includes comprehensive directions for each stitch, a color copy of a worked piece for reference, and a label to identify your sample.

In addition, the kit includes instructions and materials for a souvenir butterfly adapted from the inspiration pieces for you to keep. The butterfly is stitched in red, pink, gold and black Au Ver a Soie Perlee silk on 50 ct. cream Kingston linen. It is surrounded by gold spangles and is appropriate for finishing into a scissors fob or ornament (finishing materials not included). A CD Rom of the embroidery in process will be included as well as complete directions.

Samples, and the enclosed questionnaire, should be returned to Plimoth Plantation as soon as possible. Samples will be retained by Plimoth for use in matching individuals for stitching and also as examples to show the public what the embroidery is like close up. The completed jacket will be mounted and displayed in a Plexiglas case. It, along with a Native Wampanoag turkey feather mantle, will form the centerpiece of a new exhibit on the history of personal adornment, planned to open in the summer of 2008.

The sample stitching kit is available for $40 plus $5 shipping and handling (international shipping costs may vary), and includes a $20 tax-deductible donation to the project which will be used to offset the materials costs.

Here’s Tricia:

I had to get these pictures up on the blog as it just shows the magic of doing this project. Here we see the last day of session 1 after moving back to the Wardrobe department. One of our intrepid stitchers, Carrie, is working away and one of the interpreters marched in to do a little work after her shift in the village. The meeting of the old and new. I didn’t get a picture of her making copies at the Xerox (so funny), but it is always fun when the interpreters walk in and can finally speak in our current century. Being able to share the project back and forth puts you in a bit of a time machine! That is the magic of living history.

Now a bit about our stitchers. The young lady in this picture is Carrie Midura. She runs a business in making historically accurate clothing for re-enactors (www.cherrydawson.com). I found her profession so interesting. Being a professional – Carrie embroidered like a woman on fire and made wonderful progress all week. As a young embroiderer myself, I was really happy to look around the room and find many of the women there in their early 30’s. As we are hoping that this knowledge base won’t die, I was thrilled to find many who were working at a high level of skill and were interested in being involved. Now we have to pass it along to our younger friends.

Tricia