I posted Tricia’s note about slate frames here in July, 2008.

Check out the comments to that post for several ideas on where to get one.

Colleen asked, if she buys the Patterns of Fashion 4 book through the Plimoth mail order shop, will the proceeds go to the jacket? The answer is, not exactly. If you buy a lace or embroidery kit, $20 goes directly (do not pass “GO” . . . ) to the jacket project; same if you send a donation marked “jacket project”. All profits from the Retail division at Plimoth go into the general operating fund, which directly supports ALL Plimoth’s projects, the electric bill and interpreters’ shoes as well as the jacket project and the vet bill for the rare breeds, and . . .

really IS gold, in this case.

The gold thread for the coiling vines is real gold, and, like the gilt sylke twist, was purpose-made for this project by Bill Barnes of Golden Threads in the UK. It is a gold wire wrapped around two ends of yellow silk thread. I know the next question is whether any is available for sale, and the answer is, maybe. Right now we’re tracking how much thread it takes to embroider the coils and counting spools of thread. If there’s any left over, it will certainly be made available. If there isn’t, and there is huge demand, well, look what happened with the GST. Every time I check, new colors have been added to the line, and two sessions ago there was great excitement when Tricia brought out spools for sale. Not one person around the table said “I want this color”, or “I’d like to have this one”; it was all “I need this one. And this one. And … this one.”

So.

This past weekend’s experiment was exceedingly successful. Judy, who worked mostly at Tricia’s last week, arrived on Friday not babbling incoherently from too much gold work. She was still smiling and stitching and enjoying. Lyn J from Canada, Debbie A and Carli D from the NYC area all stepped up to the guinea pig table and took instruction from Tricia before practicing, comparing, and practicing some more.

Debbie reported that the gold is Not a pain to work with, in fact it is quite durable. She used one length for practice and was able to pick out mistakes several times and reuse the same length without trouble. The end you have to thread through the needle frays a bit, but Wendy reports that if you chew on it a little you can shape it up to re-thread.

Even after four days of coiling vine after coiling vine, Lyn, Carli and Debbie were still enjoying the work. I asked them if it seemed to take forever, because just watching them, to me, it seemed to go much more quickly than I’d thought (feared). They said that in the working it seemed to go slowly, but whenever they sat back to look, more was done than they expected, and less time expired. Lyn claimed to be Princess Slow-poke, but she accomplished several coils and none of the rest of us thought she was going slowly. I think she’s just accustomed to working more quickly than most and so this felt slow.

Here are pictures of Debbie and Carli’s pieces. Lyn was working well past the final bell on Monday, and Wendy didn’t remember to photograph her piece before we put it away. We will take a photo to post on Thursday, when we’re taking some studio photos of individual motifs. I think Carli was working on the right front and Debbie on the back.

Do you want to work some of the coiling vines? Our test group did so well we’re going to do it again. If you’re free the weekend of 11/21-24 (this is the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving - I offered to run a session over Thanksgiving, pointing out that Pen and I will be here anyway, but got no takers), either have practiced the plaited braid according to Leon Conrad’s instructions as amplified and illustrated by Linda Connors, and are willing to work on matching gauge and stitch density, send me a note jhall@plimoth.org We can take 3-4 people to work vines, and a couple more to work silk or GST on the coif & forehead cloth.

We are “pushing” the jacket to completion this winter, in time for display at the beginning of May. I am worried about the winter weather too, look at last year! but look for more sessions in January and February. If you want to suggest dates, send me a note.

In addition to the gold workers, we had three lace makers this weekend. Sue, Linda and Colleen nearly finished the last short piece - the second cuff, as well as the long piece. Colleen also managed to do some embroidery on the coif. There are two new plans afoot - to develop some patterns for white lace to adorn the smocks, coifs, cuffs, and collars of certain characters on our living history sites, and to develop a smaller spangled lace suitable for trimming the coif and forehead cloth. If you’re a lacer and weren’t interested in working metal but might want to do some white lace, let me know and I’ll keep you apprised of progress.

I don’t have much news on the symposium, mostly because I’ve been focusing on getting the interpreters what they need to finish the season. I have a couple of firm commitments from speakers, one probable yes, and I have to get back to the couple I haven’t heard from; the biggest news is that the registration will open first to those who have worked on the piece. They’ll get a 5-week headstart to register and then we will open the registration to everyone. We plan to start this in December, and of course news will appear here and in an email blast to the stitchers/lacers. SO please update your contact information. I know there are some who have changed email/moved etc since coming. If you know someone in that situation, please ask him/her to contact us in order to stay informed. You can update by sending me or Kathy an email or calling 508-746-1622 X 8248 (Penny), X 8119 (me), or X 8114 (Kathy).

I mentioned that we were, a few weeks ago, concentrating on getting clothing ready for our child volunteers. We’ve expanded the program this year (only to children of Plimoth staff, though) and are introducing nine new colonial children to the 1627 Village site this week. Colleen asked when one might find children on site. We’re not holding them to particular schedules, being youngsters and volunteers and all, but this is what I know. You’re likely to find children on site any day except Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the time being. You’re much less likely to find any on those awful, suffocating hot & humid days we sometimes get. The children aren’t scheduled through the front desk, so calling ahead, unfortunately, won’t get you any more information. The children are pretty excited, though, and want to be on site. With nine to choose from you’re pretty likely to find some most days.

Next Thursday, July 3 there will be a “squadron muster” in the English Village and I believe most of the children are planning to be on site for it. In the 17th century the colonists were very serious about defending their colony, and being prepared to defend it, both from potential European rivals (Spanish and French, most notably) and Native peoples. We have historical references to the colonists “exercising their arms”(arms & armor, not limbs) periodically, and the squadron muster will be a demonstration of what that might have looked like. We have no record of any attack on the Plymouth Colony by either Europeans or Natives up to and including the year portrayed on site - 1627.

A couple of days ago the children got into their period clothing, most of them for the first time except for try-ons. They practiced first person interpreting on our Colonial Education Site with plain-clothed interpreters for pretend visitors. Here are a couple of pictures Penny caught of their work that day.

A couple of days ago Mary asked if we have another Big Project in the pipeline for when the jacket is finished. She wrote “don’t cringe” but what I actually responded with was a sort of manic giggle. Yes, we sort of do have another or few big ideas. One is the 2009 Symposium, which I wrote about yesterday. The exhibit that the jacket will be part of is actually a pretty big project, and pretty “wardrobe heavy” which means lots of hands-on work for us. There’s enough talk about a book about creating this jacket that I think that is very likely, even probable. We’ve even started thinking about another big Volunteer Project, but I’m so not ready to let that cat out of the bag right now. It isn’t likely to be something very similar to the jacket, but it ,will be similarly awesome, ambitious and unique.

I’m glad you enjoyed the pink words and pictures. I had fun putting it together.

Melanie Anne, the “living jacket garden” idea is still being tossed around, it may happen in conjunction with the exhibit that the jacket will be part of, which would mean next year.

Colleen, I’m afraid the children’s schedule is still very fluid - we’ll be having some orientation and “pretend” interpreting (as if all interpreting weren’t pretend. . . ) after school lets out here, which is this week. I’ll let you know more when I hear.

Sandy, I was sure about the gillyflower pronunciation till you asked about it, then I really wondered! I checked the OED which has gill and jill pronounced the same as early as the first reference, which is 1400s. Thanks for asking.

Laura, I can’t wait to see you either!

Kandy left us a note in the comments that she’s a new knitter, too, lured in by the jacket project. She said she’d tried it before but it never “took” with her, but this time it did.

Colleen asked if we’d ever tried hand pounded oak staves in our stays. No, we haven’t. We use oak busks, but that’s different. Where do you get them, and what’s the reference? I can’t remember seeing anything about using wood in stays at this period, but I may not have noticed it if I didn’t know what they were talking about; anyway, there’s hardly a great deal of information at all on stays this early.

We have room for another lacer in the first lacing session, April 11-14. It may be OK to come for just one day, depending on the day. Let me know. . .