I’m going to re-post Tricia’s excellent stitch instructions, in the downloadable pdfs that she has made available for the good of this project and the spread of embroidery knowledge. Please let me know if they don’t work for you, I’m trying a new way to do this. Here’s the first – detached buttonhole needlelace directions.

For the past two Sundays I have worked on the jacket (right front) in the Crafts Center. In the Crafts Center, modern artisans demonstrate 17th-century trades while creating artifacts for use on our sites or for sale in the museum’s gift shop. I’ve been so deep in this project for getting on two years now that it is very refreshing to show and talk about it with people who have never heard of this adventure before. Not to mention what a treat it is to have an entire day just to embroider and talk about one of my favorite subjects.

It is interesting, though, and I’m sure you’ve heard it too; many people remark that I must have a great deal of patience, or at least much more patience than they. The real truth, I think, is that everyone has something they do that others would find tedious or irksome or downright crazy-making. I know there are people who own long-haired pets and comb and/or brush them daily. And enjoy it. Amazing, and inconceivable to me. Yet I’ll sit still for hours making tiny loops and knots in fine thread, taking seven hours to cover maybe 4 square inches. Go figure.

I’ll be embroidering the jacket in the Crafts Center on Sunday July 20, Sunday July 27, and Sunday August 3. If you’re in the area, stop by and say hello.