Sarah and Karin came over the other day collecting library books.

Penny got this photo of Sarah wearing the hat that Penny made and Sarah won in the volunteer raffle last Sunday.

I remembered to take a photo of the final fitting on Whitney’s new waistcoat. Whitney’s also wearing her brand-new petticoat, made by intern Arianna and volunteer Carolyn. This was taken on Friday, when this weekend’s embroiderers were already at work.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving Whitney will be the bride for a recreated wedding in the 1627 English Village. I’ve promised Whitney this new outfit in time for the wedding, but I’m trying to finish it in time for her to wear a couple of times this week. We’ll see. I’m also hoping to spend some time today practicing the plaited braid stitch so I can audition for embroidering the coils. Wish me luck!

Thanks to Justin for answering the Murphy’s oil soap question; he washed the warping board before he started using it, to get rid of the “50 years of barn dust.” And more apologies for the poor photo of him; I was stealth snapping trying not to get any visitors in the background. I surprised him more than once, as you can see. Sorry.

Last Sunday I went to Plimoth Plantation’s annual volunteer recognition event. Plimoth, like so many other museums and historical societies and historic houses simply could not function without our many dedicated volunteers. Denise Nichols organized a lovely tea and social for this year’s event, with music and a talk and reading by Peter Arenstam from his book about Nicholas the mouse.

Denise also organized a raffle of items donated by many of the different Plimoth departments. Penny donated on Colonial Wardrobe’s behalf – a lovely hand spun, naturally dyed, hand knit cap, which was won by Karin Goldstein’s intern Sarah. The first photo is Plimoth’s Chief Executive Officer John McDonagh announcing a winner.

The second picture is three of our child volunteers. They and the other children did a magnificent job delighting thousands of Plimoth’s visitors this year, and they had a great old fun time doing it. The program, revamped and reintroduced after a few years’ hiatus, was a smashing success by all measures; the adult interpreters enjoyed the energy and enthusiasm of the children as well as the increase in historical accuracy they brought to the site. Not to mention how cute they are. The visitors also appreciated the family atmosphere, and our child visitors really enjoyed having other children to talk and play with. I’m sure we’ll see them again next summer. (Before you and your kids start making plans, though, please note that all the child volunteers are children of Plimoth employees.)

Emily’s gone back to Bennington, and we miss her. But, by working very hard and very fast, she finished the pair of stays for Norah before she had to go. I missed the very end of her stay, including the final fitting, due to yet more germs. It’s been the worst winter for illness around my house; I hope yours has been much healthier. Thanks to Penny and Shaina for taking these pictures and helping Emily with the last bits of finishing.

Notice Norah’s jeans in the first picture; they add to the outfit, don’t you think? The second shows more how they’ll be worn, with a petticoat over. Nearly all the time she’ll also wear a jacket or waistcoat over top; only within the house she may sometimes work in either just the smock-sleeves and stays, or with a loose house-jacket over that.

Plimoth Plantation’s living history exhibits re-open to the public four weeks from Saturday. We’ve got a lot to do.

Lace sample arrived from Jill H.

We’ve got a lot to accomplish this winter, but fortunately we’ve also got help. Joining Shaina and Penny in the Colonial Wardrobe workroom are Kelley, Alex and Emily.

Kelley is a Colonial Interpreter who during our open season works in both the 1627 English Village and aboard Mayflower II. This winter she’s been doing yeoman work mending the piles of period clothing and textiles that came to us in December. Kelley’s also working on handsewing a pair of stays (corset in modern parlance) for herself. Stays aren’t a large piece of clothing, but stitching all the channels for the “bones” takes a long time.

Alex is a student at Massachusetts College of Art and has been interning with us one or two days a week for the whole school year. Here’s a picture of Alex with one of the two smocks she’s made. Alex has also made a woman’s jacket (out of plain pink wool, but the same shape as the embroidered one) and is now working on a man’s doublet (upper body garment) made of sturdy canvas. Alex is also working on the embroidery stitches under Wendy’s direction. Hopefully we’ll be able to have her work on the jacket some before the end of her time with us. Here’s a photo of Alex with her latest smock.

Emily is a sophomore at Bennington College and is doing her Field Work Term with us (FWT is Jan 2 – Feb 15, and the students have to work in their field basically full time for those 6 weeks). So far Emily’s made a smock, a shirt, and done a pile of mending. She’s also been practicing the detached buttonhole stitch in hopes of being able to work on the jacket. Emily is currently working on a pair of hand sewn stays for Norah. Here are photos of the stays with the bone channels partially stitched, and one of Emily doing a second (or third?) fitting with Norah. They looked very good on, and now it’s just a race to see if she can finish all the work before she has to go back to school.

*”lackey” is for Emily’s mom. I don’t really think she’s a lackey.