Wendy continues the story:

Time to rethink – so I went backwards and began again from the “process” point of view beginning with goldsmiths and how the metal is made.

Having done wire drawing (the process of stretching or “drawing” metal out to a longer length) and being familiar with the tools I started there. The actual process which is still used today was a mid fourteenth century invention of Rudolf Nuremburg and was kept secret for several generations until it was introduced to England about 1565 and produced gold, silver and silver gilt wire that was much finer than had been available previously.

As a side bar here- an interesting tidbit;

Wire drawing was used for the manufacture of pins as well. In Great Industries of the United States: being an historic survey 1873 – page 1286

“ In this country wire drawing, upon which the manufacture of pins depends, was first introduced in Plymouth Colony. In October 1666 Nathaniel Robbinson, ‘Wyre-drawer”; petitioned the General Court for aid in establishing the businesses. The court however did not grant his request. In the same month of the next year Joseph Jenks, Sr. desired “ the favor of the court to advance a some for encouragement of wyre-drawing. The court, in reply, thought it “not meet to advance any money on that design; but being desirous to encourage all persons among us in manual arts and trade of publicque vtilitye, and being informed that there are in this towne a sett of tooles for wyer-drawing, and that there be some in this place that are able and skillful in that imploy, the improvement whereof would be of great use in sundry respects, this court doth therefore order the Treasurer of the county to disburse out of the public treasury such a sume of money as will be necessary for the purchase of the said instruments and tooles, not exceeding fifteen pounds ; and the Treasurer and Mayor- Generall Leveret are appointed and empowered to dispose of the said instruments so as may best further the ends proposed, as also to disburse forty shillings for the encouragement of those that shall make cards and pins of the said wiar.”

Here we are at Plimoth in the wardrobe department (surrounded by pins!) and a set of tools had been here! The connections are amazing.

Wendy

Frequently, the first reaction to the news that Plimoth Plantation is making a 17^th century embroidered jacket is “Hmmm. Bit fancy for the colonies, isn’t it?”

It’s absolutely true. It is extremely unlikely that anyone in Plymouth Colony, either a resident or visitor, ever wore a jacket of the sort we’re making. These jackets were a fashionable style for the wives and daughters of the wealthiest merchants and the gentry, the class of people above the one to which most of the Plymouth colonists belonged.

So why do it? Well, the jacket is intended for Plimoth Plantation’s upcoming exhibit (not till the summer of 2008, though, we need time to accomplish this project!) on the history of personal adornment. We want to explore the way two peoples – the Native Wampanoag and the English colonists – viewed and judged each other’s appearance through their own cultural lens; to investigate the assumptions each made about the other based on their own society’s ideas of what a proper man and woman looked like. We want to use the experience of the past to lead those who visit the exhibit to examine their own assumptions about proper appearance, and to consider the misunderstandings, past and present, that occur when people pre-judge each other. Pretty ambitious, we realize. (The exhibit team has an impressive track record with ambitious projects, though, if I do say so. Plimoth Plantation’s current exhibit tells the 400+ year history of Thanksgiving through the perspectives of the Native Wampanoag and the English/American cultures in about 5000 square feet. You can still see this one, but it has to come down before adornment can go up, so you want to come see it soon.)

The centerpiece of the adornment exhibit will be two garments – The Jacket and a Native Wampanoag turkey feather mantle. I’ve mentioned before that the feather mantle was settled on as the Native centerpiece for several weeks before we decided to make an embroidered jacket to keep it company. Choosing the English item was difficult.

We didn’t want an item of everyday clothing, the sort of work clothes the colonists likely wore most of the time. Nor did we even want an example of the working class’s ‘Sunday best.’ We wanted an iconic garment, something that summed up the aesthetic of early 17^th century English society, which captured the extravagant opulence that was the hallmark of dress at this period.

We also wanted something we could accomplish. We didn’t want to have to make compromises right from the get-go because historic materials were unobtainable, for instance, and substitutes are prohibitively expensive. We also didn’t want something that would require years of intensive research before a recreation could be attempted; or an item of which no example survives for study.

We wanted something that would speak to a modern audience, that would be attractive to look at, that could partner the feather mantle. Once it was suggested, an embroidered jacket was the obvious winner; it was almost a “why didn’t we think of this before?” moment. And the overwhelming and positive response has only confirmed that it was the right choice.