Another thing I’ve found, now that I’m working on the embroidery with something approaching regularity, is that once I get going, feeling the work is just as important as seeing it.

I was wondering if working in the Crafts Center would slow me down a little or a lot; most of the point of being there is to engage the museum’s visitors in conversation, after all. I thought looking up and down would cause me to lose my place and focus and impede progress. What I’ve found, though, is that people are quite happy to watch the work and don’t always need eye contact to keep the conversation going, for one thing. For another, feeling with the needle where the next stitch goes is really effective - both the detached buttonhole and trellis require you to loop the next row of stitches through the previous row. If you’re encountering resistance you likely haven’t got the right spot. I don’t mean to say I’m stitching without looking, only that looking up frequently doesn’t slow the work and is probably better for my eyes anyway.

Tonight, Tricia’s directions for the detached buttonhole needlelace. This is what she named the stitch for the completely detachable pieces, the pea pod covers and the butterfly over-wings. These three stitches (this one, trellis and detached buttonhole, links to which I posted earlier this week) are the most important right now. If you’re practicing, work on these.

See Robbin’s note in the comments about working trellis stitch up vs down; Tricia will send us a note too I’m sure and I’ll post that when we get it.

About the symposium conflicting with Rosh Hashanah, could someone let me know which parts of the weekend specifically conflict with observing the holiday? Linda left a comment about whether a person could attend the parts that don’t conflict, and in order to answer that or arrange things that way I’d need more information. Thanks. ETA: the symposium dates have been changed so as not to conflict with Rosh Hashanah. The New Dates are 24-27 September. jmh

Lace sample received from Linda K and embroidery sample from Nicole R. Thanks to both.

Look what we got from Susan D in Australia! This is our very first sample received from Australia. I was so excited to see the return address on the package. Thanks, Susan, for sending it back. We’ll use your beautiful work in the exhibit (along with the other samples), so visitors can see the stitches up close, can see the backs, and can appreciate the extent of support and enthusiasm for the jacket project from stitchers all over the world. The returned samples really do contribute to the success of the project. Don’t feel that coming here to embroider is the only way to participate.

Susan sent a lovely note along with her sample. (And the notecard’s cover is a photo of a piece in the Royal School of Needlework’s collection, so that was a treat too!) She said she checks the blog regularly and enjoys the progress photos and the “show & tell” pieces from the embroiderers. She sent two photos of her work to share. With Penny’s help I managed to scan and resize them so I could post; they don’t zoom, though, unfortunately. The worm is Susan’s first attempt at Elizabethan Raised Embroidery. The drawnwork sampler is a work-in-progress “the closest I am ever likely to come to making lace” Susan wrote. I don’t know what you think, but to me this IS lace, not so much close to making lace but actual lace.

This is another work in progress, “Sharon Cohen’s 17th century sampler (with modifications).” Your work is just beautiful.

Thank you so much for sharing these, Susan, and for supporting the jacket work in general. I feel so encouraged. Does anybody remember the children’s book Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel? Mike and his steam shovel, Marianne, work harder and faster when people are watching and encouraging them. I feel like that; this is a long project (!) and sometimes a little encouragement goes a long way. That, and knowing someone will notice if you slack off. . .

Last Friday the embroiderers at our April session got an unexpected treat - Mark was working in the Crafts Center making spangles. Lots of Mark’s work isn’t suitable to the Crafts Center, requiring a big fire like it does, but this work is great for that space.

Wendy and Tricia took photos and also video, I believe. Wendy sent me these photos.

Two tubes of the silver thread for the lace making arrived in the mail from Tricia this morning. Carolyn sent a note that she and Wendy will be down week after next to wind bobbins. Carolyn will finish off the wing piece that Bryce did, and start the next piece so Jill H can work when she comes in May.

Joann G’s embroidery sample arrived a couple of days ago and Kathy sent a big pile of embroidery kits out. Those of you who were waiting for kits, they’re on their way. I think that’s all the news for today.

Lace sample received from Julie E. This and all the lace samples are just gorgeous. I get seriously distracted when a new one comes in, holding it up, watching the sequins tremble. . . getting a little nervous about sewing it all together. . .

Lovely green stockings received from Monique N. I honestly feel that knit stockings in the bin are like money in the bank. When someone wears out a pair they don’t have to be cold waiting for us to fix them. Thank you.

Thanks to everyone who has signed in to the forum. How cool is that?

I need your help again. I am working on a multi-media presentation on the jacket project (not just me, though, I am part of a team). As part of it, I’d like to hear from you. Would you share your thoughts on this project, what it means to you, why you think it has captured so much attention and enthusiasm, why you think it is important? You can send me email (jhall@plimoth.org) or regular mail:

Jill Hall, Colonial Wardrobe

Plimoth Plantation

PO Box 1620

Plymouth, MA 02362

I will set up a place in the forum, too. Let me know your name (first and last initial is fine) and general location (city/state or province/country should do the trick).

Your comments will be used in support of the project - for information packets, for fund raising, as part of the eventual exhibit, that sort of thing. Thank you in advance for what I know will be thoughtful, eloquent contributions to the cause.

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!!