First, the light housekeeping:

Reminders for the June stitchers:

• If you have and are able to bring a magnifier and/or a lamp, please do. We’d appreciate it very much.
• If you’d like a seat cushion and can bring one, please do.
• Please avoid strong perfumes. One of our number is allergic.

Thank you.

A question was left in the comments (thank you, I love comments!), about whether a pdf of the ladder stitch with zigzag interlacing is or can be available. The answer is that Tricia is working on a book of goldwork stitches and this one and many of its relations will be included.

Alison’s sample arrived safely. No mail today, not sure why. Perhaps there’ll be a double batch tomorrow.

Now the gratitude:

An effort of this sort really relies on an extended network of people taking time from their regular duties to look up data, pull out samples, get permissions, find materials, and all sorts of things. We wanted to periodically acknowledge the growing army of behind-the-scenes individuals and institutions who have been working the help this project and its ‘extras’ become reality. Here is just the first installment of thank yous. Any omission is inadvertent, will be corrected, and is purely the result of our being overwhelmed at this point!It is fabulous to see how many people in this community are excited about the project and its potential to energize and expand on the historic needlework field.

Manufacturers and Distributors

Access Commodities – Lamora Haidar has been tireless in giving advice and helping us locate enough silk in particular dye lots for the jacket. In addition, she has supplied frames and is trying to revive a manufacturer of slate frames. And most importantly – she has invested in having a new line of threads fabricated by Golden Threads for the jacket and will make them available through distribution. We can’t thank Access Commodities enough for that type of support.

Zweigart USA – Jim and his staff have donated 7 yards of Kingston Linen to the project for the jacket and sample kits. They also worked tirelessly trying to get us the linen after it got delayed in customs.

Lakeside Linens – Pat was wonderful to take time from her day to help me locate who in the USA might have a secret stash of high quality linen that could be used if our linen didn’t make it out of customs. She suggested Dave at Norden was my best bet.

Norden Crafts – Dave and his staff located a few small pieces of Kingston Linen that allowed us to get started while we waited for our larger supply to get released from customs.

Golden Threads – Bill Barns has allowed us to bend his ear of dreams of metal threads of old. Then he made them! Bill is currently making a new line of just wonderful threads that will be distributed by Access Commodities. More in the blog later about these amazing recreations!

Benton and Johnson – Neil has also allowed me to pick his brain about gold threads and passed on much valuable information and samples. They are keeping us in gilt paillettes for the jacket.

Coats and Clark USA – Ann Blalock has supplied us with threads for educational programs at the Plantation to enhance the stitchers’ experience. They have also offered to help us with extending our programming to children around the USA.

Jill & Tricia

We have just four weeks left until our first embroidery session. An awful lot needs to happen in those four weeks, not least of which is the release of our linen from customs. Despite all last week’s assurances, the cream linen is still tied up in customs. Since time grows short, for the kits we have decided to use white linen, inexplicably released from customs while its sister – the cream we chose for the jacket – still languishes. We will soon post diagrams and instructions for the project stitches here so anyone may practice them without waiting for their kit.

About the kits, we want to encourage you to stitch a sample, or a partial sample, if you are at all interested in working on the jacket. Please don’t count yourself out, or assume your stitching isn’t ‘good enough’. We want to make this experience available to as many people as possible, not just because we need help but because a project this good begs to be shared. We need a sample of your stitching so we can make sure the embroidery on the different motifs matches in terms of thread tension and stitch density.

Don’t feel that you have to be a master of every stitch in the sample, either. If there’s one you hate, skip it. The important thing is to get involved. We’re looking forward to meeting you!

We’ve begun planning the schedule for our first embroidery bee, June 19-22. We’ll have good food, good conversation, plenty of time to stitch, and special presentations by some of Plimoth Plantation’s resident experts. Check back for details.

I have treats for you today! Two beautiful photos, one of the stitch sampler from the kit (see? not too much sewing time); and one of the souvenir motif. The butterfly is inspired by one on the original jacket. Look carefully, and see how the wing is detached? Some of the original jackets have these free-edge detached buttonhole stitch details, either on a wing like this, or a leaf, or most sweet of all, the top layer of a pea pod which folds back to reveal peas underneath. This photo shows the butterfly finished as a scissors fob. Please note that the kit includes the finishing instructions but not the finishing materials.

The sample kit was designed by Tricia Wilson Nguyen, who has been consulting with Plimoth Plantation on this project. Many of you know Tricia from her busy teaching schedule, others from her beautiful embroidery designs and her needlework company, Thistle Threads. We’re very fortunate Tricia was available and willing to work with us on this project.

Everybody think liberating thoughts about a certain piece of cream linen, and hopefully I’ll have good news to report tomorrow.