Not everyone can make the pilgrimage to Plymouth for the holidays . . . so we decided to produce a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring 1621 Plymouth anywhere in America! History will actually come home for one lucky eBay auction winner this Thanksgiving! From October 2 – 11 (Today’s the 11th!) we are putting two of our world-renowned interpreters up for auction. The interpreters, a Colonist and a Wampanoag, will go anywhere in the United States, in character, to spend Thanksgiving with the highest bidder.

Whether it be a single-family, a large group, or even a corporation, the winning bidder will share a Thanksgiving meal with a Wampanoag man dressed in authentic 17th-century styled clothing and portraying Hobbamock, along with one of Plimoth Plantation’s colonial interpreters portraying Edward Winslow clothed in his reproduction 17th- century wardrobe (you know where that came from). Check out this YouTube video, which introduces Hobbamock and Edward Winslow, and was produced by students of the Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University as part of their educational practicum.

Also check out www.plimoth.org for links to the video and the auction, and for more information.
Thanks, Wendy.

I got a call today from one of the gift shop staff. There’s a lady here from Australia, and she wonders if it’s possible to see the jacket? This sort of thing is becoming more and more common, as more people find out about the jacket and of course want to see it. Work on the jacket happens almost completely behind the scenes. A few of us have done some embroidery in front of the public in the Crafts Center, but that is unusual and special. Many people who find out about the jacket here don’t realize the work isn’t ordinarily on display.

We try to accommodate these requests when they come up so I said I’d meet the Australian visitors in the Crafts Center. Because we’re behind the scenes we can’t just give museum guests directions to find us, they need an escort. And if you’re planning a visit to Plymouth particularly to see the jacket, please, please get in touch with me beforehand. There are days when no one is in the office, or times when we’re “in” but unavailable. You know where to find me.

Anyway, I met Mary and David from New South Wales and walked with them up to the office. Turns out that Mary didn’t know about the jacket before a day or two ago, when she was visiting the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Mary, a lace maker, was chatting with someone at the museum, staff or volunteer she wasn’t sure, about ivory bobbins for lace when that person, also a lace maker, told her about “what’s going on over at Plimoth.” Thank you to the anonymous lacer from New Bedford for spreading the word.

Mary told me about a lace teacher and researcher in Australia, Rosemary Shepherd, who is currently working on a book about metal laces. Definitely someone we’d like to get in touch with. It was a pleasant episode in a busy day, and another example of how this project is making connections among those who love historic dress and the techniques that created it all over the world.

Tricia did say that she got a photo of herself with the Embroiderers’ Guild panel and permission to post it, so we’ll see that at least. What a trip; I’m sure she’ll always remember this one.

Here’s a picture for today. This is the cover of Catherine’s workbox. There are all sorts of goodies inside, but this will whet your interest.

For the past few days Penny, Arianna, and Penny’s mom Betty have been preparing for a two-day dye demonstration that will happen outside the Crafts Center at Plimoth Plantation tomorrow and Sunday. They’ve been skeining, washing and mordanting, and preparing an indigo stock solution. Tomorrow will be the “hot” dyes, dyes that need to be heated to work, like madder and cochineal and fustic; Sunday will be the magic of indigo. I’ll take some pictures to share, and Penny and Arianna are planning to write about the experience. I promise no one’ll be wearing flip-flops this time.

In addition to the pin ball I showed you yesterday, Sharon also brought a pair of needlework accessories, a shoe and a pinwheel. The shoe’s sole isn’t completely attached to the upper; inside is a place to store needles. Sharon explained that the shoe was a “test project” taught to her sampler guild by the designer, who wanted a group to troubleshoot her instructions.

Jennifer was very excited to see Sharon’s shoe; Jennifer made and brought a similar shoe. The same designer had published a needle shoe project in a magazine and Jennifer made it. We of course took photos of the two shoes (Sharon’s on the left, Jennifer’s on the right) and the two shoemakers. (And I hope I got all those details right. Every session I promise I’ll take notes on the fascinating backstories of all the needleworked treasures, and every session things happen too fast for that!)

On the table in front of Sharon and Jennifer you can see Sharon’s pinwheel that matches her shoe, and Jennifer’s scissors case that matches hers. Also visible are Sharon’s Quaker motif sampler and Jennifer’s blue needlework accessories, plus a second pinball of Sharon’s (the sage-brown one). Riches.

Our Girl in the UK wrote a couple of times today. I wouldn’t have thought it possible to sound breathless in an email. The Laton jacket, through heaven only knows what conjunction of chance and chocolate gifts, was not on display. It was behind the scenes, unmounted, on a table in front of Tricia. She gazed, studied, photographed and worshiped it within an inch of her life, and as she says “almost cried.”

Then, of course, she also got to spend time with 1359-1900. I doubt her feet have returned to earth.

I got a note from Tricia today. She’s in the UK, on a special birthday trip with a couple of friends. In addition to sightseeing and spa visits, she spent some quality time with the EG panel.

The Embroiderers’ Guild in the UK owns a flat panel of embroidery which has sometimes been called a coif and sometimes a cushion. Either way, it is the same embroidery pattern as our jacket and as the V&A jacket #1359-1900. Because this panel is flat, studying photos of it back in the winter of 2007 helped Tricia to see the master pattern repeat of the jacket, which then made it easier to transfer the pattern to the jacket pieces. The panel helped, but the process still involved several hours at least of staring and thinking and comparing and considering before the master repeat revealed itself.

She said that she’s got some great photos of the bird beaks and feet, and she’s ready to start work on the birds when she gets back. She also said that the flowers on the flat panel are stuffed, and she’s curious to see if they are on the jacket also, which she’ll be visiting tomorrow (today by the time you read this, I expect).

She’s already taken over 350 photos and will have lots to share with us when she gets back to an internet connection (this note came from her iPhone). I can’t wait to hear what she has to say about the jacket.

Here’s a photo of one of Sharon’s needlework treasures, that she shared at show & tell this last session.

Melinda is working on the narration for the video of our project for her exhibit. She asked, how many hours of embroidery have been done so far?

In the fine old tradition of passing the buck, I asked Arianna to go through the heap of time sheets from over a year’s worth of embroidery sessions. She patiently, and painstakingly, combed each one, totaling the minutes, figuring hours, totaling hours, checking, double checking, walking away for coffee ….

After a couple of days, she gave me a little yellow post-it with the total so far -

2183.5

Very nearly 2200 hundred hours. This is, as Tricia says, “time spent moving the needle”. This isn’t shopping, or chatting, or even practicing on the doodle cloth. This includes time spent on the coif and forehead cloth, but not Tricia’s hours or some of Wendy’s, so it probably all evens out. Of course we still have the gold and sequins to go, so the final, grand total may top our original estimate, but we’ll continue to keep good records so we’ll be able to report back.

I’m amazed and humbly grateful. Thank you all so much for your dedication to this project.

Because a number like that deserves some eye candy to go with it, here’s a photo of show & tells waiting their turn. I love this; it’s such a heap of riches, of time and skill and precious needleworked beauty and usefulness. Included here are items by Sandye, Jennifer, Sharon and Catherine.