A Sampler Guild Meeting to Remember

   I had been looking forward to the September meeting of the Tidewater Sampler Guild for quite some time.  We were to have a lecture on the Pocahontas Wedding Jacket and if we were really lucky, actually be able to see it up close and personal.  It was a wonderful day and did not disappoint!
   Brenda Rosseau, manager of the Colonial Williamsburg Costume Design Center, breezed into the room with the jacket thrown over her arm and we all gasped!  After so many years of being taught not to touch the needlework it was shocking to be able to hold it and turn it over and look at it with our hands as well as our eyes.  I was even able to get Brenda to try on the coif although I promised her that picture  would NOT show up in my blog!

Sorry I caught her with her eyes closed,

  The story of the jacket, in its entirety, can be found in the June 2015 issue of the Needle Arts magazine published by the EGA.  For those of you without access to this magazine, in brief, it was designed for the reenactment of the wedding of Pocahontas at Historic Jamestowne on the 400th anniversary of her marriage to settler John Rolfe.

   In total, 88 volunteers came from all over the country to work on the jacket and spent over 1400 hours completing an ensemble that included a forehead scarf and coif.   All of the motifs are plants and animals specific to Virginia during that period.  Note the eagle, tobacco plant and sturgeon in the center of this panel.

All of the pieces are currently on display at Historic Jamestowne.

So that was a fun and exciting day.  I have been doing lots of stitching but that will have to wait for another day.  Maybe sometime this weekend I will get motivated to do a stitching post.  Until then, keep your needles flying!

Laura