Flag Making in Baltimore

There once was a flagmaker named Mary Pickersgill who lived in Baltimore with her daughter Caroline.  Caroline was born in 1800 into a family of important flagmakers, her grandmother having sewn flags for General George Washington's Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.

In 1812, the United States was at war with Britain.  One day the flag shop was visited by Major George Armistead and two other military officers from Fort McHenry, a star-shaped fort that protects the mouth of the Inner Harbor of Baltimore.

They requested that Mary make the largest flag possible...so that there would be no way the British could miss seeing it should they sail into Baltimore harbor.



Over the following weeks, Mary, Caroline, a couple of nieces, and an African-American indentured servant sewed approximately 350,000 stitches over four hundred yards of wool bunting to make the 30'x42' flag that came go be known as the Star Spangled Banner.



Since there were no flag standards at the time, the flag had 15 stars and 15 stripes.

The stars were two feet wide from point to point...



And the stripes were each two feet wide, making this young lady just over 4 feet tall...



The flag became too large to contain in the flag shop so the women moved it to the floor of an alehouse where they could lay it out to complete work on it.  It took them six weeks to complete the flag and Mary was paid $405.90.

Two years later, Baltimore watched as Washington D.C. fell and was burned by the British.  They prepared themselves to fight.  As expected, the British sailed into Baltimore harbor on September 13 and 14, 1814.

And it was Mary's flag that flew that night over Fort McHenry, the same flag that Francis Scott Key saw in the dawn's early light and the same flag which inspired him to write the Star-Spangled Banner which became our National Anthem.

The Maryland Historical Society is following Mary's path and re-stitching that same flag in the same six weeks in honor of the Battle's 200th year anniversary.



They have enlisted many quilting guilds in the area to do the bulk of the work but they are holding public stitching days so that anyone who is interested can go and take a stitch...

I found a couple of hours to zip down there on Saturday...

And put my stitch into this ginormous flag!

The next and last public stitch day is on Sunday, August 11, 2013 from Noon to 3.  

If you're in the Baltimore area, I highly recommend you stop by.  You can pre-register here...but if you forget, I think they would still welcome you.

They have re-enactors in period costume...

Who share all the history of this important flag...

People of all ages and sizes came to stitch on the flag that will fly over Fort McHenry this Defender's Day on Saturday, September 14.  

Though I was by myself, I had fun capturing the joy of this family that was next to me...

I don't know what it was about putting a stitch in the flag...

But everyone who did so seemed to love it!

You can see the original Star Spangled Banner at the Smithsonian's American History Museum in Washington, D.C.

And you might be interested in a prior post I wrote about Defender's Day in Baltimore here.

Courtly Pomp and Easter Crowns

As I struggle to scale Mount Laundry and re-enter my life here in Baltimore, I wish I could say I had my finished BJP to show you today. Alas, it is not complete.

But, I simply must share some wonderful links and news and some pics of a book that arrived while I was away.

If we could only get ourselves to Versailles before June 28! There, we would be able to see over 200 pieces, borrowed from all over the world, showcasing the fashions worn in the courts of Europe from 1650-1800 in the current exhibition, Court Pomp and Royal Ceremonies. Oh, my friends, the embroidery, the goldwork, the extravagance! It's another fabulous embroidery exhibit in two months! Unfortunately, I won't be able to travel to this one.

Since I won't be making it to Versailles (unless someone out there has a free ticket they want to share?), I ordered the exhibition book from the French Amazon website -- and it was well worth it! I wish I could show you everything but here are a few pictures to whet your appetite...


And here are two pictures of an embroidered waistcoast that my sister and I saw in a French flea market when we were there in 2005... If I'd only had the $4,800 to buy it at the time...


I first learned about this exhibit through the wonderful blog of Ingrid Mida, Fashion is My Muse. She posted today about Lace in 18th century France and will be posting about lace all week long. I loved this post on the Wardrobe of Queen Maud of Norway! She loves embroidery and fashion, and her book blog, Blog of a Bookworm, is a treat. Check out this review of 18th Century Embroidery Techniques.

It all literally makes me swoon. If you have enjoyed today's post as well as my other post on modern haute couture embroidery, you might enjoy the French movie, Sequins, with English subtitles. It's a sweet story of a 17-year old French girl whose passion is embroidery; she finds herself pregnant and alone and seeks out employment with a professional embroiderer who has stitched for the big French designers such as Chanel and Christian LaCroix. It's a simple story of the strength of human relationships and most of the "action" takes place over the embroidery frame. Now that's my type of action!

Also, remember when I posted about Aretha Franklin's hat at President Obama's inauguration and I shared the book, Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats? Well, for Easter, the Los Angeles Times ran this story...A Congregation of Splendid Hats which touts that hat culture is alive and well in America's black churches. But the best part of all, is the images in the photo gallery -- take some time to view all of these hats and the queens who are wearing them... they are sure to make you smile.


I found out the article through Elaine Lipson's blog, Red Thread Studio -- another beautiful and informative read on slow cloth, textiles, art and culture.

Here's to finding your own crown and courtly pomp! Enjoy the day!

The American Debate and a "Japanese" Purse

Last night I sewed my Japanese purse for the fundraiser today while listening to the debate between Senators McCain and Obama and I couldn't help but be struck by a few thoughts.

First and foremost, regardless of which candidate I'm supporting at the moment, I felt incredibly lucky. I felt lucky to live in a country where debates concerning serious issues are allowed to occur and that they are televised for the entire country to see. Every citizen is allowed to watch and to judge for themselves. I felt very proud to be an American while I was making my Japanese-themed purse.

Secondly, I was struck by the enormous responsibility and burden that both of these men are willing to fight for in their pursuit of the presidency of the United States. OK, I've always thought it was a tough job, but we are facing one of the most frightening and pivotal points in our history, which makes their commitment seem even more courageous. Ask yourself, would you want that job right now? And would you want it when you're 73 years old?


To be honest, I was struck by the passion, the strength, the preparation and commitment of both of those men. And again, I felt lucky to be an American. Lucky to have a choice when faced with such challenging times.


My son Jack is taking forensics/public speaking at school so I encouraged him to watch the debates last night. At first, he complained that he's rather watch a movie. Frankly, I could understand that as I remembered how boring I thought they were when I was a kid. But I pressed it...and he watched.

After the debate started, neither my husband nor my son said a word. Frankly, I believe they were mesmerized. There was a lot of information to absorb and you could tell by the tone of the arguments, that the issues being discussed were serious and important. There was a tremendous amount of information to digest and the gravity of the moment was not lost on Jack who is only 12.

At the end of the night, my purse was ready for the fundraiser but I'm not sure I was ready to make my decision about our next President. I have a lot of work left to do on that front.