Barbara told me that since they had resurrected the magazine that they had been searching for something that was needlework of the highest order to feature in Victoria.  Much like the old days of the publication, they were obviously all lovers of handwork and wanted to showcase it as well.  This fit the bill perfectly she said.  Something that was both high-end needlework and yet approachable by someone not familiar with the art.

We discussed what photos we had been taking, what opportunities there still were for photos of Elizabeth in the jacket at the reveal, and the story of the jacket.  There are allot of logistics that go into a magazine article.  First there is the story itself and how gripping it is and relevant to the editorial direction of the magazine.   The story would need to go before the editorial board to see if it fit and when it could be worked in.  I needed to get a bunch of background material together to send her via FedEx as the board was sitting down that week to discuss several future issues.

Then there is the photography.  To publish a magazine of this caliber the photos need to be lush.  But for all publications, they need to be in high resolution.  That is much more than our average 12 mega pixel cameras can do.  So I started shooting off pictures we had that were at proper resolution.  The visual editor would need to review them.

As many of our pictures were on a black background – this was a problem.  The summer month issues have a light feel to them.  Shooting the jacket in the village was a question – could we do that?  But the historical in-accuracy of that request wasn’t something that anyone wanted to do.  So black or dark it would have to be.  The poor visual editor had a really hard time working the layout to flow with the magazine.  If you want a magazine that is a visual escape – a vacation to your day – it needs to be highly planned out.  You all have experienced publications that don’t take that type of care and didn’t know why the experience wasn’t pleasureful.  Now you know why.  Even advertisements are often placed based on their ‘visual fit’ with the flow of a magazine of this caliber – blending in with the content. If you have a company and want your ad to be placed well, you must study the magazine and design your ad to be both recognizable as your brand but flow with their art direction as well.

Checks were made with all the photographers for the magazine and their schedules, could anyone get to the reveal and take a set of photos based on their visual direction?  Everyone was booked with other magazine shoot – darn it.  They would have to go with what we had if they did the story.

Then Barbara decided to fly up to the reveal herself.  I am so happy she did, as she was able to give a first person account in the article.  Something most reporters haven’t been able to do.

Tricia

Victoria Magazine has an article on the Plimoth Jacket in its newest issue.  It will be going on the news-stand on May 4th for those who don’t already have a subscription.  This is great as it is a big name magazine – a general interest magazine with an average of a half a million to a million readers per issue.  Great news for needlework.  But I thought you would like to hear a bit more about the ‘back story’ to this article placement.  It will take a few blogs.

Victoria Magazine was founded in the 1980’s by Nancy Lindenmeyer, a lover of needlework.  A fantastic editor, she took the magazine and made it visual candy for those who loved fine things, handwork, flowers, and slowing down.  It was the place to go to find out about museum exhibits and many of the decorative arts.  Many an artisan or woman entrepreneur can chalk up their beginning and success to a Victoria feature.  In my early days as an engineer, I loved finding an issue in my mailbox.  I would savor it and immerse myself in the pages – it would take me away from the hard technical edge I lived with during the daytime.  The love of needlework by the editors showed in the pages as accents or stories as well.   Stories on French quilts or Swedish linens or fine silk threads filled the pages with pieces on Victorian inspired fashion, handmade band boxes, English country houses and other pleasures of life.  I have every single issue ever printed on a shelf and refer to it often for places to travel, etc.

When Hearst Publications decided to fold the publication in 2003, there was an outcry.  Loyal readers couldn’t figure out why.  At the time I had left my engineering company with an arm/hand injury and was trying to figure out what to do if the two years of surgery and rehab wasn’t successful.  I was trying out different business ideas that didn’t require me to use my hands as much.  One of them was to revive Victoria with a twist with a friend of mine who was finishing business school.  So we took a deep dive into understanding the business.  Nancy was kind enough to answer my emails and give me the back story on the founding and why the publication was canceled.  In effect, it didn’t fit with Hearst’s main stay of ‘makeup-fashion’ centric fluff.  It was a profitable magazine and the new advertising VP decided it could be pushed in the ad area and over extended the magazine.  Had it been left alone with its normal formula, it would have been fine.  Those two factors killed it.

After understanding the business model better, the two of us abandonded the idea as we didn’t have the capital to get the idea going.  That led us to join with Wendy White to found Tokens and Trifles in a market we did understand much better.

Years later – a postcard appeared – Victoria was going to be revived by another group.  A group of needleworkers in fact!  Hoffman Media bought Victoria from Hearst and was going to republish the magazine.  Hoffman Media got its start publishing Just Cross Stitch and then Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly.  They have gone on to add many titles to their empire, including some others in the handwork area.

The big news was that Phillis Hoffman was going to edit the magazine with Barbara Cockerham – the founding editor of Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly.

It is amazing how the founding and re-founding of Victoria has its roots in needlework.

More tomorrow.

Tricia

If you read my Book Fairy post from March 30th, this post is for you.  During a visit to the MFA Boston recently I had an interchange with the staff there regarding their amazing (and public by reservation and searchable through the link on their facebook page) book collection.  I was there using it.  I remarked again that there are many out there in textile land who do want to do small and concrete things for departments but usually think that they would need to donate checks with lots of zeros.  In fact there are many small things needed in departments and are greatly appreciated.

So the idea of the book fairy came about.  I suggest that they should use their Facebook site as a way to put out things they needed.  Well – after my post, they got some calls and donations of money to buy books.  Wonderful!  This prompted action and now Bill, the office manager in the department, has posted a Book Fairy list on their Facebook page!  I hope that some of you will follow though and help them out.  Every little step like this brings the needlework community and the museum community closer together and begets other wonderful things.

So to see the list – you go to their Facebook page and click on the Extended Info blue tab at the top.  (The April 13th post is about the Book Fairy).  Go to the bottom of the page and you will find a description and the WISH LIST (you will have to punch a button that lets you leave facebook).  The WISH LIST will take you to a special page on Amazon where the ship-to address is located and the books they have on their wish list.  You can obviously buy them right there or somewhere else.  What I liked about it was that if you buy through Amazon OR punch the button that you are buying it somewhere else, it takes the book off the wish list.  Therefore you can do it while supporting your local independent bookstore as well!

If you just are interested in sending in a few dollars for conservation supplies (my next idea for musuems – it is amazing how many places I visit are so short on them!  So many dollars that come through the door are ear marked for more splashy things) you can send it to:

Textile and Fashion Arts – Pamela Parmel
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
465 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
United States

Make sure to mark “textile book fund” or “textile conservation supplies” on the check.  And contrary to the impression, no amount is unappreciated – however small.

Tricia

P.S.  My series of rants on shopping at local independents got the most comments I have seen in awhile.  I saw an article in my town paper recently that summed up the effects on our communities well.

The best part of any talk we give is bringing out the coif and forehead cloth.  When Wendy is with me, she takes the forehead cloth and shows everyone the edge stitch, embroidery and the wonderful lining silk.  I show them the lace and lace spangles on the coif as well as the embroidery.  There are tons of questions at this point.  Usually everyone says ‘it is so small!’

Cynthia wrote in on yesterday’s post asking what RIT was.  It is Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY.   It is a 4- year and graduate school university with about 16,000 students.  From their own website:

Few universities provide RIT’s depth and breadth of career-oriented studies. Our eight colleges offer more than 90 different bachelor’s degree programs in art and design, business, engineering, science and mathematics, criminal justice, photography, environmental studies, hospitality and service management, computer science, information technology, bioinformatics, and many other areas.

As a major technical university, RIT offers academic opportunities that extend far beyond science and technology, including more liberal arts courses and faculty than you will find at most liberal arts colleges. With a strong foundation in the humanities and social sciences, you’ll gain an understanding of both technological developments and the philosophy and ethical issues that go with them.

One of the little secrets about this blog is that since the beginning when Jill started it, we have had a large number of technical readers –  engineers, scientists, stock analysts, etc.  Women and men.  I attribute it to the ‘history detective’ way we have been going about working on the project.  Every one of the lead team applies the scientific method to the discovery process with experimentation thrown in.   When we started doing the FFT analysis of the embroidery, that was when they really came out of the woodwork and started contacting me in droves about coming to speak about the Jacket Project at Engineering colleges.  Every engineer is interested in the application of scientific methods to unusual subject matter.  It didn’t hurt that my real job is as an engineer too.

The next time I will talk to a group of engineers is tomorrow in Miami – but this time in my real subject area, electronic textiles.  Then again about the jacket at an art and materials technology symposium at the University of Delaware Materials Science and Engineering department in November.

Tricia