University of Delaware students and faculty added stitches to a traveling tapestry celebrating America’s 250th anniversary.
The America’s Tapestry Project tasked its staff and residents from the original colonies to create 13 fabric panels, one for each colony. The organization sent the Delaware team a blank linen measuring about three feet by four feet and requiring about 1600 hours of work to complete.
Delaware’s team received the blank linen last April and has been stitching ever since, carting the tapestry throughout the First State to give people a chance to leave their mark on the artwork.
Delaware tapestry co-director Becky Gutin said while Delaware is small, it had a big part to play in the revolution. And that’s what its piece of tapestry depicts.
“Our particular panel is major Henry Lewis, who was a river pilot on the Delaware River,” Gutin said. “He personally funded 100 crewmen to go out and protect and defend the entrance of the Delaware River… The job was to keep the British from coming up the river, because they would first hit Wilmington as a port.”
And if the British made it to Wilmington, they could have hit the capital of Philadelphia.
Gutin said she and her co-director have logged nearly 200 hours stitching each. And Delaware’s tapestry had about 1200 hours of work invested into it when it made its most recent stop at the University of Delaware’s Fashion and Apparel Studies department Friday.
Sophia Gupman is one student who came in for a 30-minute stitching shift.
“I think it is at the heart of like things like craft, like embroidery or crochet or any kind of that…” Gupman said. “Community is very important, and it's a way to bring communities together, as well as educate people about history and about learning how to do embroidery.”
All 13 tapestries have to be completed by April 30. From there, it will be sent to a finisher in the D.C. area to be framed. From there, it’ll be a part of a traveling exhibit.
