Inspired by the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we’ve devoted this issue to honoring American needlework. From Colonial bobbin lace and handsewn shirts for Revolutionary War soldiers to immigrant knitting traditions and quilts of the enslaved, these stories stitch together two and a half centuries of creativity, resilience, and identity.

So much waits for you in this special Spring issue as you:

• Discover the origins of Seminole patchwork
• Learn about the remarkable life of Abigail Adams and her needlework
• Follow the cross-country journey of six samplers made by descendants of Betsy Ross
• Go behind the scenes with a textile historian from Colonial Williamsburg
• Explore a nineteenth-century Utopian community and its knitting traditions

Join us as we trace the threads of needlework in America, stitch by stitch.

ARTICLES

• Sewing Shirts for Soldiers—and Liberty by Susan Holloway Scott
• Abigail Adams: An American Spirit by Sandie Cormaci-Boles
• Unforgotten Revolutionary Lacemakers of Ipswich by Mary E. Mangan, Gail MacLean, Karen H. Thompson, Jill Hawkins, Rosalie Bares, Carolyn Wetzel, and The New England Lace Group
• Six Stitches Through Time: Discovering the Hidden Legacy of Betsy Ross’s Family in Needle and Thread by Aric Wilmunder and Lori Love
• Keeping Heritage Alive: The Seminole Patchwork Story by Diane Helentjaris
• Chain-Pieced: Quilts Made by Enslaved Women in Nineteenth-Century America by Mary Fons
• Stronger Together: The Society of Separatists of Zoar by Susan Strawn

PROJECTS

• An Abigail Adams Pin Pillow by Sandie Cormaci-Boles
• Not Just Eye “Candy”: A Keepsake Box Inspired by the Iconic Whitman’s Sampler by Elisabeth Jenkins Baty
• Seminole Patchwork Blues by Cynthia Yerby
• Faith and Tradition: A Girl’s Skirt Inspired by the Separatists at Zoar by Melissa Dehncke McGill