Episode 6 Sewing

During the first half of 2026 I will be undertaking a project to recreate a 13 star American Flag using the techniques available at the time of the American Revolution, while also investigating the history of the people who would be involved in these processes. This program is funded in part by a grant from the Belchertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. Learn more at www.massculturalcouncil.org Episode 6 is the last video of the series. In this video I will be sewing my hand-spun, hand-woven cloth into the 13 star flag. Timestamps: 0:00 -Opening credits 0:34 -Introduction 1:13 -Seam types 2:19 -My assistant 2:30 -Who was making flags in the American Revolution 3:55 -The stories we tell 4:15 -Betsy Ross 5:41 -Who designed the flag? 8:10 -Other upholsterers who sewed flags 11:11 -The flag of Fort Schuyler 13:52 -Our new story of the flag 14:22 -The finished flag References: Opening credits music: “True to the Flag March” recorded 1922 https://www.loc.gov/item/00694039/ The Massachusetts Cultural Council www.massculturalcouncil.org Commonweath Museum https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions... Welt seam picture by Holly Field Betsy Ross sewing flag. (1908) https://www.loc.gov/item/94507644/ The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution by Benson J. Lossing. Vol 1 (1860) page 242 https://www.gutenberg.org/files/49351... “Betsy Ross, 1777” by J.L.G. Ferris (1932) https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3g09... “The Upholstery Shop” by Holly Field (2026) The History of the Flag of the United States by William Canby. A Paper read before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (March 1870) https://www.ushistory.org/Betsy/more/... The Pictoral Field Book of the Revolution (containing the story about Fort Schuyler on page 242) https://www.gutenberg.org/files/49351... Reconstructing the Absent Center: Looking for Betsy Ross by Marla R. Miller https://commonplace.online/article/re... Betsy Ross and the Making of America by Marla R. Miller. Henry Holt and Co, 2010. Betsy Ross receipt 1777, Pennsylvania State Archives. Obtained from https://www.facebook.com/betsyrosshou... Continental congress meeting places https://history.house.gov/People/Cont... Francis Hopkinson https://constitutioncenter.org/signer... https://www.chamberofcommerce.org/usf... Letter from Hopkinson to the Continental Marine Committee and Board of Admiralty https://thepenngazette.com/the-artful... Response from Continental Congress to the letter from Hopkinson https://www.loc.gov/resource/llscdam.... One example of Rebecca Young’s advertisement in the The Pennsylvania Packet, July 10, 1781, although she ran the add multiple times throughout 1781 and 1782 https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn830211... George Haughton advertisements https://www.loc.gov/search/?dates=170... January 1775 https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn830211... Dec 9, 1779 https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn830211... April 1782 https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn830211... August 1783 (Deceased) https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn830211... John Paul Jones short biography https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-b... Fort Stanwix National Monument (historically called Fort Schuyler) “Here’s to the Red, White, and Blue” https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/here... Information about women at the fort from personal communications with Kevin Wyrick, Park Ranger, Fort Stanwix NY (2025) And from “The McCarty Family and the Seige of 1777” https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-... Letter from Abraham Swartwout courtesy of the Library of Congress “The Donation of a Cloak to Sew a Flag” by Holly Field (2026) Sources for this painting include: Continental army uniform coat worn by Colonel Peter Gansevoort Jr. of the 3rd Regiment of the New York Continental Line. He wore this coat during his command of Fort Stanwix, New York, in 1777. (I could not find a picture of Captian Swartwout or the clothing of the 4th regiment which he headed). https://americanhistory.si.edu/collec... New York 3rd Regiment watercolor https://www.srcalifornia.com/uniforms...