She knew it could take hundreds of people thousands of hours to do the intricate needlework, using a centuries-old embroidery stitch few people know. As if that wasn’t enough challenge, the materials needed – silver gilt threads, hand-cut sequins – had been out of production for centuries and would have to be reinvented.

The story of the jacket and the required labor is told on Nyguyen’s site Thistle-Threads on the Plimoth Plantation website.

(Via Fashion-Incubator)