“Weaving Emma’s Tablecloth,” Liahona, August 2021
Weaving Emma’s Tablecloth
While I was doing this project for the restored Joseph and Emma Smith home, the Spirit taught me that God accepts our sincere efforts, even if they’re imperfect.
A thin, braided bundle of white, fine linen threads, each 11 yards long, lies in my chest of weaving supplies. The bundle was a section of threads that I intended to put on my large loom as part of a tablecloth I was to weave for the newly restored Joseph and Emma Smith home. I learned an important lesson while winding these threads.
I am a historian at the Church History Library in Salt Lake City and an avid weaver by hobby. When the restoration of the Joseph and Emma Smith home in Harmony, Pennsylvania, was announced as part of the Priesthood Restoration Site, I longed to donate a handwoven item for it. I was pleased to receive an assignment to weave a small linen tablecloth, which would represent one that Emma allowed Joseph to wrap the gold plates in. While no record of the actual tablecloth exists, Emma’s tablecloth was possibly the production of her own hands. I wanted my work to honor Emma’s efforts to support the translation of the Book of Mormon, including her work as scribe for Joseph as he translated. I called the project Emma’s tablecloth.
Although I am an experienced weaver, the white linen thread I received from the textile historian who designed the tablecloth was far thinner than any thread I had previously used. It was difficult to see while I threaded my loom and wove, and it broke easily.
As I began measuring out the white linen yarn on my warping reel1 one Saturday afternoon, I felt a strong impression that this work I was doing was sacred, which I had not previously considered. I continued to measure yarn until it was time for me to leave for the evening session of our stake conference—and the feeling of sacredness lingered. Yet sometime during or soon after the session, I realized I had been measuring the threads 11 yards long each, instead of the required 8½ yards. I would not be able to use the yarn I had measured that afternoon at all and would have to start over.
I wound the threads to the correct length, threaded my loom, and began weaving again. While weaving, I again felt the impression that this work was sacred—but never as powerfully as when I was winding the threads that I could not use.
This is the tablecloth that I made to cover the replica of the Book of Mormon plates.
Photograph by Brent Walton
Through this experience I learned that our hearts, efforts, and intents are of utmost importance. I had made a simple mistake that needed correction, but the Spirit confirmed to me that my effort was still sacred. I keep the incorrectly measured threads to remind me that God accepts our sincere efforts, imperfect though they may be. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all our righteous efforts, even imperfect and mistaken ones, can be acceptable to God.