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The Great Fire - All the Lace!

11/19/2018

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In September of 1666, the Great Fire of London burned for five days, reaching temperatures hot enough to melt pottery and completely cremate victims, destroying thousands of buildings, and leaving seven eighths of Londoners homeless.  In addition to devastating the city, the disaster ignited religious and ethnic hatreds, stirring mobs to violence and politicians to a blame game, and threatening the newly restored monarchy.  London had been a medieval town, outgrowing its own streets and buildings, but after the fire it was rebuilt, with much the same street plan, but wider streets, better sewage disposal, and fire lanes to the Thames. 

In 2014, PBS released a four-part miniseries dramatizing the Great Fire, which is compelling as history, drama, and costume-feast-for-the-eyes.  And I... I love those things! 

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Belgium in WWI: Flour Sacks and Lace

10/22/2018

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Picture
Photo courtesy of Jorie, of EmbroiderElaine blog. Click to see her site!
As a child, I attended Herbert Hoover Elementary school, yet never knew who Herbert Hoover was.  For years, I had him confused with J. Edgar Hoover (not the same guy at all, it turns out), which is a shame, as I now find he was really an extraordinary man. His greatest and, I think, most lastingly significant work was done when he was a private citizen during the Great War.  For his actions on behalf of starving Belgians, he received grateful tributes of needlework and lace which are are far more compelling and beautiful than my elementary school.  So today: WWI, Herbert Hoover, Belgium, and lace! 

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Tineke Stoffels' "Little White Collars"

10/1/2018

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As an amateur lacemaker, I was delighted recently to find some beautiful and unique old laces displayed in an art exhibit online.  Little White Collars is a collection of photographs by Dutch artist Tineke Stoffels, each showing a young woman wearing an antique collar.  Their other clothes are all black, which sets the collars off to perfection, as well as referencing the Calvinist dress code of Holland in the 1600's. The photographs are also finished in a painterly way, so that they look like works of Old Masters. 

I reached out to Ms. Stoffels, and she agreed to answer my questions, and even to provide some close-up lace pictures so I can see how the pieces were made!  What a marvelous lady!

Picture
Girl with lace collar II/Gros point de Venise (cropped). © Tineke Stoffels 2018
Most pictures in this post are the property of Tineke Stoffels of the Netherlands.  Please do check out her website!  The other images are credited and linked to their Wikimedia Commons source-pages. 

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NAME THAT LACE: Amber Butchart's Stitch In Time

9/17/2018

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The BBC's miniseries A Stitch in Time is a treat for anyone interested in historical costuming.  Fashion historian Amber Butchart "explores the lives of historical figures through the clothes they wore," aided by historical costumer Ninya Mikhaila.  Amber selects a work of art with an interesting garment, and Ninya and her team recreate it using authentic methods, while Amber studies the person, the era, et cetera.  In the end, Amber (lucky girl!) gets to wear the newly made clothing! 
Picture
BBC screen cap from Episode 2: Arnolfini

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La Reine Margot - Costumes and Lace!

8/25/2018

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PictureLow-res DVD cover; fair use claimed.
Four hundred forty-six years ago yesterday, the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre began in France.  Today the killings continued in the city of Paris, before the King ordered them to stop (then start again, then stop, no really, stop).  They didn't stop; they continued throughout the country into the autumn, but royal permission had been withdrawn so the crown could avoid blame for the later murders. 

Yesterday I looked at the history and the 1994 film about the massacre, La Reine Margot.  Today, I'm going to look at the costumes and especially the lace in that movie.  The pictures in this post are all screencaps from when I last watched it, cropped to focus the attention on specific characters/costumes.  Click any one to see it full size! 


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What's a Galloon? Some Lace Terms.

8/16/2018

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The first time I heard "galloon" I though it was a pirate thing... it sounds like doubloon or galleon or maroon!  Arr, matey!  But actually, galloon is a textile term.  Wikipedia's stub of an article about it simply says it's a woven or braided trim, and gives as an example the gold trim sewn all over 1700's style liveries.  Merriam Webster gets closer to the word as I've heard it used, specifying that the narrow trim has both edges scalloped.  Do an image search to see the different shades of meaning: "galloon trim" yields a mix of narrow metallic trims and lace trims, while "galloon lace" yields lace trims with scalloped edges.  Today, I'll try to delineate these different uses and meanings of galloon. 
Regarding copyright: The pictures illustrating this post come from various sources... Wikimedia Commons, my own work, and lace/fabric retailers.  I have included usage rights and copyright information under each picture, as well as off-site links for pictures which are not mine to claim.  This post is educational and not for profit.

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NAME THAT LACE: Kate Middleton's Collar

8/9/2018

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Lace identification is tricky.  For one thing, different types of lace imitate each other, as for instance bobbin lace imitating needlelace, or crochet lace imitating bobbin lace.  Carrickmacross lace imitates more expensive needlelaces, and Battenburg (tape) lace imitates bobbin lace by using the techniques of needlelace.  Even tatting can be a chameleon, in pieces like the Queen of Roumania's (below), where she tatted flowers and appliqued them on net to look like a grounded lace:
Picture
(Carmen Sylva was so cool. Another blog post for another day, though!)
To complicate identification, unless you're looking closely at a lace, you can't see how it's put together; from a distance, a cheap chemical lace could mimic an expensive handmade antique!  Laces made on Schiffli embroidery machines or Leavers looms can be very good imitations!  Check out the side-by-side comparisons in this Lace Booklet from the Dress and Textile Specialists. 

Naturally, that won't stop me from playing Name That Lace, which is a game I just made up!  I shall start with an image of a lace in use, being worn or used in film, photograph, or painting.  I will then do a bunch of research to decide on its most likely style, place of origin, method of manufacture, and whatever else I can figure out.  My conclusions will most likely be guesses, since (as mentioned above), lace identification is tricky.  Maybe some of my readers can help out? 

Let's have fun and learn things! 

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English Needlelace - Hollie Point

7/26/2018

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Picture
Sampler, 1851, with four hollie point insertions. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
England, for centuries justly famous for its embroidery traditions, nevertheless has no strong tradition of needlelace.  The lacy looking broderie anglaise (sometimes called "eyelet lace") is in fact cutwork embroidery, and the famous handmade laces of England--Bucks Point, Honiton, and Bedfordshire--are all bobbin laces. 

As far as I know, only one native English lace is needlelace: Hollie Point. 

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"Shell Stitch" - A Needlelace Edging

4/16/2018

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Today, a brief needlelace tutorial!  This is a simple edging stitch, meaning you can use it to decorate your hems and other edges, even if you're not hard-core into lace-making! 

The stitch is called "shell stitch" in the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework, as well as in other sources.  However, several Victorian resources I've found online name it the "point de Venise", and Thérèse de Dillmont simply numbers her stitches (which is not memorable at all)!  As you may recall from my post about French Needlelaces, the nomenclature for lace is not consistent.  So "point de Venise" could mean Venetian needlelace in general as well as being a name for this particular stitch.  I'll stick with "shell stitch" for this tutorial, since the finished nubs look like wee shells. 
Picture

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Colbertism and French Needlelace

3/12/2018

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Today an informative post about the development of French needlelaces!  As I previously defined it, needlelace is lace made by embroidering with a needle rather than braiding with bobbins or crocheting or knitting.  During the reign of Louis XIV (the Sun King), the French government made a deliberate investment in lacemaking, as part of a wide-ranging plan to become Europe's center for luxury goods, fashion, and taste.  They had stiff competition in all those fields: the Italians and Dutch were already Europe's sourcebook and marketplace for luxury goods.  In particular, as relates to lace, the bobbin laces of the Netherlands were fantastically expensive and popular.  But the needlelace of Italy was also prestigious;  Italy developed needlelace from its history of drawn thread work and reticella, and by the 1600's the Italian gros point de Venise, which was sculptural and meant to look like carved ivory, was the needlelace to beat.   The French set out to beat it. 

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    Karen Roy

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