Of birds, and lace
The bird on the blog header is indeed the same as the bird on the jacket, as Mary says in the comments. The bird on the jacket will be a little smaller, though, and the stitches may be a little different. Since we traced and Tricia worked that sample we’ve received more detailed photos of the original. Last I talked with Tricia about the bird she was musing that there might be something more interesting and complicated going on than she’d first thought. She has to study the photos some more, and maybe consult with Ms North at the V&A. I can’t wait to see what she finds out. Of course we’ll share with you too.
Speaking of sharing, tonight I have pictures of Robbin (of the laptop donation) and one of her treasures. Robbin brought in the piece of antique Honiton lace that was her wedding veil.
I learned that Honiton lace takes its name from the place in the west of England where it has been traditionally made. Honiton is worked in pieces or motifs and sewn to a net ground. Long ago the net was made by hand, but the piece Robbin has dates from around 1900 and the net is likely machine made. Robbin explained that Honiton was made by the cottage system, where workers made individual lace motifs which were then put together to make big pieces of lace. A worker might make one motif, the small flower with leaves perhaps, over and over and over and over.
Robbin bought this piece of lace intending it for her veil and then shopped for a dress to go with it, like the dedicated textile lover she is. Here’s a detail of the veil.
Robbin also brought her lace pillow with her sample lace still affixed. She thought I would like to see it that way, and take pictures for the blog. She was right. I was fascinated to see the lace on the pricking with some of the pins still in, and the bobbins still attached. Robbi
n was careful to mention that these bobbins are not the kind recommended for working the sample, but she has lots of them and not lots of the recommended (Dutch) kind. They worked tolerably well, she thought, and was willing to put up with their drawbacks as it was less trouble than hunting up enough pairs of the other.
These are the lace bobbins with spangles – bobbin spangles, not the kind of spangles that will be worked into the lace. Yeesh, this is confusing.
Tags: bird, bobbins, Honiton, Lace, Mary, motifs, Robbin, Spangles, V&A, veil
February 18th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
In case you’re wondering, I really was wearing 3 layers while stitching — it’s cold by the windows when then sun isn’t out and the wind blows!
Mostly I wanted to say that the veil is dated circa 1880. Honiton lace was popular during the reign of Queen Victoria, whose wedding veil and wedding dress flounce were made of lace from Honiton. She actively encouraged people to patronize the Honiton lace industry. You can see more pictures and info about this type of lace here: http://www.honitonlace.com/index.shtml
Robbin
February 18th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I find it interesting that the lace for this English jacket has a recomendation of using Dutch bobbins. I thought the pattern looked like a Torchon (sp?) pattern, something I’ve usually seen done with the Midlands (spangled) bobbins. I’d love to know more. Maybe I’ll just have to order the kit
February 18th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Carolyn is more experienced here, but I’ll give you my take.
Torchon is a pretty basic lace, and the lace that we’re making for the jacket is, of course, pretty basic too since it is early lace. (I’ve been told that torchon means dish cloth although I don’t know if that’s true. It is true that the simple, solid laces were much more likely to be used to trim clothing and household items that would get a lot of wear.)
The lace of the jacket contains a number of elements from a lot of basic laces. I’m no expert at all, but I think this is probably due to it being one of the earliest bobbin laces and the fact that metallic threads just don’t manipulate as easily and cannot easily be worked into some of the finer laces.
Add to that the fact that midlands bobbins were unlikely to have been around as early as the 17th century. We can’t tell from the jacket whether the lace was made in England or not — at the time it could easily have been imported from the continent because so much trade in textiles went on during that period. We have, in fact, setup the pattern to be worked in a continental fashion with the footside on the left (where most English straight laces are worked with the footside on the right.)
Dutch bobbins were chosen because they are fairly basic and could well have been the type used at the time. They’re also chosen due to the simple need to find a bobbin which can accomodate the metallic thread in use. The neck is thicker than most midlands bobbins (you’ll see mine have pearl cotton left on them underneath and these are far from the finest of English bobbins). We don’t, unfortunately, have documentation of exactly what bobbins were used at the time. We do know, however, that a hitch in the thread will kink it up badly. We can’t reproduce the solution of the lacemakers at the time (and are in fact using moddern hair clips to hold the thread). So like many other parts of the jacket, we’re being as authentic as we can with the materials (the thread and the spangles) while still using modern tools. (Thankfully we don’t have to stitch by candlelight or under 16th century conditions.) As with the stitching, we’re going to be practical with the tools in order to make sure the work actually happens. We’ll actually use block pillows that are unlikely to have been used at the time, but we have two that match, it gives the easy of working plaits in multiple directions which makes the lace look better, and it lets us make yardage with more ease than a bolster would do.
If you’re interested in lace do consider ordering the kit — just working with the threads is great fun and you’ll get a chance to use proper metallic threads that are not easily available to lacemakers at the moment.
Robbin
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:21 pm
First, let me say that I have seen Robbin’s wedding veil at **the wedding**, and it was splendiferous!!
As far as the lace in the kits, and the bobbins — the lace is not Torchon. I think of it as a “plaited lace”, but I’m no expert on terms. Robbin is correct, the bobbins that we recommended were based on some modern practical considerations. For one thing, many lacemakers if not most, started their lace endeavors using “Dutch” bobbins (the kind we recommend). So I have assumed that many lacemakers will have these kind of bobbins to use without an additional investment. And as Robbin mentioned, the Dutch bobbins happen to have a neck that is just the right side to use with the hair clips that we have found so useful with the metal threads. No telling, as far as I know, what kind of bobbins might have been used to make in the early 17th century to make this type of lace. The kit certainly allows for the use of any kind of bobbin that the lacemaker prefers — we have just recommended what we know works. That doesn’t mean that other solutions aren’t out there, and just as good.
I am very interested that your experience in learning Torchon lace was with Midlands bobbins (and I think Robbin is correct — these did not emerge until the end of the 18th century at the earliest). My experience in this area has been with Torchon being taught with the continental bobbins — it would be interesting to know where Kandy is from?? and Kandy, do you know if this is usual in your area??
Best,
Carolyn
February 24th, 2008 at 1:40 am
I know it’s getting rather off track, but I suspect that what bobbins were used for learning lace (and most people I know do start with Torchon) probably depends on the teacher. Carolyn and I both started our lace learning with a teacher trained in Belgium. Many other teachers we know in the area are either from ‘continental’ countries or were trained by such teachers.
However, I could easily imagine a teacher who does most work with English laces but also teaches beginner lace starting lacemakers with midlands bobbins. If you know you want to progress to English laces, starting with English equipment makes sense, too. And for a lace like torchon, it really doesn’t matter.
(And I’ll fully admit, I hate continental bobbins. I did my first repeat with some large ones because I’d gotten rid of most of my dutch ones. And even when making flanders lace, which would never traditionally use midlands bobbins, I use my midlands. I’ve just never been happy with them but I would guess that each lacemaker has her preference. And I do think some sort of continental ’style’ bobbin probably was the earliest type used, either in England or on the continent.