Catching Up
Kandy left us a note in the comments that she’s a new knitter, too, lured in by the jacket project. She said she’d tried it before but it never “took” with her, but this time it did.
Colleen asked if we’d ever tried hand pounded oak staves in our stays. No, we haven’t. We use oak busks, but that’s different. Where do you get them, and what’s the reference? I can’t remember seeing anything about using wood in stays at this period, but I may not have noticed it if I didn’t know what they were talking about; anyway, there’s hardly a great deal of information at all on stays this early.
We have room for another lacer in the first lacing session, April 11-14. It may be OK to come for just one day, depending on the day. Let me know. . .
March 20th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Please, even if you can only come on Friday I’d love to have you come make some lace. (Of course we’d all love you to come for more than one day, too.
) I gather there is also room for more embroiderers. So come and join us as I’m happy to put my hand to either and we’ll definitely have fun really getting the lace started!
March 20th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Jill,
Ash or oak hand-pounded staves are a staple of the Nantucket basket and are equally suitable for stays. Many 18th c. reenactors use them as a replacement for baleen. They will bend some, not break the way other basket reed does (a lot of reenactors will use 1/4″ half round reed-not as good but less expensive) and generally give you more of the fit that you want and get from the baleen w/o the hassle required of obtaining and cutting the whalebone.
Cate
March 27th, 2008 at 11:36 am
I know it’s a touch before the Colonial Period, but on Page 23 of “The Tudor Taylor” by Ninya Mikhaila and Jane Malcom-Davies they mention finding evidence for wood busks dating to the Tudor period in England.