Comment

Comment by Paula Harten 4 hours ago

Thank you - that was fun. I learned to make bobbin lace in The Netherlands when we lived there in the 70's.  Even though we returned to the US over 30 years ago, I could still read this.  Some terms used in the Belgian Dutch are different from what I learned - nice to know.

Comment by Administrator yesterday

Just for fun -- a mid 18th c bobbin lace lappet

http://cvosg-kant-en-fotografie.blogspot.be/

Comment by Devon Thein yesterday

I don't rule out that this piece could be a sample, cut from a larger piece, for purposes of having in a lace collection. Along the edges it looks like it could have been cut, and samples of this size were put in collection sample books or just in collections. "Irish Crochet" was made in France and Italy, also there was an Irish crochet industry in Yokohama, Japan. Looking at this piece, there are picots in the mesh. I seem to recall that Maire Treanor, who revitalized Clones Irish Crochet lace said this was a characteristic of Clones. Maybe you should check out her websites/books and youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVGUMBZKR28

Comment by Helen Bell yesterday

I don't know enough about Irish crochet to declare my self to have any kind of expertise, but are you sure it's Irish Crochet, and not some other kind that has a similar style of construction?  I know Romanian point is more modern, but I have a feeling I read somewhere (an old Piecework, maybe), that the French were doing something similar around that time - either copying the Irish or vice versa.

I concur that it's from something abandoned or cut off (an error in the design maybe?). There's either only 1 repeat of the pattern or a partial repeat.

Nice find :-)

Comment by Megan Stimpson yesterday

Abandoned project might make sense. There are quite a few loose threads, and the whole piece has a rather rough look to it, ie padding cords sticking out, the edging being roughly finished. The day after I brought it home, I was working on something of my own, and I wondered why so many loose ends... That was what made me think it was a practice piece.

Comment by Administrator on Tuesday

A very interesting piece. But I don't know enough about Irish crochet to pinpoint its origin or date. But it seems to me that there are relatively few different motifs. So rather than a sampler, i suspect it was an abandoned project, or a segment made in excess of what was actually needed.

Comment by Megan Stimpson on Monday

Hello, I hose to post my find in this group, because I am hoping to gain some insight on the age, and if possible the probable county of origin on the person who brought this art to America. What I have is an unfinished scrap of Irish Crochet lace that I found at an antique shop over the weekend. The thread does not resemble any cotton I have ever worked with. It is rather stiff and firm, but has no scent or indication of starch. The work is tiny, the color is bright white and the condition is excellent. Because this piece does not appear to be cut from a finished garment, and because there are a lot of threads left loose, my theory is that it was a sampler made by someone learning the art, from her Irish mother or grandmother. Any further insights would be truly treasured. Thank you in advance.

The first photo is for scale. The hook in the photo is my 1.5mm Hobby Lobby Ergonomic hook

This photo is of the reverse side view (I turned the lace over to photograph the "back"

This is a detail photo of one of the motif elements and Clones Knots

Comment by Paula Harten on July 25, 2017 at 4:25pm

We might want to look at an example of mezzo punto in Heather Toomer's "Antique Lace", page 39, Plate 22 and mentioned under History on pg. 100.  

I have to admit I find Barbara's piece of lace to be very regular and not quite the style of mezzo punto which appears to have had fillings of buttonhole stitches as well.

So I started learning again.  I searched the names Ikle and Isadore Grauer and came upon the Textile Museum in St. Gallen, Switzerland.  They are working on a major inventory project.  Collections from L. Ikle and I. Grauer  are included and "...served as a template for the machine embroidery marketed as “St.Gallen lace” which , "...partially consisted of faithful copies of historic lace produced on shuttle embroidery machines."

Further information about the hand embroidery machines in St. Gallen speak of the women replacing threads for the men who ran the machines and "...the threads in a hand-embroidery machine are only about one meter long, and it has hundreds of needles".  Now I wonder if these are the same machines or two different ones.  

I guess it is quite possible that Devon has found its source.  Maybe imitation Mezzo Punto.

Comment by Devon Thein on July 24, 2017 at 4:23pm

The hand embroidery machine duplicated hand embroidery in that it had only one needle and thread, rather than the two thread, needle and shuttle set up like our sewing machines. I assume you had to embroider on fabric and dissolve in order to make lace as in the Schiffli machines. There is a description of the machine on p. 14 of this book. Ikle is more often associated with the Schiffli machines. I don't know if he had the hand embroidery machines even though he mentions them in his book. https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/books/archive_008.pdf

Comment by Sally Olsen on July 24, 2017 at 1:19pm

Devon -

Is the Ikle lace made on a background which is later dissolved away with a chemical?

- Sally

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