I have just read Marta Cotterell Raffel's book on Ipswich lace. Ispswich lace
was made in Massachusetts, an industry which apparently began in 1750,
although individual lacemakers may have made lace before then. It is thought that
the lacemakers brought their skills with them from England, most likely
Buckinghamshire, since that is what the lace resembles. One peculiarity is that they
made their foot side on the left like continentals do, rather than on the right
like the English do. The author says that either this represents some
continental influence, or it may mean that it was a practice in England to make the
foot side on the left at the time the skill was brought to the American
continent and it survived there while it changed in England.
There are some interesting examples of the survival of English practices in
America when they have disappeared in England. I recall there is some island
near South Carolina where it is thought that the people speak exactly as Devon
seamen spoke in the 1700's when they were shipwrecked there. Also it is well
known that certain folk songs survived in the southern mountainous areas of the
US while disappearing entirely in England.
Do our English (or other) lacemakers have an opinion about whether the
English could have been making the foot side on the left at any time?
Devon
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