Some of the designs say that the corner is a modern addition to the pattern, but not all of them have that qualification. So are these corners part of the traditional old patterns?
Or are those patterns original new designs, rather than reproductions of traditional ones?
On page 53, at the start of her chapter on corners, she says that 'most of the corners for the narrow, traditional edgings have been designed within the last 30 years to satisfy the needs of the modern lacemaker'. To me this implies that the more complicated floral Bucks patterns, for wider edgings, may well have had
corners designed for them.
<VBG> Same text, two diametrically different interpretations; to me, it implies that the modern lacemaker (an amateur, not a professional) is not interested in making wide edgings, with or without the added bother of corners... :) And/or that she might bend the no-corner "rule" to a *narrow* extent, with patterns which are "traditional" but not too taxing. Not when it came to the more spectacular pieces -- those ought to be left alone and made as they'd always been...
Of course, the term "traditional" is somewhat imprecise, too... :) Professional lacemakers were making corners 100+ yrs ago. But they were making them, mostly, in Torchon and Guipure (Beds, in England). Possibly, corners were designed for Bucks (or other PG laces) at the same time also (though it had been my understanding that Guipure was one of the "escape routes" from PG -- faster to make and less competition from machines). But "tradition" (the height of fashion which first produced the designs) for *PG* lace and patterns goes back at least another 100-150 yrs. And they definitely weren't making corners then, or not on the "daily bread" basis ("one-off" pieces might have been made for the ruling king or queen, but you don't see corners in old dealers' pattern books -- the stuff that was offered for general consumption)...
If anyone knows Nottingham well enough, perhaps she could be asked to clarify?
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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