Greetings All, In Aug 1985 DH and I moved from Darwin to Palmerston, a new development about 19ks from the centre of Darwin. The population was about 3000 at the time. The first Mayor and Council had been elected in June.
The Darwin City Council bought a new robe and jabot for their Mayor and gave their old ones to Palmerston. Some years later I started bobbin lace and the second Mayor of Palmerston was elected and he spoke at a meeting I happened to attend so I had a good look at the outfit. Not very nice to say the least. The robe had been nice but it was made in London for local climate conditions - thick padding across the shoulders for warmth and trimmed in brown fur. I spoke to the Mayor and suggested something should be done and soon! He agreed! By this time there was a small group of lacemakers in Palmerston, Liz Ligetti (Hi Liz) had visited us, and I had joined the Lacemakers Circle. Liz told me how they had made the jabot for their Mayor and then there was an article in the Circle mag about a jabot a group in England had made so I wrote over there to, I think it was Deborah Robinson for advice. The group in England had done theirs in strips instead of one long length. This appealed to me because I thought several people would be working on it and each could do a strip avoiding passing a pillow around. As it turned out no one else was interested so I decided to do it alone and promised to make a hankie edge for the Mayor's wife using the same pattern. Like, Aurelia, I thought it should be in Point Ground. Pat Milne (Hi Pat) stopped off in Darwin on her way home and I talked to her about the project. I had only done a little bit of Bucks but I think Pat suggested Pamela Nottingham's Duke's Garter pattern. Pat drew the pricking for me on her computer in Turbo Cad - before any lace programs were available. Instead of one long length I did I think 9 strips. Started with the longest! Put a No 20 crochet thread down the footside for gathering. A friend sewed them onto some nice linen and that onto a band with Velcro at the ends so it is adjustable. The presentation was no big deal! The Mayor put his robe on and then the jabot and then he paid me the best compliment possible IMHO! He patted it and said "Yes, it is comfortable". Most important! Finally did the hankie for his wife a couple of years ago long after they left Palmerston. I think she appreciates it too. I belonged to the CWA and we decided to do something about the robe so we had the woman that sewed the jabot remove the padding in the back and the fur. She replaced the fur with black velvet. Later a lady was elected Mayor. She is much taller so I think they bought a new robe but as far as I know she is still wearing the hand made lace jabot for special occasions. Aren't you glad I don't write very often!! Jackie in Brisbane where it has gone cloudy and we are promised rain but it just never happens - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
