While the list is quiet, I'd like to take the opportunity to put forward a theory. It's been floating about at the back of my mind for quite a long time, so I've no references to sources, only distant memories that recently came together in a new pattern.
Probably since shortly after the time I started making lace, I have heard that early lacemakers used fishbones for pins. But I can't imagine any of those little rib-type bones being strong enough to be pushed into a straw pillow, nor taking the strain of tensioned linen thread. This puzzle has always irritated me. Then I caught a little of a television programme where someone was talking about those ruffs they wore in the days of Good Queen Bess, and remarked on the dozens of pins needed to hold them together. It had never occurred to me before to wonder how those amazing ruffs were actually constructed and worn. And that's when it clicked. The metal pins of the time were expensive handmade objects of rust-prone iron, or corrosion-prone brass. Fishbone pins would be cheap and in plentiful supply, and already naturally fine and white. Is it possible that a confusion has crept in between pins for holding lace in one's costume and pins for holding lace on one's pillow? My knowledge of history is vague at best - there must be someone out there who can shed more light on this for me. Please resolve this issue, so that I can ponder some other daft question. Yours sincerely, Linda Walton, (in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, U.K., where it's a quiet Autumn morning, clear but still warm, and the beech woods are just beginning to turn colour - and I'm taking a break from what has been a very busy few months, before facing what promise to be several more busy months). - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
