I love to wear lace, and try to come up with new ways. This Christmas I took the snowman pattern that was on the Lace Guild�s advent calendar, and shrunk it just a little. I made 14 of these little guys - each one ended up with his own personality- for some special people in my life. Then I glued a little pin to the back of his felt top hat! People around here love wearing pins at Christmas, and the little lacy snowman was a big hit! Seven of those special people were 6th grade girls. My own snowman (his hat ended up tipped so that he ended looked kind of like a Frank Sinatra snowman) showed up perfectly on my green coat, and I got several comments from people everywhere I went.
Even thought it can get old answering the same questions over and over again (like in demonstrating) you never know when you may run into someone that is already thinking about making lace. I have a friend who did not know I made lace until last spring when she saw my daughter�s wedding pictures and saw the monogram I made in honiton for her wedding veil. When I told her I made it, she just perked up. She had seen lacemaking done once a long time ago in another state far away, and had wanted to learn ever since! Don�t give up on the young learning either. They have such busy lives these days!! Things are pulling at them from all kinds of different directions!! Who can say they won�t pick it up again someday because you got them started? I think the key with young people is for someone to be available when they show an interest. My daughter learned at 6 years old because she was always saying, �I want to make lace� when I was working on it. I got her a little pillow, and she started on the lace patterns in �Lace Cards for Young People�. Her favorite item was a bobbin we bought her from the Springett�s inscribed �I love my Cabbage Patch Kids�. When we lived in Georgia, I used to demonstrate lacemaking, and she would come and make lace with me. She was the hit of the event! She even had a real sweet item written about her by a columnist for the Macon Telegraph! No, my daughter is not making lace today. She is a teacher, wife and expectant mom, but when she got married and left home, she made sure she took her Cabbage Patch bobbin with her. Who can say what lies ahead? I also agree strongly that young people should be encouraged to design lace! Even if the teen has no experience in the field, a lacemaker can probably make the design into a workable pattern! Our lace group in Georgia had a Valentine contest and one of the ladies took a drawing that my daughter had given to her called �Alien Valentine� and designed a piece of lace from it! If we asked young people to create a design that they would like to wear, I�m sure that we would probably be surprised at the results as well as how interested they might become in the whole process! We could be inspiring the lacemakers and designers of tomorrow! And judging from most of the pictures of lacemakers that I�ve seen, it can�t hurt :-). Being over 50 myself, my own husband has asked me more than once what we should do with all my lacemaking supplies when I�m gone! :-) (My daughter has already put her claim in...) Debbie in Florida [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note the different email address... was mmouzon @ bellsouth.net) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
