On Wed, 3 Jan 2007 12:59:20 EST, Devon wrote: >I was afraid that it might be that kind of "Lace". That area of England does >not seem to have much of a lacemaking tradition. It has no tradition of lacemaking whatsoever. Manchester was a big centre for the cotton industry and Macclesfield for the silk industry.
>I am planning a trip to >include Bowes Museum which will probably start and end in Manchester reaching >Glasgow and Edinburgh if all goes well. Also hoping to hit the Ruskin Museum. >Does anyone have familiarity with the Gallery of English Costume in >Manchester? According to the Lace Guild guide it has an "extensive collection >of lace >of all types including lace on costumes and some special collections. Lace is >not always displayed but three people at a time may study the lace by prior >appointment. Some lace can be handled and photographed without flash." I live in Manchester and have often been to the Gallery. They have some permanent exhibits that change very rarely and some space for short term exhibitions, usually 2-3 months or so. The permanent exhibits include a small amount of lace. I can take a quick look and see what is on display and let you know if you remind me shortly before your visit. I've never asked to study lace or anything else there, just visited the public displays. However for lace study the place that should be on your itinerary is the Whitworth Art Gallery which is part of the University of Manchester, less than 2 miles up the road from the Costume Gallery. The Whitworth has one of the larger lace collections in UK, but not usually on show. A lot of the lace they have is for study purposes, that is not of display quality because of wear and tear, but of considerable interest. I have at least twice taken a small group of 3-4 people there by arrangement to study lace. You need to specify what type of lace you want to look at and they will get some out. If I remember rightly the collection is more biased toward laces from other European countries; the English part is quite small. More information here: http://www.whitworth.man.ac.uk/ -- Money can't buy everything. That's what credit cards are for. Steph Peters [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tatting, lace & stitching page <http://www.sandbenders.demon.co.uk/index.htm> - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
