I believe that there were plenty of women with leisure enough to do genteel handwork, yes; but I also believe that bobbin lacemaking would not have been one of those handcrafts. Our craft would have been considered suitable only for the lower classes.
The reason I believe this is the reaction of my mother when I told her I was learning to make lace. She looked as if there was a bad smell under her nose, and said "Well, and how many yards have you made?" That was in the early 1980s - she lived from 1913 to 2007. Although she knitted, crocheted and sewed both clothes and embroideries, she was totally dismissive of bobbin lace. Margery. ================================================ [email protected] in North Hertfordshire, UK ================================================ > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > On Behalf Of Regina Haring > Sent: Friday 03 April 2009 18:59 > To: Arachne > Subject: Re: [lace] Luton museum/Bedford > > But surely there were women with leisure enough to make lace > for pleasure, > as we do? And so a scene showing a nicely dressed woman who > knew how to make > more than one kind of lace is not unrealistic in my opinion. > > The awful picture of poor women and children who could only > keep body and > soul together by laboring under difficult conditions until > their eyes gave > out is thankfully not the whole story of our favorite pasttime. > > Regina > New York > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "jeanette" <[email protected]> > > To: "arachne" <[email protected]> > > Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 5:03 PM > > Subject: [lace] Luton museum > > > > > >> During 1996 four of us had a lace tour with Liz Bartlett > and visited all > >> the > >> Midlands museums. One museum had a display of a lacemaker > sitting in a > >> cottage making lace and Liz was most upset by the display > as she did not > >> consider it a true reflection of the conditions lacemakers > worked under. > >> I > >> think this was the Luton Museum and it was the most > charming museum of > >> them > >> all. She said the room was too grand, the lacemaker was dressed too > >> smartly > >> and she also was wearing a lace collar which was unlikely. > She was also > >> working on a Beds piece with a Bucks piece lying around - > both difficult > >> patterns and she said any lacemaker ever worked only one > or two patterns > >> in > >> her life and did not go from one kind of lace to another > as we do. We , > >> ignorami from South Africa, thought it was a lovely display!!! We > >> thought > >> that most people would just enjoy the display but Liz said > that being a > >> museum it should be factually correct. One museum had a > lovely display > >> of > >> pincushions. I have all this on video but the video > player has decided > >> to > >> stop working so I cannot check to see which museum it was. > But I do > >> think > >> that I saw the bobbins because Liz then gave a talk on the hanging > >> bobbins. > >> > >> > >> > >> Factually correct or not, it was a most enjoyable trip. > How does the > >> saying > >> go - Been there, done that, forgotten most of it!! > >> > >> Jeanette Fischer, Western Cape, South Africa. > >> > > - > To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing > the line: > unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to > [email protected] > - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
