Not so much here in Malta though. The noblewomen who had maids to look after the house, cooks to feed them and nannies to look after the children would spend time working lace. Antoine de Favray has painted quite a number of these ladies dressed in their fine clothes and wearing lovely collars, cuffs and wimples adorned with lace and their upright-bolster type lace pillows on their laps. Karen in Malta
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Margery Allcock Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 10:46 PM To: Arachne Subject: RE: [lace] Luton museum/Bedford 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] - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
