Don't forget the superstitions associated with the various beads (and types of bobbins).
Buttons came from mens' pants (either a fiancé or husband?), and the various types of beads like Kitty Fisher Beads and Snake Eye beads all have their own superstitions (and David Springett's book, Spangles and Superstitions, is a great resource for this type of study relating to the English lace industry). It wasn't just about 'prettying up' the pillow. If I remember rightly (and I could be wrong) - you had a snake eye bead on a bobbin on your pillow to ward off evil. I have a few antiques - both family and ones collected from suppliers/dealers - and there's quite a variety in size of bobbin (both wood and bone) and spangle and how they're spangled. I found one yesterday (bon I think) that has been spangled with a bent pin connecting the spangle to the bobbin. Another (or perhaps that one - don't remember as I was preparing bobbins for an upcoming class) appears to have some wear around the bottom where the spangle hole is, and possibly might've had a collar of some sort in the past, and has been respangled at some point. The interesting thing is that the smallest of my antiques is bone and is really quite heavy. The fascinating thing is that even though the thread was potentially very fine that may have been used by previous owners/users of my bobbins - they are all 'heavy' and have multiple glass beads on them. I wonder if the spangling question has any relation to the fact that the English work their footside on the Right I think, whereas Continentals are on the left (or is it the other way round? - I can never remember). Footside location does make a difference - my brain likes to work continental way, and there are some beds patterns that either don't flow or don't make sense if you work them with the footside on the left, rather than the right. Cheers, Helen in foggy Duvall, WA. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
