Dear Devon, Although the letter clearly refers to hoop covers, I think she might have meant hood. Certainly, we know what those are and have them in our collections. I purchased some from a elderly Austrian-American woman who lived in New Jersey back in the 1980's, and new ones have been available at OIDFA Congresses in Europe in the past 15 years. I suspect that getting lace supplies was not easy during the World War 1 years.. Especially for ladies whose husbands were not craftsmen but perhaps engaged in industry and business. I doubt the ladies living in upper class neighborhoods (like the officers of The Needle and Bobbin Club) had lathes set up in their kitchens! They were probably from the class that wore lace, usually purchased in Europe. The ladies we know about are the ones who collected and contributed laces to our museums in the early 20th C. Here, I have to put in a word to people who have old lace-related correspondence that could be shared in the future. Please, if you obtain an old book and it has notes in it, do keep the notes. We may not be interested in correspondence 20 to 40 years old, but need to think ahead. What a treasure to learn more about a subject after the passing of 90 years. I put these letters on Arachne so that the information will not be lost. In thinking about what was advertised in old issues of mail-order magazines such as "Needlecraft" and "Priscilla" early in the 20th C., bobbin ads do not pop into my memory. As with so many beginners today, I think they would have needed to have a sample bobbin in order to have some made in the US, and a nation focused on agriculture and industry would not be interested in an obsolete craft at a time when fashions were changing substantially - away from lace and toward more practical machine-made trimmings. Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center
In a message dated 4/21/2011 2:13:14 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: Why don't people use phrases like "hops about like a hen on a hot gridiron" more frequently in business correspondence these days? We have lost a lot of color in our language. Gertrude Whiting seems to have had her finger on possible sources of lace supplies, although it is unclear whether these were things that were constantly for sale, as may have been the case with Marian Powys, or whether they were just things that individuals were thinking of selling. Perhaps it was even a case in which someone had been spotted with a bobbin with a hoop covering, whatever that is, and Mrs. Whiteside was being instructed to ask her where she got it and if there were any more. It would be interesting to know if it was easier or harder to get lace supplies in the US at that time than now. Of course, since this correspondence was occurring at about the same time as the First World War, that might have affected the bobbin lace supply situation. In my own reading of the Needle and Bobbin Club publications I was amused to see that no sooner had the club been formed, the result of years of effort, that someone suggested they disband until the end of the First World War. Fortunately, Gertrude Whiting dismissed this suggestion out of hand. . Devon - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003
