[lace] straw plaiters

[Rick & Sharon Whiteley]

Straw plaiters made long strips of plaited straw for the manufacture of the 
bonnets that were in fashion at the time.  Many of the plaiters were, at one 
time, lace makers but they made more money plaiting straw.  I too had an 
ancestor, who, at the age of ten, was supporting her younger sister and 
Grandmother by plaiting straw.  Like a lot of cottage crafts, each area had 
it's specialty plaited pattern. Some plaits were narrow and other's quite 
wide, it isn't too hard to see how lace makers could quickly convert from 
lace threads to straw.   Sharon on Vancouver Island 

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