Karen writes: Ipswich Massachusetts lace is NOT a point ground lace. From a distance it might look like it, but as it now has been pointed out, the grounds are Torchon variations and Kat stitch. The only time point ground was used in the 22 samples we have from 1790 is as a filling in a motif. You may want to see them in my book The Lace Samples From Ipswich, Massachusetts 1789-1790. It is available through some lace dealers as well as Amazon
But, isnât the lace on the pillow at the Smithsonian, made by the 90 year old lacemaker in 1860, who had worked lace in the 1780s and 90s in Ipswich, MA a point ground lace? This conversation started out as a discussion of working point ground lace without pins, which this pillow appears to confirm. What are we looking at? Was the 90 year old lacemaker well into her dotage and essentially winging it, perhaps for a demonstration? I have been working the Running River and am planning to do it at the Bust Craftacular in Greenpoint, Brooklyn tomorrow. (Brooklyn Expo Center, 11-7.) The Brooklyn Lace Guild will have a booth. I was thinking of trying out the idea of working pinless in the point ground. I share Lynâs confusion about why there are two rows of pin holes that are not used. I, for one, think that the 90 year old lacemaker should have made the row that she used as her edge row a winkie pin row, and the row to the left of that her edge row. I think that the winkie pin (hope that is the right term for pinning to the side of the pair when returning to the edge) would help to align the entire row. Devon Sent from Mail for Windows 10 - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
