Dear Janice, Lorri and others, Thank you for all the interest. Hopefully this thread will help shed more light on a very important part of American handmade lace history.
Janice writes: "One thing I did notice though was that the Smithsonian lace had a left footside whereas most English lace to my knowledge have a right hand footside. Maybe Karen can explain why the change of side if the lady who produced the lace originally came from England â." Elizabeth Lord Lakeman was born in Ipswichâ, MA in 1767 and moved to Hallowell, Maine upon marriage. She worked one of the original Ipswich lace patterns as a young woman living in Ipswich, MA. It is now in the Smithsonian collection, where you can see it at: http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_645070 â or as the last object â â by searching Smithsonian lace collection â.â It corresponds to one of the samples from 1789-1790 at the Library of Congress â (number 9)â . Later in her life she made the white point ground lace â that isâ left on her Ipswich pillow when she died at the age of 94. â At this point we do not know where the first lace teacher in Ipswich, MA came from or when, but since about 600 lace makers made lace in Ipswich, MA in 1790, lacemâaking had been practiced there â â for a long time. Most likely the original teacher came from the âc ontinent or the Downton area as the footside is on the left. â Lorri writes: " If the bolster was situated opposite of the photo, wouldn't the foot side be â on the right. â"â The bobbins are no longer attached, but the direction is still clear from the finished lace in the back and the broken threads from the bobbins in the front of the pins. This and all the Ipswich, MA samples have the footside at the left. Karen - in sunny and cold Delaware, USA â â - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/