I have been following this thread with some interest, in the light of Dr Mincoff's strong preference for using it. She and Mrs Marriage learnt to make lace in Freibourg from "a young Czech", and are very practical with using what works and is to hand - though the days of making a pricker by grinding the point of a crochet hook to a point on a grindstone are possibly passed! She is very much of the school of "use as tough a pattern as you need" - paper for a one-off, putting card under it if necessary to make it firmer, and so on (p.70-71). She firmly advocates using "architect's tracing cloth" for any tracing, especially for a repeated pattern, when only one repeat need be traced, the paper carefully folded so that one pricking through does the whole length, which can be set around a bolster pillow. She does assume that all pricking will be done before the pattern is on the pillow. I have tried the method successfully, but that was with a le Pompe pattern, so not that many pinholes, and some leeway for give and take; I should not fancy it with a fine Bucks point pattern, but then neither would the good Doctor - as she points out, Mechlin, Valenciennes, Brussels, and Honiton make excessive demands on eyesight and patience, Chantilly, Mechlin, Valenciennes, and Lille are better made by machines, and "...English laces are, except Honiton, unattractive..." and so not for ladies to make! For the curious, that leaves Russian tape, torchon, Maltese and Cluny, plaited, and Saxony guipure. The original book, "Pillow lace, a practical hand-book" was published in 1907, my copy is a 1981 reprint by Ruth Bean, ISBN 0 903585 10 3, with the pricking information on pages 70-74. It does live up to its title; some of the patterns are very attractive, the tips etc are worth considering and trying out, and the historical section, while of its time, is, I feel, scholarly and sound. The adventurous beginner who wanted to make practical table linen, of a traditional style, could find far worse books to use, though some things are a little odd!
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