Re: [lace] Straw Plaiters

2013-03-14 Thread Sue
I was born and brought up in Luton during the 50s and hat making was a 
fairly big industry at that time.

My Mum did some piece work in some of my childhood years.
We took my mum for a trip around the museum a couple of years ago, firstly 
on the ground floor to see the lace and then upstairs to see the straw hats 
and other interesting things.


My brother in law was a big time Luton Town Football (The Hatters) supporter 
when he got married in the early 70's and was given a straw boater as a gift 
from the club.

Sue T
now in Dorset UK

I think they made hats.
At the Luton Museum, which I visited for lace purposes, there  was an awful
lot about straw plaiting and the hat industry. In fact, I got the  feeling
that people might move between lace making and straw plaiting depending  on
what was "hot".
Devon


In a message dated 3/13/2013 9:48:27 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
dccoll...@ncable.net.au writes:

Dear  Friends,
I'm currently doing some family history research for one of us,  and
find that IF her female relatives were not Lace Makers, then they
were Straw Plaiters.

Can someone please tell me exactly what they  produced? Some of these
were as young as 5 and 7 years of age on the  censuses!!
I'm sure it wasn't all macrame hanging baskets!!

David in  Ballarat, AUS

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[lace] Straw plaiters

2013-03-14 Thread Diana Smith
This thread reminded me of a lacemaker in my research. I've pasted the
passage below.
 
"Born circa 1829 at Northill in Bedfordshire, Mary Tingey
was the daughter of Thomas & Sarah Tingey. Mary spent most of her life in
Bedfordshire being mainly employed as a house servant. In the 1851 census she
was in service at Sandy, Bedfordshire, by 1861 she was a housemaid to a
farmer at Thorncote, Northill. 
In 1871 she is living again with her parents,
together with 'her daughter' Sarah Ann (no mention of a man in her life, and
still using her maiden name). Her occupation is given as (straw)
‘Plaiter’. In 1881 she was still with her parents with the occupation of
‘Lacemaker’. In 1891 she was on her own in Northill (no occupation) and in
1901 still in Northill living on her ‘own means’. 
A family
photograph of Mary working at her lace pillow, dated c1909/10, was taken in
the garden of her daughter, Sarah Ann’s house at Kettering,
Northamptonshire; she may have gone to live with her daughter and would have
been about 80 years old."
 
Diana Smith, Northamptonshire

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RE: [lace] Straw Plaiters

2013-03-14 Thread Gray, Alison J
This reminded me of a talk to Essex Lace Makers (UK) given
some years ago by Veronica - it was so interesting, and the items she brought
with her were wonderful.

Hi Carol et al.

I remember that talk by Veronica Main and it certainly was fascinating.  Quite 
recently I discovered that the village where my mum lives on the Essex/Suffolk 
border was a straw plaiting village when straw plaiting was in its heyday as a 
cottage industry.  It's where my mum and dad retired to and there is no 
historic connection with my family except that some distant relation worked as 
a servant there for a few years in the Victorian era.  

Alison in Colchester Essex (sunny at the moment but still cold for March)

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Re: [lace] Straw Plaiters

2013-03-14 Thread nestalace . carol
Hi Arachnes All,
 
This reminded me of a talk to Essex Lace Makers (UK) given
some years ago by Veronica - it was so interesting, and the items she brought
with her were wonderful.   She did say, however, that the straw plaiters had
to wet the straw before being able to plait it, and this was done by drawing
it from one side of the mouth to another - resulting in permanent splits on
each side of the mouth - terribly painful, and not very attractive-looking
either.   She wondered if this made the lace makers a better proposition for
marriage than the ladies who plaited straw. 
 
I will leave you all pondering
that!
 
Carol - in North Norfolk, UK.
'Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and
grant us peace in our day.'   
 
 



Dear
David,

I am indebted to Jean Leader for the gift of a 192-page  book from 
England 
by Veronica Main "Swiss Straw Work", self-published in 2003, ISBN 
0-9541795-0-1.  in a library in your country.
_http://www.mail-archive.com/lace@arachne.com/index.html_
(http://www.mail-archive.com/lace@arachne.com/index.html)  

Jeri Ames in 
Maine USA
Lace and Embroidery Resource Center


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[lace] straw plaiters

2013-03-13 Thread 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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Re: [lace] Straw Plaiters-morally inferior to lacers?

2013-03-13 Thread Dmt11home
Marjorie writes:
 
 
When youngsters were making lace, they sat still where they could  be
supervised; but plaiting was a craft which could be done while
standing  up or walking about.  Plaiters could therefore go roaming
around the  countryside, getting up to goodness knew what, while
plaiting ... They got a  reputation for being no better than they
should be  .

 
But were lacemakers any better  than they ought to be? The discovery of a 
lace pillow in the archeological  excavation of a privy associated with a 
brothel in the Five Points  section of New York has made me wonder whether lace 
making and  prostitution were not practiced by some people at the same 
time. It  doesn't seem to me like it was an either/or situation. For one thing, 
a  prostitute spends time waiting for clients. Apparently in New York, 
prostitutes  and everyone else, including invalids and children, were quite 
likely  doing piecework, such as "sewing collars" during any down  time.  
In England and Europe, there  was a common practice of teaching women to 
make lace so they wouldn't fall into  prostitution, or so they could escape 
prostitution, but we know that lacemaking  wasn't exactly well compensated. 
So, it would seem that those inclined to  lacemaking and those inclined to 
prostitution are often the same economic  group. Prostitutes are being trained 
to make lace, and lace makers might need to  supplement their income 
sometimes with prostitution. In fact, prostitutes  might even need to 
supplement 
their income with lace making. 
Although personally, I think that the blindness associated  with lacemaking 
is normal vision changes with age, one theory is that they got  venereal 
disease because they tended to live in port towns with a lot of  sailors, 
another tantalizing detail. 
Sitting outside the cottage making lace would afford better  light, but 
also provide an excuse for being outside the cottage next to the  street. 
Clearly, some lace makers also engaged in straw plaiting,  which seems to 
be associated with "loose" behavior.
Does anyone have any evidence to illuminate this subject? 
 
Devon
PS. Ancestors of present company excluded, of course. Lace  making and 
homemaking are also strongly associated.

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RE: [lace] Straw Plaiters

2013-03-13 Thread Margery Allcock
Straw was plaited into narrow braids, which were then used to make
hats.

Luton in Bedfordshire was a centre for hat-making, and Hitchin in
Hertfordshire (where I live, about 8 miles from Luton) was a
straw-plaiting town.  We used to have a building called "Plait Hall"
but it fell into disuse and has been replaced by houses.

When youngsters were making lace, they sat still where they could be
supervised; but plaiting was a craft which could be done while
standing up or walking about.  Plaiters could therefore go roaming
around the countryside, getting up to goodness knew what, while
plaiting ... They got a reputation for being no better than they
should be .

Margery.
 
margerybu...@o2.co.uk in North Herts, UK 
 
 

> -Original Message-
> From: owner-l...@arachne.com [mailto:owner-l...@arachne.com] 
> On Behalf Of David C COLLYER
> Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2013 1:48 PM
> To: lace@arachne.com
> Subject: [lace] Straw Plaiters
> 
> Dear Friends,
> I'm currently doing some family history research for one of us, and 
> find that IF her female relatives were not Lace Makers, then they 
> were Straw Plaiters.
> 
> Can someone please tell me exactly what they produced? Some of these

> were as young as 5 and 7 years of age on the censuses!!
> I'm sure it wasn't all macrame hanging baskets!!
> 
> David in Ballarat, AUS

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Re: [lace] Straw Plaiters

2013-03-13 Thread Jeriames
Dear David,
 
I am indebted to Jean Leader for the gift of a 192-page  book from  England 
by Veronica Main "Swiss Straw Work", self-published in 2003, ISBN  
0-9541795-0-1.  If you do a search of her name and the subject, you should  be 
able 
to find out how to order it directly from Veronica.  If this does  not work, 
contact me off-line and I will supply the information given in the  book.
 
Alternatively, David, you could try to order it from Australia's version of 
 InterLibrary Loan at your local library.  Maybe there is at least one copy 
 in a library in your country.
 
Although the book is about Swiss straw work (not the straw work of the UK), 
 it is most interesting to see straw work that very much resembles fine  
laces.
 
 
There are many instructions (in color) in this book.  Finer examples  
combine horsehair with straw to create delicate results.  Implements  used 
include needles, sometimes multiple needles, which result in very lacy  doilies 
 
There is an antique straw embroidery on  velvet shown in which the straw 
resembles gold thread. 

 
Resources given in the book can be searched for and will yield results  
(the old web addresses did not always work): 
Guild of Straw Craftsmen (UK)
Freiamter Strohmuseum Wohlen (Switzerland)
National Association of Wheat Weavers (U.S.)
 
Correspondence is inserted in my copy of the book from Gil Dye mentioning  
that Veronica was a curator at Luton Museums.  She is well-known.   Another 
insert is a letter from Avital (our web master) referring people on  Arachne 
to check out _http://www.thestrawshop.com/_ (http://www.thestrawshop.com/) 
, which  appeared in a Nordic Needle (American) newsletter.
 
Our Arachne archives contain 115 entries under "Straw work".   Some are 
about pillows, but you'll find more information about working with  straw as 
well.
 
_http://www.mail-archive.com/lace@arachne.com/index.html_ 
(http://www.mail-archive.com/lace@arachne.com/index.html)   
 
Jeri Ames in  Maine USA
Lace and Embroidery Resource Center
 

 
I'm currently doing some family history research for one of us, and  
find that IF her female relatives were not Lace Makers, then they 
were  Straw Plaiters.  Can someone please tell me exactly what they 
produced?  
David in Ballarat,  AUS

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Re: [lace] Straw Plaiters

2013-03-13 Thread Dmt11home
There is an article about straw plaiting in Luton, and  Bedfordshire here. 
It is really very interesting and illuminating about a trade  that was 
similar to lace making. There are many parallels. For instance, you  could do 
it 
in cottages. Italians did it better. The disruption of trade  with Italy 
during the Napoleonic Wars resulted in a boom in the English plaiting  
industry. French prisoners of war during the Napoleonic Wars did it in  
distasteful 
competition with English workers. There were plaiting schools for  children 
which were of questionable educational quality but resulted in a lot of  
daily plaiting. These schools bit the dust because of the dastardly,  business 
unfriendly Education Act of 1870. Finally the industry is destroyed  because 
of cheap imports from Asia.
 
_http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/webingres/luton/0.local/hat_plaiting.
htm_ 
(http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/webingres/luton/0.local/hat_plaiting.htm)
 
 
Devon

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Re: [lace] Straw Plaiters

2013-03-13 Thread Sue Harvey
Hallo David, don't know if it is the same thing, but my Gt Aunt Polly made what 
we called straw dollies  which hung in the house and were made with the current 
years straw and replaced the previous years dollies which were then burnt, I 
think it was something to do with getting a good crop the next year, they were 
quite complicated things to make as I recall.
Sue M Harvey
Norfolk
U.K. 

Sent from my iPad

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Re: [lace] Straw Plaiters

2013-03-13 Thread Agnes Boddington

http://www.strawcraftsmen.co.uk/

Interesting site on traditional straw craftspeople.
At some rural craft fairs, there is usually someone demonstrating tradional 
"corn dollies" and "symbols", sometimes used to ward off evil spirits.

Agnes Boddington - Elloughton UK


Dear Friends,
I'm currently doing some family history research for one of us, and find 
that IF her female relatives were not Lace Makers, then they were Straw 
Plaiters.


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Re: [lace] Straw Plaiters

2013-03-13 Thread lynrbailey
Dear David, I'm taking a stab here, but millinery straw braid would be my 
guess.  Straw hats were common for summer use, and at least some were made of 
straw braid, perhaps a half inch wide, although I'm sure it varied, which was 
then sewn together over a form for the proper shape.  Such a straw hat uses a 
lot of braid.  It can be coarse or fine.  I once saw a Shaker lady's straw hat, 
in a museum, and it was very fine. 

Lyn from Lancaster, where it's cool but nice and sunny, 41F 4.5C 


David wrote:
>I'm currently doing some family history research for one of us, and 
>find that IF her female relatives were not Lace Makers, then they 
>were Straw Plaiters.
>
>Can someone please tell me exactly what they produced? Some of these 
>were as young as 5 and 7 years of age on the censuses!!
>I'm sure it wasn't all macrame hanging baskets!!
>


"My email sends out an automatic  message. Arachne members,
please ignore it. I read your emails."

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Re: [lace] Straw Plaiters

2013-03-13 Thread Dmt11home
I think they made hats.
At the Luton Museum, which I visited for lace purposes, there  was an awful 
lot about straw plaiting and the hat industry. In fact, I got the  feeling 
that people might move between lace making and straw plaiting depending  on 
what was "hot".
Devon
 
 
In a message dated 3/13/2013 9:48:27 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
dccoll...@ncable.net.au writes:

Dear  Friends,
I'm currently doing some family history research for one of us,  and 
find that IF her female relatives were not Lace Makers, then they  
were Straw Plaiters.

Can someone please tell me exactly what they  produced? Some of these 
were as young as 5 and 7 years of age on the  censuses!!
I'm sure it wasn't all macrame hanging baskets!!

David in  Ballarat, AUS

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[lace] Straw Plaiters

2013-03-13 Thread David C COLLYER

Dear Friends,
I'm currently doing some family history research for one of us, and 
find that IF her female relatives were not Lace Makers, then they 
were Straw Plaiters.


Can someone please tell me exactly what they produced? Some of these 
were as young as 5 and 7 years of age on the censuses!!

I'm sure it wasn't all macrame hanging baskets!!

David in Ballarat, AUS

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