Dear Brenda and lacy Spiders Many thanks for your comments. I am very taken with the Handstitch machine and have a smallish drawer put aside for examples. I went immediately to have a look and found the piece of imitation Point de Venise. Would you like me to scan the piece of lace and send you by email attachment to put on your web-site? At the present I am so busy with all the writing that I can find no time to set one up on my own. I am pleased to say that the final proof-reading of my new book on is now done and has gone off to the printers. It should come out at the end of March.
I once wrote an article for Embroidery Magazine as I was so angry with some man saying that all the Great War Embroidered postcards were done by hand, by widows, orphans and nuns behind the trenches, when of course the Swiss made them on their Handstitch machines for export to the troops. I did a lot of research and found the trade catalogues of the time written in French in the collection of Nottingham Museum. They were send in their thousands, every month of every year, throughout the Great War. I have about 50 in my collection, many bordered with Leavers machine lace. Luckily I bought them some years ago as they are now very expensive. Angela ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brenda Paternoster" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "A Thompson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "Lace digest" <lace@arachne.com> Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2006 8:02 PM Subject: Re: [lace] Chinese Needlelace > Hello Angela > > I agree with you, this needle lace is hand made in sweated workshops > and the tension is so regular because they are doing it all day, every > day. > > From what I've read in Pat Earnshaw's books, the handstitch machine is > based on a pantograph; there are lots of double ended needles each with > a pincer at either end to alternately hold the needle. The master > needle is guided and all the others follow mechanically. Yes it can do > in and out embroidery stitches, and even buttonhole scallops at the > edge of fabric but it's not accurate enough to work buttonhole stitches > through buttonhole stitches without piercing the threads sometimes. > It's not used for Limerick type embroidered net for the same reason, > it's not accurate enough to go in and out of the holes of the net > without splitting the threads of the net. > > Brenda > > On 8 Jan 2006, at 12:43, A Thompson wrote: > > > I do not know of any machine that can produce > > 'real' needlelace stitches. A Chinese KNITTING machine cannot > > produce real > > button-hole stitches. The Handstitch machine, Joshua Heilman 1826 - I > > think > > the date is right - can make a very good copy. However, on close > > inspection > > with a magnifying glass, the stitches are all based on an in-and-out > > weaving > > stitch, but in various combinations. I have a Handstich machine copy > > of > > Venitian Gros Point, that from a distance would fool anyone. I will > > write > > more about the Handstich machine when I have time - I am busy > > proof-reading > > the final colour proofs of my new book on Central and South American > > Textiles > > - very exciting. > > > > I believe that all the Chinese needlelace is made by young girls in > > sweated > > workshops. They make everything in sweat-shops, shoes, clothing etc - > > that is > > why their goods are so cheap and swamping the rest of Europe, I do not > > know if > > they are exported to USA. > > I remember seeing a whole pile of lace mats for sale at a Craft Sale > > stall, > > looking down the pile they all looked identical - but the vendor > > assured me > > thay were all handmade. I bought two. There is a certain 'stiffness' > > to the > > design of these pieces, making them immediately identifiable as > > Chinese. The > > same can be said for their white-work embroidery produced in similar > > circumstances. > > > Brenda > http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.uk/ > > > - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
