In all my years growing up and living in the 'west', there has been no mention of the early settlers making lace other than crochet and tatting....and that was to decorate the household items or perhaps a girl's clothing.
There was some lace in the original states along the eastern seaboard...including Massachusetts. I have seen no reference to it in the settling of the area between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. It was mostly descendants of these settlers who moved west across the plains to the western edge of the country. If there had been lace in the background of the people who left Europe to come to the new colony, it had not been passed down the generations. The struggle of the early settlers just to survive left very little time for luxury. As homes became established in the west, and some of the people built up some wealth, lace became available in the stores ...mainly machine made lace.... in the later 1800's The Victorian style of living was adapted in the USA as well as Great Britain. As life became more genteel, lace making ideas and patterns plus equipment appeared in the Ladies Magazines. Various Make-it-Yourself styles of lace appeared, including the well-known Princess bobbin lace machine (which was promoted as a way to make spending money but I never read of anyone actually making money from the lace made on it.) Various western museums have some circa 1900 lacemaking things, or they appear in estate sales from the attics of grandparents. Some people did go to Europe and learn basic lacemaking there, but it was not a common hobby in most of the USA. There were a few people making it through the years. Not until the 1960's and 1970's did it gain popularity, and led to the current crop of lacemakers and the hundreds of lace books we have available to us today. Hmmm....I may have gone a bit astray of the original question. Even though lacemaking was not a part of the early life in this state, I'm glad the previous generation was willing to teach and expand the written knowledge so that I finally became aware of the art and had a chance to learn it. Alice in Oregon....who got up before dawn to watch 16 air ballons fly. Tonight they return for a Night Glow. ----- Original Message ---- The settlers may not have been able to take their bobbin lace equipment in the wagons, but after they became settled they could have made the equipment. ...The limiting factor would have been the demand for lace in the area - at that time lace was not made for enjoyment but as a source of income...... However, there would probably be some evidence of this in the form of advertisements, possibly in newspapers, even in dressmakers adverts. Has anyone seen one? Alex - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
