Re: [lace] Demise of Fine Linen Lace, was Faery Lace

Lyn, I don't think the starvation in Belgium would have had anything to do with it. If the relevant cultivars' extinction was caused by WWI in Flanders, it would have been because of the abandonment of growing flax in the middle of the turmoil of the war, combined with the destruction of the

Re: [lace] Faery Lace?

Hi Lorelei, I can't remember where I got that. I hope it's not lace urban legend! We can't use the lack of fine-thread Val after 1780-1800 because I think that may be circular: I suspect the lace is often dated on the basis of what is assumed about the thread. I've done some superficial looking

[lace] Re: Viking needlelace !?!

Also look at the plates in the back of the monograph, especially plates 31 and 32. On Thu, Aug 30, 2018 at 2:51 PM, N.A. Neff wrote: > ...The monograph on the textiles has been digitized and is on line: > http://historiska.se/birka/digitala-resurser/filer/pdf/Birka_III.pdf > > - To

[lace] Viking needlelace !?!

I was looking at a reference about textiles found at a Viking site called Birka, tracking down some info about tablet-woven bands found there. The town was founded about 750 CE and abandoned about 975 CE, according to the Wikipedia entry, and is a rich archaeological source.

Re: [lace] Faery Lace?

Hi Devon and Lyn, I think all modern Binche falls into "Point de Fee" or "Fairy Lace", except for a few recent designs done by AnneMarie Verbeke-Billiet, Kumiko Nakasaki, and a few others, in the old style. All the commercial Binche lace, for the tourist industry, is Point de Fee. About the

[lace] "Hookie" bobbins

Dear fellow Arachnids, I have a couple of aluminum continental bobbins with hooks on the head, for wire and metal threads. They are perfect, but I got them two or more decades ago and have no idea from where. Do they ring a bell with anyone? If so, do you know where I could get a couple of dozen

Re: [lace] Oldest lace group

Kantcentrum was established as a not-for-profit in 1970 but was a continuation of the Apostoline Sisters' lace school and that must go back centuries. OIDFA was founded in 1982, so that's a lot younger. So I think you can say that about IOLI if you qualify it by saying something like " other

Re: [lace] more lace references in literature

Another book, one I haven't seen mentioned; my apologies if it was and I missed it. I just stumbled across a book about a young Dutch lacemaker in the mid-1700's who goes to South Africa as a governess, in a Kindle edition on Amazon. (Self-published?) The Lacemaker, by Sukey Hughes. I have read

Re: [lace] computer programmers and lace

Hi Sharon, It wasn't quite as early as 1984, but in the early 1990s I was aware of how much lace and software seemed to require the same skills, and how much they were alike, lace being essentially binary in action. The software language I was using then happened to be C, but it's been the same

Re: [lace] The archetype of the lacemaker - books

Hi Sharon, Another book is Nancy Drew Mystery #59, "The Secret in the Old Lace"! It's set mostly in Bruges, and that aspect isn't bad.y done, but it does have several bloopers: for example, the French-speaking woman in the story refers to the city as Brugge rather than Bruges, and another (my

Re: [lace] wonderful resource-machine lacemaking

Lorelei, Hey! "...clever boys..."? Some of us clever girls have been involved, and more seriously, computer scientists of both genders have worried about consequences. I think that we best honor the lacemakers who were displaced by lacemaking machines by preserving in collections the gorgeous

[lace] Re: Carrickmacross collar

Hi Sherry, I've created an album called "Neff, Nancy" in Flickr (link below), and put five photos of the collar in there so any others on Arachne who might be interested can see them too. No, I took a class with someone but I don't think her name was Mary Shields. I have dreams of doing my own

Re: [lace] question about nomenclature

Hi Sharon, I don't think we need more labels. We have "antique" (more than 100 years old, which includes Art Nouveau designs of the fin de siecle), "vintage" (50 to 100 yrs), and "modern" (younger than 50). "Modern" is also used for a particular time period in art and design that includes both

Re: [lace] basic question

I generally agree with Lyn's analysis, except that I would point out that diagrams are a recent phenomenon. If one takes Sharon's question to imply "all things being equal", then surely 17th and 18th C Binche/Valenciennes (before they differentiated) is the most difficult bobbin lace. I can work

Re: [lace] mathematicians, IT engineers and lacemaking

Hi Elena, It would be interesting to do a survey of the bobbin-lacemaking members of IOLI about area of education, highest degree obtained and when, career field, types of bobbin lace specialized in, maybe things like primarily self-taught or not, others?, and compare the stats from that to stats

Re: [lace] Beiderman and Kliot (Verify surname Bei? Bie?)

PS: Google books lists the senior author of her book as Gertrude Biedermann (...ie... and two n's): https://books.google.com/books/about/Traditional_Bobbin_Lace.html?id=dwcZCAAJ > > On Fri, May 18, 2018, 14:39 Jeri Ames wrote: > >> ...In the interest of clarity for present

Re: [lace] mathematicians, IT engineers and lacemaking

A few observations: First there were indeed computer engineers who were lacemakers in the 1980s. I started programming in the mid-1960s (well before PCs or Macs or the Internet), and I was mesmerized by making bobbin lace from the first time I saw it done in the mid-1980s. For the first several

Fwd: [lace] Beiderman and Kliot (Verify surname Bei? Bie?)

Forgot to reply "to all". Please see note below. -- Forwarded message ----- From: N.A. Neff <nancy.a.n...@gmail.com> Date: Fri, May 18, 2018, 20:29 Subject: Re: [lace] Beiderman and Kliot (Verify surname Bei? Bie?) To: Jeri Ames <jeria...@aol.com> Both Doris So

Re: [lace] a little help from arachnes

Hi Elizabeth, I don't see an answer to your question, so I'll jump in with an alternative suggestion. Request color cards from mail-order sources, such as from this vendor: https://www.craftsy.com/quilting/ideas/craftsy-thread. Then you could see the real colors and feel the thread. This thread

[lace] Re: What is best way to inventory lace books?

Jeri & list, I'm very interested in the discussion of this, and my fellow lacemakers' recommendations, so I, for one, ask that answers be copied to the list so some of the rest of us could follow it. Not everyone is interested in everything on the list, and if people remember to trim their posts

Re: [lace] My AOL message failed to get past Arachne's panix block this morning

David, What I do for Jeri's messages, and might work for you with Devon's, is subscribe to both the individual messages and the digests. I quickly scan the digests to see if I've missed any messages, so I read Jeri's late if she hasn't bcc'd me, but I see them in full eventually. HTH, Nancy

Re: [lace] My AOL message failed to get past Arachne's panix block this morning

Sorry Jeri, but I'm with Shirley on this one. I too am grateful for your wonderful posts and all your work in providing info to the lace and the broader textile community. The problems here, however, are almost certainly with using an AOL email account. AOL is a dinosaur-era system that doesn't

Re: [lace] Fwd: Attention Weavers - 1,000-Year-Old Silk Shirt

; <helene3...@gmail.com> wrote: > Nancy, I tried the link provided. Was told it could not be found, they > seem to have lost it (their statement) > > On Fri, Apr 13, 2018, 1:20 PM N.A. Neff <nancy.a.n...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Forwarded per Jeri's request. >>

Re: [lace] Fwd: Attention Weavers - 1,000-Year-Old Silk Shirt

Sorry!!! I'm on my phone and forgot to trim that last post. Oh no! Here comes Avital!! *ducks* Nancy - 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:

[lace] Fwd: Attention Weavers - 1,000-Year-Old Silk Shirt

Forwarded per Jeri's request. -- Forwarded message -- From: "Jeri Ames" Date: Apr 13, 2018 08:28 Subject: Attention Weavers - 1,000-Year-Old Silk Shirt To: Cc: Dear Arachne subscribers and my personal friends (bcc'd), This came to me from

RE: [lace] What do bobbin and needle lace have in common?/Needlelacerevival

Yes, that's part of what I meant by "historically important". The other aspect was their political economic importance in international commerce and domestically with sumptuary laws and prohibitions on foreign lace, etc. Nancy Connecticut, USA On Apr 1, 2018 11:31, "DevonThein"

[lace] Binche book

Hi all, Someone was looking for Michael Guisiana's 2002 book Binche I, long out of print, but I can't remember who it was. I hope s/he is on Arachne: there's a copy available for sale on ebay--search on "binche lace". Be sure to click on worldwide in the options on the left, because the posting

Re: [lace] What do bobbin and needle lace have in common?/Needlelace revival

Devon, I propose that they are the two major forms of handmade, historically important lace, forms with which the general public is not familiar and doesn't know how to make, even in very general terms. Other than that, I agree with the implication of your question -- they don't share anything

Re: [lace] Weaver's knot

Yes, hackle pliers. Another useful tool is reverse forceps. Squeezing them opens the jaws, they are clamped shut by default, so to speak. Nancy Connecticut, USA On Mar 30, 2018 19:52, "Osgood Martha" wrote: Are those called Hackle Pliers? (at lest in fishery shops) - To

[lace] Re: Weaver's knot

t the real reason my knots are holding. :-) Chagrined, I have deleted Step3 from the photos on Flickr. Thank you very much to the lacemakers who commented in response to my posting, and asked about this particular point! Nancy Connecticut, USA On Thu, Mar 29, 2018 at 11:34 AM, N.A. Neff <nancy.

[lace] Weaver's knot

Hello arachnids, I've been attaching twine to the ends of the threads coming from each card in my tablet-weaving deck, using a weaver's knot. In the course of this practice (40 cards in my current deck, for example), I have figured out how to do a weaver's knot so it holds. Because the threads

Re: [lace] Block pillows

Hi Diane, I have an octagonal block pillow from Holly Van Sciver that I love ( http://www.vansciverbobbinlace.com/pillow.html), but the square blocks are only 6 3/4". It's as big a pillow as I'm comfortable with (and I have a pillow slightly over 24" so I use big ones. This pillow uses a row of

Re: [lace] bobbin

Alex, I think this is a Bayeux bobbin with a hole from the way it was held in the lathe for turning. Jill, The bend is the result of the wood not having been completed aged before being turned. The wood warps as it completes drying out. Nancy Connecticut, USA On Mar 15, 2018 07:22, "Alex

[lace] Re: Hairband Magnifier

Jeri, Out of curiosity I just looked at Lacis and they carry several. Search on just "magnifier". Nancy Connecticut, USA On Mar 12, 2018 15:04, "Jeri Ames" wrote: I've just searched Lacis and Nordic Needle using the subject - Hairband Magnifier. Unable to find the

[lace] Re: Hairband Magnifier

Jeri, Try "headband magnifier" instead. I know you don't buy on Amazon but you could browse, decide what you might want, then search for that product by name on the web. I just bought one because it has interchangeable lenses and will nicely replace my collection of reading glasses for trips:

Re: [lace] fashion history

There's a four volume set on men's and women's fashions by Janet Arnold, but it's only medieval through 18th maybe early 19th C. It's primarily on reconstructing clothes. Is that what you are thinking of perhaps? Nancy Connecticut, USA On Mar 5, 2018 18:26, "Lorelei Halley"

Re: [lace] Identification of Dutch lace needed

Devon, When I read your initial post, I immediately thought pottenkant, but then I looked at the photo... I hesitate to argue with Joepie about Dutch lace, but first, I think pottenkant is actually a narrow category, a Dutch lace with a crudely stylized pot and flower, and either 5-hole or

Re: [lace] Fwd: Lace Magazine #169

Hi Adele, I don't know if they are in London, but Benton & Johnson carry bullion, gold passing, etc. Are they who you were remembering? Nancy Connecticut, USA On Fri, Feb 2, 2018 at 3:46 PM, Adele Shaak wrote: > I just got my “Lace” magazine - does anybody know this

Re: [lace] Vintage pattern books

Oh, and I should have mentioned that they seem to have dates for most if not all of them. I didn't look at Coats etc. Nancy On Thu, Jan 18, 2018 at 9:29 AM, N.A. Neff <nancy.a.n...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Gillian, > > The Arizona archive (https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/ >

Re: [lace] Vintage pattern books

Hi Gillian, The Arizona archive ( https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/books.html#D) gives its date as November 1924. I have no idea how reliable that information is but it's more than nothing! Nancy Connecticut USA On Thu, Jan 18, 2018 at 7:20 AM, Gilian Dye

Re: [lace] Seasons Greetings

On Fri, Dec 22, 2017 at 7:25 PM, Elizabeth Ligeti. wrote: "... Lacemakers are the Nicest people!!" So are lace collectors! On my trip this last summer to the UK, I got together with several antique-lace collectors, and they were all so generous, hospitable, and gracious. I

[lace] Threading needles

Hi all, I've been a little bemused by the discussion about threading needles. All I do is pinch a clean-cut end between thumb and index finger of one hand, completely covering the thread, then push the eye between the thumb and index fingers while gradually opening the fingers, until the thread

Re: [lace] Threading needles

Hi Susie, Just FYI, I think the flat side is to be sure the needle is positioned exactly right for the mechanism that makes the stitch. If the needle were rotated the slightest amount, the thread wouldn't be hooked and there'd quickly be a thread jam. Nancy Connecticut, USA On Tue, Dec 12, 2017

[lace] receiving aol emails in gmail

To everyone still frustrated after following these directions: I've also tried setting up such a filter and it made no difference (as an ex-software engineer I'm fairly sure I did it right). Thank you, Jeri, for copying those of us still thwarted by gmail! Nancy Connecticut, USA On Tue, Dec

[lace] Re: Block pillow question

Hi Joseph, 30" might be too big for comfort. I find that I have trouble seeing up close because the lace is so far away even in a 23" one. I for sure wouldn't want one any bigger. Nancy On Sun, Dec 10, 2017 at 7:43 AM, Joseph Young wrote: > Thanks Nancy, I

[lace] Block pillow question

Joseph, There's a 23" pillow out there with 6 3/4" blocks, triangular blocks at the 'corners' so it's octagonal, and two half-blocks--and you're right, the half-blocks are incredibly useful. I don't know where you are, but Holly Van Sciver in the US carries it. ( vansciverbobbinlace.com). It's

Re: [lace] Ipswich lace

I'm not waiting for Christmas, nor do I trust my elves to bring me all the lace books I want. I have this book, among others, on order (and I hope in the mail), and a bunch of CDs on my wish list!! On Sat, Dec 9, 2017 at 3:16 PM, Adele Shaak wrote: > > But honestly, doesn’t

Re: [lace] Please Share Lace Experiences and Questions

One other thought: I'm finding some of the Arachne-like discussion is now happening on Facebook, especially in the group Bobbin Lace Makers. I posted there recently about working snowflakes/snowballs/peas in Binche, and the post had a couple of photos with it. It is much easier (for me anyway) to

Re: [lace] Please Share Lace Experiences and Questions

I also agree with Catherine, but I think people are silent more often because of diffidence, or not knowing what others want to know, or being over-whelmed with what else they are doing. Why on earth would any of us intentionally "keep secrets"? The main thing is that we volunteer with

Re: [lace] Ipswich lace

Hi Maureen, Beyond the trivial answer (the difference is where they were made), I don't know for sure. The Ipswich MA lace is point ground, but narrow and made of black silk, which is unusual in the UK point ground I think. Karen Thompson (or her book) would be the authoritative source to answer

Re: [lace] Ipswich pillow

Here's a tiny URL. May work better: https://tinyurl.com/ydhazdp7 On Fri, Dec 8, 2017 at 5:32 PM, Lorelei Halley wrote: > Here is a direct link to the article and photos. It is a long url, and you > will have to paste it together. > - To unsubscribe send email to

Re: [lace] Mechlin lace

Hi Alex, Were the Binche and Valenciennes prickings burnt also? Nancy On Fri, Dec 8, 2017 at 5:01 AM, Alex Stillwell wrote: > Thank you Devon. Interesting not only to see the lace but the pricking it > was > made on. There are very few Mechlin prickings available,

Re: [lace] Ipswich lace

Hi Daphne, Are you thinking Ipswich UK? We haven't been clear, but we're talking about lace made in Ipswich Massachusetts. Nancy Connecticut, USA On Fri, Dec 8, 2017 at 5:52 AM, Daphne Martin wrote: > Hello > Nicky Townsend has written a book on this lace. She has done a

Re: [lace] Bucks point - on Ipswich-style Pillow at Smithsonian

Page has been sent to Lorelei, Devon, and Jeri. Someone can post a link when they decide where to put it. Nancy Connecticut, USA On Thu, Dec 7, 2017 at 6:03 PM, Lorelei Halley wrote: > Devon > You could post it on laceioli.ning. Since I set it up as a public site, > even

Re: [lace] Bucks point - on Ipswich-style Pillow at Smithsonian

Jeri, Nice suggestion--I will forward it to the NELG webmistress. It might be useful to have a page on NELG for public posts in general. I don't have any place to post something myself that would be easy to get to, and I don't think Devon does either. Nancy Connecticut, USA On Thu, Dec 7, 2017

Re: [lace] Rosaline perle

Hi Susan, I'm no expert but I really love the Bayeux bobbins. Being long simply means that you need to unwind more to get a big enough loop to get the bobbin through, but not by much. They are just the right weight for your thread, and they don't have knobs, bumps, beads, etc. to catch on

Re: [lace] Introduction

Hi Elena, Welcome to Arachne! Has your student searched using Google yet? She may have found this already, but there's an 18-page scholarly paper entitled 'Mundillo & Identity: the revival and transformation of handmade lace in Puerto Rico' from a book "Women and the Material Culture of

Re: [lace] Advice wanted please

This email is malware! Don't click on the link. Delete the message immediately. Daphne -- your machine has been taken over by a virus. Go to a reputable antivirus company such as Norton and get a tool to clean your PC of malware. Nancy Connecticut, USA On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 8:29 AM, Daphne

Re: [lace] Magic threads

PS, the book Ilske mentions is terrific and worth getting. Nancy On Fri, Oct 20, 2017 at 9:44 AM, N.A. Neff <nancy.a.n...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Ann, > > Also you can always try looking in the archives: https://www.mail-arc > hive.com/lace@arachne.com/index.html > &

Re: [lace] Magic threads

Hi Ann, Also you can always try looking in the archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/lace@arachne.com/index.html I think the post you remember may be https://www.mail-archive.com/lace@arachne.com/msg19856.html. (I searched on "magic threads Ilske".) Happy lacemaking! Nancy Connecticut, USA -

Re: [lace] FW: Quaker samplers from Ackworth, Doing Research at Museum Sites

Jeri, I am sorry to hear that your response to the email situation is to cut back on your useful and educational postings. I had hoped you might move to another email service (such as gmail--free and available over the web so wouldn't require a change of ISPs). Meanwhile, I subscribed to the

Re: [lace] help finding books

Hi Sharon, A search on Google produced these leads: April Lind's page on the ning group LACEIOLI: laceioli.ning.com/profile/AprilLind?xg_source=activity She says the first book is out of print, but you might message her directly if that's the one you want, and you can probably buy the second

Re: [lace] Belgian color code

I agree with Antje. Thanks for posting the extended list of color codes, Greet. The Belgian color code is pure genius, and has been so informative for me while reading working diagrams of the Flemish laces. It's one of the best innovations in lace-making in the last century! (Can you tell? I like

Re: [lace] Ghost pillow

I agree with Holly Van Sciver that the ultimate goal is to be able to look at the lace and see what to do next. I'm getting better at doing that with Bucks but I find that old-style Binche/Val/Mechlin is still really difficult to do without such a pillow. However, the main thing I wanted to add is

Re: [lace] belgian color code cttct

Good question. Might it be a green intersection (half stitch), little hatch mark for another twist, then another green intersection (halfstitch)? If there's no pin in the center of all that, it would pull up into a turning stitch, so the diagram would be right for the thread movements. Nancy

Re: [lace] 2017 Aravchne Card Exchange

Dear fellow spiders, I haven't, nor am I signed up to participate in the card exchange, so I don't have a horse in this race. From an outside perspective, however, I suggest that "hijacked" is a really loaded word, and maybe should be avoided. There's probably been some extensive confusion

[lace] "age spots"

Hello fellow spiders, Could someone explain to me what causes "age spots" on lace? the brown spots? What is the actual chemical basis for them? Can they be removed? (I've been too chicken to try anything.) Can future ones be prevented from developing? Any other information I should be asking

[lace] thread choice

I was reading the lace sections in an 1894 "Barbour's Prize Needle-Work Series", and came across this authoritative paragraph, which I enjoyed and thought others might also: "BOBBIN WORK "This work, known also as 'pillow' and 'cushion' lace, we are glad to be able to introduce in a practical way

Re: [lace] Re: question

You may be generally correct, Lorelei, especially for the tape(US) / braid(UK) usages. It is probably somewhat muddled, however, by the background of one's teacher(s), and which books one uses the most. I've taught myself a lot from books, especially in the beginning, and (almost?) exclusively

[lace] link / resource

Fellow spiders, I just found the most interesting page of 18th C costume terminology. I don't know enough to know how reliable it is, but for what I was looking up, it was helpful. And I was having trouble not just reading entry after entry. "Glossary of 18th Century Costume Terminology"

Re: [lace] Bedfordshire lace

Hi Susan, That's an interesting question! especially given the similarities between Beds and the early mimics of Punto in Aria, as in LePompe. I personally have not handled a piece of lace that seemed to be older than the mid-19th C that I would call Beds, but "Beds" is a name based on a

Re: [lace] Chrysanthemum & Tonder lace

Hi Susan, Tønder lace is indeed Danish as Jean says, a point ground lace derived from Lille lace from France. This is what I read recently, I believe in the first part of Inge Skovgaard's The Technique of Tønder Lace. Bobbi Donnelly, as Jean says, is the expert on Tønder, would know if I have

Re: [lace] Bruges World Lace Conference

Hi Jennifer, There's a facebook group for the conference at https://www.facebook.com/WLCB2018/, but the recent postings don't seem to have anything to do with the conference. Maybe you could message the admins for information? The most recent thing Google comes up with for the conference is

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