A series of comments about books including mistakes and misprints. An extensive list of websites. Some translations in French and Geman. A list of museums and comments. Free graph paper that can be downloaded from the web.
Book reviews
Margaret Hamer’s “Pillow Lace” Book. I remember Pat Milne saying in an article in Australian Lace that when she started lacemaking, these were the only books then she could get.
There are actually 6 in the series, 1 and 2 by Margaret Hammer herself, 3, 4, 5, 6 in conjunction with Kathleen Waller, plus an extra by the two ladies called “Hints on Finishing and Mounting Lace”, all published from 1977 to 1981 or at least my copies are.
I have the set of these books, and they are for beginners. Some of them have pattern sheets with them but the first one or 2 has you drafting your own patterns on graph paper – if I remember correctly. They are very simple patterns to get you started off in that type of lace.
The patterns look simple and seem to be intended for beginners but some are not exactly easy! I think they use techniques which have fallen out of favour as better ways of doing things became more generally known. In Book 2 the worked samples pictured look really ratty – the kind teachers use to make their beginner students feel better!
There are very few books on NL. The Val Grimwood book Starting Needlelace, and the Barley book, are about the only readily available ones. I have managed to get some of the Nenia Lovesey books 2nd hand, and also the Hills & Gibson book 2nd hand. If you ever get a chance to see Santina Levy’s book – Lace: A History – It will take your breath away!!
Ulrike’s Gimp book is called “Randbemerkungen zum Konturfaden” It’s in German and English. Says it was published in 2001, and is worth 10 Euros. It’s an A5 spiral bound booklet with 58 pages to it.
The really interesting thing in the book is her explanation of how to finish off gimps without knots. It’s done by using strands of thread as a gimp (I vill teach you not to use Perles, she said) and when you are finishing off, you work out how many pairs of worker bobbins leave the section, divide this into the number of threads in your gimps, divide by two, discard this number of threads each time a pair of worker bobbins leaves the section, cross over what remains at the bottom, and discard similar numbers as you lap your remaining gimp threads back up the section. Then continue working with your workers, trim off all the individual gimp threads, and hey presto, a completely invisible gimp ending. (That’s putting it simply, Ulrike spends a lot more time explaining it fully, plus all sorts of variations). A gem of a booklet.
Introduction to honiton lace by Susanne Thompson is a very good book, as is The technique of honiton lace by Elsie Luxton. I believe Elsie’s book is no longer available, but I could be wrong about that. Susanne’s book is easier to follow by far. Honiton is not difficult to do, but the many fillings are somewhat of a pain!! Hope you have thread 140 to 170 on hand as that is what you will need.
Renaissance Lace book by Viniciollo, and I have a reprint of the 1617 book by Vecchellio waiting for me in Denver!!
La Dentelle de Bayeux
I have a complete translation of La Dentelle de Bayeux. I got it through Gaye Beswick (Torchon House), I think she said she was able to get it from America. I don’t know if it is still available.
I’ve ordered these 2 books Karen Trend Nissen: KNIPLING 3 – TØNDER-KNIPLING Jeanine Potin / Marie Catherine Nobécourt: LA DENTELLE DE BAYEUX À L’ÉCOLE DE ROSE DURAND
Karen’s Tonder book is fab. A good array of patterns but also good for learning to design. I love doing the tonder lace because of the thoughtful way it is designed. I can’t explain that without a heap of words so give it a go.
I have Bayeux Lace by Nobecourt and Potin -Yesterdays Lace for Today. ISBN 2-86 743-107-7 which is in English. 17 graded patterns and good instructions including Le Picot. I’m not sure it is the same as the one you have ordered. I’ve got a couple of Bayeux books, one in French and the other in English.I thought the English one would be really useful for technique so that I could then do the patterns in the French book. On looking at the diagrams in the 2 books though the lace is worked in very different ways, so even though they are both called Bayeux they vary a lot.
I’m not sure if you all know about the Gutenberg project, the books are all out of copyright and out of print. Hence perfectly legal to download. Isn’t that nice
There is on Gutenberg Project
www.gutenberg.org. Search for the Crafts bookshelf.
I’ve bought both editions of La guipure du Puy by Mick Fouriscot (as I love her Torchon books so much) and they are just stunning. I also bought her Cluny book. My only reservation is that most of them are just straight laces with no corners. I think only 4 out of the 30 patterns in book 1 have a corner.
Does anyone know of a book : Armenian lace by Nouvart Tashjian ?
I was quite pleased with it as it has some very good diagrams of the actual techniques used for the lace.I actually thought it might have been that beautiful book which contains the full history of the Armenian Lace and the people,it is I think ,out of print. I’ve just read,that one, and I received it on loan from the N.S.W.’s guild Library several months ago.It also has excellent diagrams for the lace and patterns. The Tashjian book is edited by Jules and Kaethe Kliot, a Lacis production and is a 1982 reproduction of The Priscilla Armenian Needlepoint Lace book. It has a nice map of the area of Armenia and a brief history, is a paperback, approx A4 size smallish typing (printing) and very clear pictures. I think it is worth the money, if one is at all interested in this beautiful lace. I have known about it for a long time, but never was able to find it, so I am pleased to find it now.
‘Henk Hardeman’ Torchon
Thought I would attempt the mat. It’s on page 36, but am having difficulties (remember I am still classified as a beginner). I thought the ground is WS but it obviously isn’t or I am doing something wrong because I have too many bobbins remaining at the end of the line. Unfortunately there are no instructions with the pattern. Please can someone help me?
I am also making a Henk Hardeman pattern with, I think, the same ‘ground’ – I treat it as a 4 leg spider ( using four pairs and treat as if a spider.). I am happy the way this looks. Have no idea if this has a special name but I am sure one of our gumnuts will be able to help. I believe Jill Mogridge has made the pattern you are doing and may also be able to add something.
Jean Dudding’s books are excellent too – have those but once again have not done much with them. I think they might still be available even though it is some time since Jean passed away. Actually was given all three by Pat Hallam several years ago as a thank you for something I passed on to her while she was in Australia – think it was around the time that Barbara Underwood was here.
There is a book available with honiton fillings. Not actually stitches as such and yet they are! Hard to describe, except that it is a fantastic book. It is called 121 honiton fillings by Christine Hawkin.
I have been emailing the author of the Sea Swirl, Sandi Woods and she has passed on the following information and I thought you might be interested in it especially anyone who intends to make it. I hope you fine in helpful
I’m delighted that you’re thinking of working Sea-Swirl……..it’s one of those ‘90% thinking :10% working’ patterns that makes mindless tasks like ironing worthwhile! I strongly advise that you read carefully the working instructions for other patterns in the book before commencing S-S and also work some of the other patterns, in particular Celtic Fish, since all the techniques required for S-S are covered in the previous pieces. Sea-Swirl, On Reflection and Celtic Fish do not have exact pin-by-pin instructions, there would not have been room in the book for them (they would have filled a book in themselves!), so you will need to make your own decisions as you work, based on what you’ve learned from the previous patterns. It’s also essential to read and thoroughly understand the main introduction to the book and all the pattern introductions, they are there to help you – I cannot stress this enough!
You shouldn’t have any problems joining up the S-S pattern if you look for the each of section numbers………which are also give you the order of work. The matching G-H appears to have been ‘lost’ in the printing process, but it was just a refinement anyway really!
As ever, the publisher was trying to squeeze everything in and it’s just been lost when they were ‘cutting and pasting’………..that’s why I make sure that all the sections are well numbered.
The most accurate (and easy in the long run!) way of assembling and transferring the pattern to pricking card (ditch any ideas of using the Dreaded Blue Film, which will cause more problems than it appears to solve!) is this;
Using tracing paper to fit the sections of pricking, trace off the dots…then, you can overlay the sections until the circled dots match up (use the full picture of S-S as a guide). When everything is matching up, tape the sheets of tracing paper together, then you can make the pricking directly through the tracing paper onto the pricking card. This allows you work out where you may need to make any sectional breaks and subsequent joins in the lace.
(A tip; don’t make the mistake of thinking of the shell sections as being a separate part of the whole, you need to continually think of the design in its entirety or you will loose its coherence and colour relationships!)
Keep me posted on your progress!!
Best wishes,
Sandi.
PS I do actually write all my published patterns with the idea in my head of a lady sitting somewhere in the middle of the Australian desert, with no means of communication, all phone lines dead, with just her pillow and her books to help her!! I used a collar pillow with an 18” revolving disc………this allowed me to work most of the pattern without any problems, then I worked the two lower sections (that wouldn’t fit onto the 18” disc) on another pillow. When the extra sections were completed, leaving the joining section till last, I joined them to the main section with sewings as they were worked. How and where you decide to make the joins depends upon the pillow you decide to use – but if you study carefully the order of work (sections 1, 2, 3….etc) and their methods of joining to neighbouring sections i.e. side or top sewings, then that will give you all the information you need to make the decision.
I have a book (published 1975, given to me by my grandmother) about the various handcrafts found on Dutch regional costumes. It’s all in Dutch, but does have some good pics! There is no such thing as a “national” costume – this book covers about 20 regions, all different. (And then there are the variations worn on Sundays, and during various levels of mourning, and the variations worn to keep the tourists happy, and ….!!!!). There is very little about bobbin lace, but does give instructions for some items of embroidery, crochet, beadwork etc. The “hul” is a simple cap; the “keuvel” is the one with decorative edges. If my understanding of the text is correct, the hul was worn most of the time (indoors and out); the keuvel was worn over the top outdoors, on special occasions etc.
The LOKK that published the, now out of print, hardcover book “De Schuine Netslag, Kant uit Vlaanderen en’s Gravenmoer” later published (2003) a spiral bound book with the same title as the first but sub-titled ‘aanvulling’. This includes prickings for 16 new designs, brought to light after publication of the first book, as well as instructions for making the two types of bonnet – ‘hul’ and ‘keuvel’. There are patterns to cut out the tulle for the bonnets and ‘stitch by stitch’ details of the embroidery for the cap. The book is in Dutch, English, German and French. I ordered my copy from Theo Brejaart in the Netherlands, other vendors surely stock it.
Just a quick note, I started with Rosemary’s book ,or I should say, I did her early Course, and did not find it easy, however I did take the pages and projects, strickly one at a time, and did not read ahead and found that much less confusing. I taught myself completely from books, one of the ones I particularly liked was Elizabeth Wade’s book, I found it helped put the other information in perspective. Always wished I’d had it in the early days. I’ve got Gillian’s book too, so if you would like to ask me any questions, I’ll be very happy to answer you, I’m a Qld-er too, though I don’t live there now but do visit when I can. Sh! I still hate half- stitch, though I can do it now without problems, I hope! I would not recommend Alexandra Stillwell’s book till you’ve finished at least Rosemary’s book and projects. You would not understand it at this stage. Would only discourage you, “before you can walk”! I’m thrilled to hear that someone else is having a go on their own, it is far from easy but so very rewarding.
Being a VERY raw beginner at bobbin lace, I find the instructions for the basic stitches in Gillian Dye’s book easier to follow than Rosemary Shepherd’s – can’t comment on the rest of the book as I’m not that far ‘advanced’ as yet – I’m still struggling with half stitch!!
I ordered Gillian’s book through Dymock’s; took about 4 weeks as it had to come from a small supplier, and cost $29.95.
Are the following books easy to follow, or good value to have?? “Beginning Bobbin Lace” by Gillian Dye, “Drafing Torchon Pattern” by Alexandra Stillwell . “Torchon Lacemaking: A Manual of Techniques” by Elizabeth Wade. Does anybody know where in Aust. these books may be available. Recommended by the English Lace Guild.
Beginning Bobbin Lace is OK, but pretty basic. Don’t know the Stillwell book, but I have a copy of the Elizabeth Wade book and it is just great for beginners – one of my favourites. I’m searching for another specific book among overseas sellers at the moment, if I come across any of them I’ll let you know
The Cecil Higgins Art Gallery in Bedord , UK , has a copy of the mat which was worked by a Mrs. Dixon in 1926….one would presume she worked it from a pattern drawn by Miss Channer. I’ve never heard of any original pattern being found anywhere. Patricia Bury, of St. Albans , drew the present pricking in 1991 and it was published by Ruth Bean. I presume that if you could do a deal with the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery , they might let you use their copy of the mat to draw up your own pattern??!!!!
I wish I knew more about the piece. It is stunning. However, it is not going on my to do list. It is just something to “ooh” and “aah” over.
Concerning the copyright: –
Was the pattern published by Miss Channer or can we only obtain pictures of the original piece? Is there no original publication to be found at all rather than the redrafted pattern published by Ms Bean? Doesn’t Ms Bean only have the copyright over the version she has drafted and published? If Miss Channer is more than 50 years departed then the original copyright has lapsed and her original pattern, if one can be found, should be copyright free. I checked my understanding of this with DH (litigator).
Miss Channer’s mat is an oval mat, approximately 21cm x 33cm….there is a photograph of it in “In the Cause of English Lace” (after page 23) and in “Lacemaking Pont Ground” by Channer, revised by M. Waller. Every so often, someone mentions the magic words “Miss Channer’s Mat” on Arachne – and all hell breaks loose! Someone invariably asks “where can I get a copy” and when they’re told: “sorry, you can’t”, they become rather upset, and a large number of Arachne members go into “how-can-we-get-a-copy-illegally” mode!
The debate usually starts with copious calculations about when Miss Channer died, and assertions that, therefore, copyright no longer applies to the mat. However, the copyright of this version of the mat is held by the English publisher Ruth Bean, not Miss Channer! Some years ago, Ruth Bean, got someone to redraft the pattern from a copy of the mat on display in an English museum, and that pattern was sold for some years, but is unfortunately no longer available.
There have been suggestions that the pattern should be photocopied (which is of course, illegal, even if the pattern is out of print) and an American lady on one occasion tried to convince us all that the English copyright laws didn’t apply in Australia, so why the Australian Lace Guild should publish the pattern! Most of the people *determined* to get a copy of the pattern by fair means or foul, even admitted they didn’t work Bucks lace anyway!!
There have been accusations that Ruth Bean isn’t being “fair” by not republishing, and all sorts of opinions published about her business practices, but I feel she’s entitled to run her business whatever way she sees fit. After all, only she knows how long it took her to flog the last print run of them…it may well not have been a terribly productive venture for her. After one particularly vigorous debate about the whole issue, and after some very personal comments had been made publicly about Ruth Bean, that lady herself revealed herself to be a lurking member of Arachne, and virtually told the list that she’d republish if and when she saw fit, and not at the behest of the Americans!!
Jean Leader has done TWO booklets – the first one is the one with bookmarks. The more recent one, which includes a fuchsia as well, is round motifs/coasters.
My mom called today to say she and the DH had been to Luton yesterday and went to the Bedfordshire Lace Museum . She even got me the names and phone numbers of a couple of lacemakers who sell the books, has anyone heard of Janet Tarbox or Glynis French. Amongst the goodies she bought me were a print of a late 19th century lacemaker, a book called Lace and the Emerald Isle, some Torchon lace bookmark patterns, and a Bedfordshire lace bookmark, and more.
Your book “Lace and the Emerald Isle” is one of four books written by Alan Brown, the husband of U.K. lacemaker Sheila Brown. Alan was a journalist, who in his retirement, turned his hand to researching the conditions of lacemakers in England .
“A Rough Lot” is the story of life and work in Nottingham in 1862, (as told to a Royal Commission in that year) where thousands of young women and girls were employed at lace finishing.
“Take the Children” is the story of Victorian lace girls, and how they lived and worked in the Honiton and East Midlands districts, as told to the same Commission.
“Lace and the Emerald Isle” deals with lacemaking conditions in Ireland
“The Honiton Lace industry in 1887” deals with the conditions of the Honiton industry in Queen Victoria ’s jubilee year.
I was having a lot of trouble with a six-bobbin star. We had some diagrams and we coloured each thread a different colour to help in following the diagram. Unfortunately, I still couldn’t get it. So what I did was to use coloured pony-tail hat elastic. I found a hat elastic colour for each colour on the diagram and wrapped the coloured hat elastic around each bobbin. Then I wrote out the recipe, red over blue, yellow under green, pink over purple and red, etc. It worked for me and I was tickled to find that it helped some other ladies too.
This is Guipure du Puy, which is the French equivalent to Beds.
Very similar in looks, but some of the working is different. There are 2 books in French on “La guipure du Puy”, by Mick Fouriscot and someone else (Mick Fouriscot is very well known in France, and she (not him), puts her “umbrella approval” on a series of lace books published by Didier Carpentier. They’re beautifully made, with fantastic photos and diagrams, and are not very expensive for what you get, compared to some other very plain ones. There are titles on Tulle, Duchesse lace, Torchon ( Dentelle de Cholet), and others I can’t remember.
The book I’m looking for is Steckborner Spitzen (Bobbin Lace from Steckborn) ISBN Nr 3-95229663-0-9 Helen do you know if it’s in the library.
Yes, Liz, we’ve got that book in the library, I liked the look of it too when I bought it.
This is a nice book, worthy of a place on your bookshelf if you are a Torchon person.
Got my copy in the mail of Elwyn Kenn’s new book “Butterflies and Flowers in Point Ground” yesterday. Great book, 15 designs including some corners, and like the other books, starts very simple with all necessary instructions and gets progressively more difficult. There is a detailed explanation of how to do the “gimp loop” which I have yet to tackle properly. Did it once as an experiment, a couple of years ago, but never tackled it again since. It didn’t seem all that difficult to me at the time, I recall.
I wonder if this technique would work with the Orange Blossom bookmark, so you could use just the one pair of gimps?
Why can I never leave well enough alone? I’m in enough trouble with gimps on the Pythagoras tree. My magic threads for those have become streamlined – a doubled length of bright DMC 80 tatting cotton, wound on to an aluminium bobbin (easily spotted) one end, and a silver safety pin in the loop at the other end, pinned into the spangle of the gimp bobbin it belongs with. Very sophisticated. At the moment there are 4 aluminium bobbins, each with a different coloured magic thread, lying flat at the top of my work.
1991 Withof Lace English Version 90 Patterns By Trude van der Heijden-Biemans, Yvonne Scheele-Kerkhof, and Puck Smelter-Hoekstra
Withof is a non-continuous lace (a great lace for pictures) which developed
out of Duchesse in a Dutch convent called Withof – hence the name. Yvonne has been to Australia several times conducting workshops. I can recommend this book (bought my copy for next to nothing as a library discard!) – the patterns are lovely and there are good clear diagrams of the techniques you need.
I have a very good book on the Bayeux Tapestry. The Bayeux Tapestry (The Norman Conquest 1066 ) Norman Denny & Josephine Filmer-Sankey ISBN 0 00 195058 4 It shows the complete tapestry and translates the story then also tells about the embroiderers and the general things of the times. I found it very useful when I did the City &Guilds. My replica piece was Count Guy.
Can anyone tell me if Brigid Cook’s book on Russian Tape Lace is still in print? If so does anyone know where I can buy a copy?
Bridget Cook’s “Russian Tape Lace” is like hens teeth. As you probably know, her “Russian Lace Patterns” is still available, but not the original Russian Tape Lace with all the good instructions in it. I use a website http://www.biblioz.com/ to try and locate out of print books, but that didn’t turn up anything
More on The Beginning of The End book.
There is a whole section on how to handle beginnings and endings in Tape Lace. I hadn’t even thought of referring back to Ulrike’s book when I got interested in tape lace, but she has several pages of ideas on how to start and end elements of tape lace that I now need to study carefully and TRY to remember. I tried the instructions in “Russian Lace Making” and didn’t like the result of both threads going back on themselves using magic threads – too bulky. At the moment I use magic threads to start to make final joins easier, but when I knot off I weave in one thread each way with a blunt needle.
And Ulrike, bless her clever little brain, always makes her workers finish in the middle of a trail so there is no ugly knot on the edge. You need to see the book and the diagrams to see the different variations of this for various tapes.
Only found half of the Russian Lace instructions this arvo…… no idea where the pencil notes from Bridget’s workshop are … they are in that studio somewhere !! (so safe I can’t find ’em! sheesh!) Anybody out there have the instructions on the ending of the braid in Russian … where you double back the bobbins?
If you don’t get a copy from someone in the class, Bridget Cook’s book”Russian lace making” has instructions on pp23-25 for ending tapes. Perhaps your Guild has a copy.
Does anyone Know the 2 books in the Needle and craft Catalogue Mediterranean Knotted Lace by Elena Dickson and Filet Lace stiches and Patterns by Margaret Morgan priced @ 28.50 and 29 .95 be interested to know what others think.
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Both Elena and Margaret are Lace Guild members here in SA and are excellent teachers. I’ve done a bit of Filet and can vouch for Margaret’s excellent abilities. Elena is also an extremely good teacher although I’ve only ever done a one day workshop with her. I recommend both books as very good value.
There is a video and a DVD by Elena to go with her book. Excellent self-teach. When I learned the knot lace from Elena, she left the video playing in the background. If you had to wait for her attention then you could watch the video.
There is one book that I know off on the technique of Chantilly lace. It was put out by the Dutch lace guild NKO in 1997 for the 3rd time, so it must be good. The book is called “Chantilly, technique and patterns” Nothing more or less. ISBN:90-5603-063-9 ISSN:1386-4580
I have two lovely books French Hand Sewing by Sarah Howard Stone, volumes 1 & 2 1st published in 1981 my copies are 12th printings 1991 with a lot of lace and garments with lace for children and babies.
Okay this could be seen as a plug for Martha Pullen, an American heirloom sewing “doyen”. She has recently put out three books on vintage clothing that she has collected over the years describing the laces, construction, etc., and now has just put out a book on vintage linens, called Glorious Linens. Of course, the main reason I love them is for the replica machine embroidery designs off the original garments and linens, but the books all have great descriptions and photos of the use of lace over the last century or so. As lacemakers some of you may be interested in getting just the books for the historical reference value. www.marthapullen.com.
One point, especially for new lacemakers. I’d forgotten how tricky Claire Burkhard patterns were. Once you’ve done one of her pieces once, then it falls into place, but boy, it takes some mental exercise to follow her thread paths at first. I’ve had her 50 Patterns book for some time, and worked a couple of patterns from that, but it took 3 or 4 repeats of the simple zigzag strip from the new book to feel comfortable with the way the threads go.
I have just received a notification from Hensel Productions in the USA saying that they now have a DVD/video by Jean Leader – called “Color in Torchon”, 3 hrs, 30 min. Anyone know anything about it if it is helpful. I probably got the notification because I bought the Louise Colgan Milanese tape from them.
My scarf pattern is in Torchon in Beweging (Jose van Pamelan-Hagenaars), which also has some interesting-shaped pieces made by working backwards and forwards. Not too sure what they are intended for – one is obviously a mat, but others could be ends / decorations for a fabric scarf or larger table coverings, or attached to clothing.
Has anyone else got the book by Brigitte Bellon “Kloppelmuster fur Schals und Tischlufer”? I think it’s fairly new. The scarves in that are worked across the width so used fewer pairs, only 16 pairs in some cases. What you do is work across the width, then turn and work a triangle, then turn and work back across the width, joining in pairs as you go. I haven’t tried one yet but the designs are really nice and there are good colour combinations shown….
” the one of best value with excellent basics and lovely clear patterns is Yvette Stanton’s “Elegant Hardanger Embroidery” (ISBN 0731810961 Kangaroo Press 2002).”
Yes, that is the book I have, and I agree – the diagrams are very clear and Helpful!
I just wanted to tell you that I ordered the “Fine and fashionable” book online (a first for me!!) from the Bowes Museum, and it arrived yesterday. It’s absolutely gorgeously made, lots and lots of illustrations, many
detailed, and very good quality photographs. With postage, it worked out at 22 pounds. I’m still waiting to see the translation on my Visa card 🙂
Karen Trend Nissen’s “Knipling 3” is not a continuation of Inge Skovgard’s books – it was originally published years before all 3 (1 in English published by Batsford, 2 in Danish) of Inge’s. Book 1 was a beginner’s book (= Torchon), Book 2 dealt with more complex Torchon and had just a couple of Toender patterns in the back, Book 3 is totally devoted to Toender is by far the best technical book for Toender lace. It is relatively inaccessible to many because it is in Danish. However, that may not trouble you particularly. Karen Thompson (Danish American) has translated it and the diagrams cover most things fairly well. I would consider it the ONE “must have” for someone interested in Toender lace. Book 4 is a book of various different approaches to starting and finished Torchon pieces. All 4 books have superb patterns. However, as Karen once remarked with respect to reconstructing old floral Toender patterns, you sometimes will work just one leaf 4 or 5 times until you get the pinholes placed exactly right to give a pleasing line. She certainly puts the effort in. I have been fortunate enough to do 3 3-hour classes with Karen as well as a one week workshop (which I mostly spent learning to draft prickings), so can probably clarify any questions you may have – I cornered her and asked them all myself! As far as it is possible, I use Toender methods and thread weights/ pricking scales etc for all of my point ground patterns.
Noelene’s question was about the two books ” Tønderkniplinger 1 & 11″ by Inge Wind Skovgaard that are listed in the Barbara Fay Catalogue. They are both very good but are in the Danish language.
She published with B T Batsford Ltd.a book “The Technique Of Tønder Lace ” in 1991, this one is in English and has a more compehensive section on the “how to ” of the lace. Only about half a dozen of the patterns are repeated in the later books. My suggestion is, if you are going to learn this lace that you beg, borrow or buy this book and use the other two as a resource for more patterns
I had a fantastic new book for Christmas, Tullgrundspitzen by Ruth Doepfner-Wettstein, published by Barbara Fay. It’s got the most gorgeous stack (28) of floral point ground designs in. There are some limited English instructions at the start of the book but then each pattern has got really enlarged working diagrams which look good to follow. Anyone who likes point ground patterns should really love this book.
If anyone wants to have a look at the cover of this book, go to http://barbara-fay.de and in the left hand column, do a “Suchen” (Search)” for Tullgrundspitzen or Wettstein. Then click on the book cover thumbnail for a bigger picture. It’s not a really big picture, but it does illustrate some beautiful patterns. And lo and behold, when you click on “Produktdetails”, you now get a description of the book in German, French, and, wait for it, English! Their website as a whole is still not in English, but this is a great step forward to be able to get a book description in English. And if you click on “Kontact” at the top of the main page, you get English instructions on how to contact them (including by “fax or fon”) You can, of course, email in English, no problems. Barbara Fay business is now closed.
Looking through a book list I found a new book on ‘sGravenmoerse lace? called “Kerstbomen’s Gravenmoer” by Corrie Versluis. Does anyone know this book and what its contents are about. Would it be woth getting or not?
I was trying to re find a pricking – you know what that is like, hunt through the books, then the magazines, the papers only to remember I found it on the internet – but where? Anyway I finally refound it on http://klk.pp.ru/category/bobbin_lace/ and realised that I could not remember telling you about the site. BTW Alice, that spider pattern you were chasing comes from here too. This site is closed, too.
Those on Arachne will have seen that there is a new book out on Geometric Bucks Point lace by Alexandra Stillwell in the UK (the same lady who wrote the Drafting Torchon Lace Patterns book we spoke of some time ago).
I ordered a copy from the author (through Amazon.com.uk) and have received it (after some confusion about how it was posted). It is an excellent book, perfect for beginners. It is some 262 pages long, with over 600 illustrations and very clear drawings. It is expensive, and it is a shame it is only soft covered and not hard covered. I’ve covered mine in heavy duty plastic already before it gets dog eared.
I had enquired from Barbara Fay booksellers in Germany if they were going to stock the book – at that stage, they did not know and they said they would write to the author. I received an email from Rolf at Barbara Fay this morning to say that they now have stocks of the book (and added “but here is the bad news, it is quite expensive”). I was impressed by the fact that they thought to follow up my original email with this advice.
They also advised (“the other good news”) that they are going to make their website cover book descriptions in English and French as well as German. I’ll keep an eye on them, and let you all know when they do. I had mentioned in my email I thought it would be a good idea if they did their website in English.
The “Threads and Pricking, A Partnership” is still in print. It was first published in 1999. It is written by Martina Wolter-Kampmann and was recommneded to me by Ilske Thomsen when she was here. It was Martina’s work for her finals at Kantcentrum Brugge. It is $54.00 in hardback. Martina uses a different system but the result is the same – effective comparisons between threads. Threads are arranged by country which are: Austrian, Belgian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, old GDR, Irish, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Swiss, and Turkish.
Last night I finally got around to starting to read my book which I bought early last year: “1066: and the hidden history of the Bayeux tapestry” by Andrew Bridgeford. My friend Ros (who went with me to the UK last June) found it at the local Library last March then ordered her own copy from Anguish and Robbery (Angus and Robertsons) and she brought it along to lace group and two more of us ended up ordering our own copies too! Ros and I made a point of going to see the replica of the tapestry at the Museum in Reading whilst we were over there …WOW! we got there on a Sunday morning when the museum opened and we were there for about an hour and a quarter of which it was just the 2 of us for the 1st hour …..FANTASIC! I would of course love to see the original but this one was truly stunning too and such a great achievement by the ladies involved.
Narua Nyplayksessa by Eeva Liisa Kortelahti has lots of very beautiful angels in it. She incorporates paper sting with her bobbin lace . They are really beautiful Paper string and lace sounds a bit funny but they are really pretty.
Claire Burkhard angel:
For those who haven’t seen the book, the Angel pattern is like a drop over the head caftan for a cardboard angel frame of an upside down cone with a small ball on top. I bought a couple locally at a Christmas sale. You work up half the front, around a shoulder, down one side of the back, up the other, around the second shoulder, and down the front, sewing as you go (through loops, not stitches), leaving a hole for the head. I am now up to the second shoulder, but can see where I’ve put some twists in one place and missed them out in another – I really do need a written record of how to make it.
I made up the wedding ring from her 50 Patterns book some time ago, and it took a bit of head scratching to remember how I did it when I was trying to show the girls on Saturday lace day. I do remember that once I had made it, it was obvious where threads went, and I made several of them (and gave them away).
I like Claire’s patterns very much but you really need to study the “what goes where” bit with great care before you start working the pattern. As you said Noelene, it is so nice when it comes together, and once it does, it becomes a pleasure to work her lovely patterns. (coloured pencils help a lot!!)
Are there any Claire Burkhard pattern lovers among the Gumnuts? Or at least one whose worked a couple and can sympathise with me.
I’ve just spent an enjoyable but frustrating afternoon attempting the angel from Fun with Corners. I looked at the pricking, thought it would be easy, enlarged it 133%, wound up some Finca 20 on square bobbins (only 12 pairs) and was away. Or so I thought. Puzzle after puzzle after puzzle. Two pair hung at a corner – that’s fine, she shows 2 pair of passives as a footside across the beginning. But hang on, one of those two pair has to go down the side, and there’s two pair of passives there too. Where did the other two pair come from? Aha, one pair works across to the left and then immediately turns around a pin and works back to the right, then drops down to become the second pair of passives going down the side.
And so on it went. I’m still not quite sure just how I got over the shoulder part (on my third attempt), but it worked – now all I’ve got to do is figure it out again when I get to the opposite shoulder!
But I must admit I got a great deal of pleasure each time when the penny dropped and I could see which pair of bobbins went where.
Next time I do a Burkhard pattern, I must keep a notebook or an enlarged pricking beside me though, and note where I put in extra twists etc. Ms Burkhard gives no help whatsoever on what sort of ground to use, how many twists across gaps, etc.
I”In Praise of the Needlewoman. Embroiderers, Knitters, Lacemakers, and Weavers in Art” by Gail Carolyn Sirna, and Shay Pendray ? Apparently it is a book of paintings of Needlewomen.
It is truly beautiful. A lovely book to relax with and coverage of very different paintings to what I am used to seeing in other books. One page is the painting and the opposite page gives the background to the painting. Lovely glossy pages beautifully presented.The index has 5 references to Lacemaking.including; Vermeer’s Lacemaker, Tropinin’s Lacemaker, Tapissier’s Lacemaker looks more like needlepoint than Lacemaking and Dali’s Woman at the window who is working on a lace pillow.
Received a lovely new book yesterday – Ulrike Lohr’s “Maikafer, flieg!” (a few months ago somebody directed us to a website with an amazing lace praying mantis – there’s a great selection of beautifully detailed insects).
I have this little book and it is so nice and, not difficult to make.(not like the butterfly book at all) Best to use honiton bobbins if you have them though, as there is a good bit of sewing in.
Ulrike Lohr’s books – apparently she loves to incorporate puns, or double meanings, in some of her book titles – “Fly, May Fly” for Maikaefer, flieg sounds like one of them. Mai is the month of May, and kaefer is a beetle – my Cassells dictionary also tells me that the phrase sie ist ein netter kaefer means “she is a nice bit of stuff”.
I have Claire Burkhard’s Lace for 10 Pairs; Ulrike’s insects are much more detailed; very lifelike and try to be anatomically correct for each particular species. It is Melolontha melolontha; a kind of scarab beetle – of the kind regarded as a good luck token and held sacred by the ancient Egyptians. As I understand it, they have become very rare and Ulrike comments she was 32 years old when she saw her first live specimen. The pattern has it in flight – wings fully extended – so it’s not immediately obvious that it’s a beetle and not a moth or something. The book is all insects – apart from the scarab beetle and the praying mantis, there are a couple of kinds of weevil (one a hazelnut borer, the other can’t translate!!!); a dragon fly, moth, wasp, Mayfly (Ephemera vulgata), grasshopper, butterflies etc. Some of the patterns are reasonably detailed, others are little more than a basic outline. A set of them would look really stunning – a lacemaker’s version of framed pinned insects! But it’s a lovely cheap little book (mine came from Barbara Fay in a group order, and cost $20 including postage).
Mistakes in books and patterns
Maybe not a real mistake this time, but something for Bucks beginners to watch out for.
Pamela Nottingham, The Technique of Bobbin Lace, hard cover, completely revised edition 1995.
Church Window on page 121. She gives step by step instructions to do the pattern, but for the gimp encircled windows, merely says to take the workers through the gimp to the right and work a ground stitch outside, then take the workers back through the gimp.
The photographed lace clearly has catch pins at these points, but it is not until several paragraphs later does she say that it can be seen that the ground stitches to the right of the head have been worked differently to earlier instructions, and goes on to explain how to work a catch pin here.
Kathy, as a beginner in Bucks, had followed the nice clear diagram and done enough of this edge to put on her convict bonnet without turning the page and seeing this comment about catch pins. Her lace, by the way, looks really great.
I suspect there are also some very puzzled French lacemakers around – I have seen some patterns in which “spiders” have been translated into French literally instead of converted to “grains d’orge”. Since the only foreign language I studied formally was Japanese, I’m used to translating the sense/”flavour” of what was said rather than the actual words. Keeps you out of a lot of trouble with misinterpretation of colloquial expressions.
My favourite lace term is the Danish “galslag” for “tally”. Galslag literally translates as “wrong stitch”. No further comment!!
Some time back I needed help with a project which had the pricking reversed to that of the photo and working diagram. If it hadn’t been for the Gumnuts who helped me – and to whom I’m very grateful – I’d have pitched the lot. That project was in a book published by the UK Lace Guild! The book is “Lacemaking The Gentle Art” by The Lace Guild, Forword by Helen Cavanagh, which contains Needle Lace, Bobbin Lace, Tatting, Knitted Lace, Crocheted Lace, and Filet Crochet. The pattern is the Bookmark on page 38.
In the latest (3rd) Underwood book -” A Beds. Lace collection” there is a beaut error – page 53, for anyone who has the book. The diagram #1 at the top left of the page is upside down – as all the directional arrows are runniing Upwards, not downwards, the way you make lace!!!
I found an obvious discrepancy in the ‘nur Torchon’ book. The pricking on page 19 and the working diagram on page 20 are printed at 180 degrees to each other. Fortunately we have an Officeworks here and I was able to go down and make a mirror image photocopy of the working diagram (I had the pattern pricked and ready to go before I realised). I have no idea if reversing the pricking would work, but reversing the working diagram did.
I have heard that there might be other errors in this book, but I don’t know where they are. Like some other books, this one is definitely not for the beginner.
Yes, you’re on to it – the diagrams in question have crosses where they should have twists and vice versa, presumably courtesy of the printer who couldn’t work out which side of the transparency was the “drawing side”. We were also looking a Bridget Cook’s Techniques book at Epping Lace the other day – there is a diagram which shows how to secure gimp when it is turning a 90 degree corner – unfortunately, the diagram in question has a missing twist and the gimp would simply fall out of the threads that are supposed to be holding it. This one was Bridget’s mistake, but most diagram/illustration problems are because the printers really have no idea of what they are looking at – and only the text, not the layout, is sent to the author for proofreading. There are at least 4 books with the diagram of a “spider” printed sideways!
However, the ONLY way to proof-read a pricking is to actually prick it………and probably the only way to be 100% certain you have specified the correct number of pairs is to hang them in to check.
Thanks, Christine; it took me a while to figure it out, and I’d never have noticed if I didn’t know there was a mistake there! But I certainly wouldn’t suggest the Cholet books to anyone without a lot of lacemaking experience. I find the technique diagrams useful to check my translation (but I’m still trying to work out why they draw a spider and call it a wheat-ear – “grain d’orge”! )
I had a beginners’ Binche (I think) book from the library (I have repressed the name and author) which gave the usual key of diagrams representing the different stitches at the front, and promptly ignored them, doing different
things throughout the book.
For reasons unclear even to me, I’ve taken to reading the “Introduction” in lace books. Today’s effort is Karen Trend Nissen’s “Knipling 3”, the Toender volume. “Fortunately, there have been lacemakers who have worked hard to keep the lace traditions alive after the decline of the Toender lace period. We know such names as….. THEY HAVE NOT ALL USED THE SAME METHODS (my emphasis). My technical knowledge of Toender laces has been gained largely from Ida Krarup, who is a student of Katherine Lorentzen”.
In another context, a few pages over.. “If there is not enough room, omit the exchange (passing the gimp in the other (weaving) shed) and leave the 2 gimps side by side”
And, re the Toender scallop (point ground shaped headside)
“When I first learned to make a Toender scallop, it was according to the method shown in Figure 25 (description = same as Bucks but with only 1 thread left untouched at the headside instead of 2). By examining the old Toender laces under the magnifier, I DISCOVERED THAT SCALLOPS WERE NOT ALWAYS MADE THAT WAY. (followed by a description, in which pairs being added to/removed from the passives are not the second or third pair from the headside, but the innermost pair). This method gives a prettier and firmer scallop.” (NB This is NOT what is shown in the OIDFA Study Group folder, for which the Toender contribution was made by Inge Skovgaard). Karen then uses the old scallop method in all of the subsequent patterns in the book.
Alexandra Stillwell learnt from books, so when she wanted to write her own Bucks book for beginners, she went to museums to look at old pieces of lace to confirm that she was using and teaching the “correct” method, only to discover that the current methods regarded as “correct” and “traditional” are, in many cases, NOT what was done in the older laces. Her introduction is also a good read.
Although on a much broader time scale, Rosemary Shepherd has always wondered why we take as gospel the teachings of the few residual lacemakers from the almost dead/declining period of the lace “industry”, instead of going back and LOOKING AT THE LACE from the period when lacemaking was at its magnificent peak. Interestingly, some of those who have done exactly that (and found that there was a wide range of variation, and selected what they thought worked best) are then disparaged for using “untraditional” methods, ie, not those of the early 20th century! Unfortunately, we didn’t get Ulrike Loehr (Voelcker) to give her Chantilly lecture whilst she was here. She has a significant collection and presents this fabulous talk about the variations in the working of footside and headsides illustrated from pieces in her collection. Also shows examples of obvious mistakes so that we know that the even the lacemakers of the past were not perfect.
Yes, it is the same Brigitte Bellon. Her book is on bobbinlace reticella – and some of the designs I can also do in NL, if I just trace out the outlines!!
It is much like the Le Pompe book, – but better/easier patterns as they are done out like we expect them to be – not woodcuts!!
Only 2 languages – neither is English, unfortunately. One is French, so I can pick out a few words!
Liz, we have been talking about a Brigitte Bellon book which is on Torchon scarves, “Kloppelmuster fur Schals und Tuschlaufer”. If it is the same B Bellon she is obviously mutli-talented!
Are you meaning the B.Bellon book on BL reticella lace ? – If so, I bought it at last Lace Day – from Lace Inspirations., She had a couple of copies there.
Also, the Cholet books have some incorrect diagrams – unchanged between the books – in the general techniques section. As a challenge, try to spot what is wrong with the gimp and triangle ground diagrams.
I found a glaring one when I bought The Torchon Lace Workbook, by Bridget Cook, which is also for beginners. The pictures of Patterns one and two have been switched!! Right at the beginning!!! How on earth can a raw
beginner guess what’s going wrong with her work?
My copy of this book is a 1988 version acquired as a redundant copy to the SA Embroiders Guild. Inside (opposite the “Contents” page is an errata stuck in which reads Page 10. The lace in the photograph for Exercise 1 is the lace for Exercise 2. Page 12. The lace in the photograph for Exercise 2 is the lace for Exercise 1. Page 14. The lace in the photograph is upside down in relation to the pricking and working diagram.
I just checked my book and it is a reprint so they must have fixed up the problem when it was re-printed!
Have a look at Pattern 5 – Victory Fan, looking at the worker coming down the page (in the trail) … am I reading it correctly ‘that it also is the worker on the corner fan but comes out as a passive.
I had a barny (“robust discussion”) with Barbara about the leaf samples in the middle of this book. I was scratching working lines onto my pricking to work out whether to start to the left or the right and ended up changing the pricking – turning 2 pinholes into 3 pinholes, because neither set of possible working lines produced something workable. She told me I HAD to work with the pinholes given and then was a bit miffed when I pointed out that the photographed example HAD NOT BEEN WORKED USING THE PRICKING it accompanied. Presumably whoever worked the sample had the same problem I did and fixed it in a similar (obviously unapproved!) manner!
Thought I’d join the discussion on mistakes and omissions in lace patterns in books. Back in 83 I made the collar pattern in Jennifer Fisher’s book “Torchon Lace For Today” published by Kangaroo Press in 1983, that is on page 62. I made notes in my book at the time. On the beginning tape edge of the collar one pinhole is missing, you need 28 and there is only 27 on the pricking. When you come to the other end of the collarand go to do the last section of double half stitch and twist, pin, double half stitch and twist ground, she has a pinhole to many and the direction of working is going in the wrong direction, also in her notes on page 64 near the bottom of the second columnshe says to “work rows R to F then Q to G” The letters are in the wrong order. They should be R and Q to G and F I have made this collar again , inspite of the mistakes I still like the design
The Diamond & Daisy pattern is photographed inside out – the raised tallies should be above the Half-stitch diamonds – not underneath them!
It’s in Pamela Nottingham’s “The Technique of Bobbin Lace” (mine is a hardcover edition). The Half Stitch Circle and Trail Pattern, Figures 99 and 100, and Pricking 101. The photograph of the corner of the finished lace shows 8 leaves around the half stitch centre, the working diagram shows 6 leaves and two plaits, but the pricking shows NINE leaves. The leaf at 4 o’clock position in the pricking needs to be ignored.
Oh dear, I think Ive started something here. When someone mentioned a mistake in a Pamela Nottingham book, I remembered that I found one too! It was the second butterfly in her Technique of Bobbin Lace (Beds section). The pricking and the diagram and the photo didn’t match in places! I did learn a lot from this, but again, went back a few times.
The problem I have had was in Barbara Underwood’s book “Introducing Traditional Bedfordshire Lace in 20 lessons” 1993 edition Pattern 7 Page 42 onwards
It says you need 20 pairs. I thought I had followed the pattern when instructed to add pairs, but I needed 21 pairs. I don’t mind that it was a pair out, I’m happy to add another one, it was just that I thought I had mucked it up, so went back a few times trying to find out where I went wrong, but I don’t think I was wrong after all. I probably should have just “gone with the flow” and trusted what I thought was right, but Barb Underwood is such a “great” that I thought it must have been me!!
Julie, I looked at the working diagram, and am certainly not a Bedfordshire expert, but I’m wondering how many pairs of passives you have in the start of the trail? The working diagram says “8” above the trail passives, and shows the worker starting at the left-hand side. My first reaction would’ve been to hang on 8 pairs of passives, and add another pair as the worker…however, when I got my magnifying glass out, I counted only 7 passives….and then I read the instructions which say to hang the 8 pairs on a pin, and take the left-hand pair as the worker. Could this be where your need for an extra pair came from?
Mind you, as someone who rarely reads the instructions, I do think that diagram is misleading!!!
And, just in case there’s anyone who’s thinking of working the rectangular mat from Pamela Nottingham’s “The Technique of Torchon Lace” (page50/51)…..
The work in this case is started by working the fans along the narrow end of the rectangle. At various named points along the inside edge of the fans, extra bobbins are hung on, some of which are used to work the fan, and the others are left hanging to provide enough pairs to work the entire width of the rectangle after the starting row.
The instructions are quite explicit (and remember, this is a book written for beginners!) and describe in great detail what to do at pins A and B, which establishes the corner and the start of the first fan. Then we start the next fan and diamond: “Hang eight pairs around pin C…” and the instructions go on to tell you how to use four of them to work the fan – thereby implying to leave the other four pairs dangling.
However, at pin D and E the directions only mention hanging on the pairs required to work the next fan – so, as a very raw beginner, I ended up with multiple pairs dangling from the corner and the first fan, and only the normal one pair left out at the inside pinholes of the other fans….I could see something was wrong, couldn’t envisage how I was going to work the rest of the mat, and had no-one to ask. It took a full day of nutting around the problem until the penny finally dropped at about 12.30 a.m., at which point I bounded out of bed, went and leant over the pillow to look, and returned to bed happy that I knew what to do the next morning.
I was right – At pins D, E, F and G, double the number of pairs you’re told to add in. Use half of them to work the fan, and leave the other half hanging, just as you did with the first fan.
Has anyone tried the pattern for Amulet Purse for Children in Aust Lace Summer 2006 Page 20? Have I stuffed up or do I really need 22pr of bobbins instead of 20 pr as stated in pattern?
A couple of people in our Illawarra / Wollongong group have made it – and from memory, they decided it did need 22 pairs.
And just recently I started a pattern in La Dentelle Torchon de Cholet – and found a mistake there in the number of bobbins needed. it’s the first book, and the pattern (called something totally unpronounceable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) is on page 60. The “Fournitures” (which, due to this word’s resemblance to the English “furniture” I interpret as “necessities” or “requirements”!!!) calls for 112 bobbins (or 56 pairs).This edging is worked in sections, with the pillow being turned and the work progressing in a different direction many times. When I reached the end of the first section, on the inside edge of the square, I found I was short one pair of bobbins. The starting diagram is absolutely correct, and there is nowhere to use another pair of bobbins until the first working section is completed, all bar the last pinhole. I hung on an extra pair, worked the last pinhole of the section, then turned the pillow umpteen times until I’d worked the next three sections which includes the sewings through the middle of the spiders. By that time, I was back to the pinhole next to where I’d added the pair. At which point, the extra pair was thrown out. Of course, next time this spot is reached in the next quarter of the square, the same need for an extra pair arises.
One of the first things I teach beginners to bobbin lace is “always consider it might be the book which is wrong”!! I learnt from Rosemary’s book, and got about halfway through before launching off to work a pattern from one of Pamela Nottingham’s books. It was, for me at the time, quite a complex start – a rectangle worked from top to bottom, with all the pairs hung on along the top edge, half of them left until the top edge was finished, then the pillow was turned to use all the bobbins. However, after about the first four or five pinholes, the instructions went haywire! Not a printing error, but a *writing* mistake – and I nudged that problem around my brain for nearly 24 hours before I found the answer!!
Has anyone worked the rectangular mat in Pamela Nottinghams books Techniques of Torchon Lace Page 50? This mat is worked from the top down. How many pairs did you require please? I tried working according to the no of pairs in the book but kept running out of pairs so had to add more. Now I have lots but it seems to be working out.
The instructions are wrong. From pinhole “D” onwards, she only tells you the number of pairs you need for working the next fan or whatever. In fact, you need to hang on *double* the number she says from “D” onwards, and leave half of them hanging, ready for when you turn the mat around and work down the long length of the rectangle. (Just like you did for the first few pinholes).
The actual number required is 54 pairs.
Translations
Torsion, – tordez, – tournez, – tordues
Torsion = twist
Tordre = wringing (becomes tourdez in your tenses)
Tordue = warped or twisted
Tourner = turning like in a corner (becomes tournez in your tenses)
French is very specific, and each word has a fairly clear meaning.
So if a set of instruction is as follows:
CTC, 2 torsions a la paire de gauche, 1 torsion a la paire de droite
Would the correct lace working be?
Cross, twist, cross
2 twists on the pair to the left
1 twist on the pair to the right
Chant, Vitre & Alencon
Different types of Bayeux grounds
Commencez par preparer votre realisation en faisant 2 torsions a la paire
pendante qui se trouve a la droite du cordon. Faites CTC picot.
Basculez l’epingle.
Degagez nettement une boucle.
Plantez l’epingle puis tendez le fil.
Croiser. Tourner. Croiser.
Faites 2 torsions a la paire pendante a droite du cordon.
Begin by making 2 twists with the pair to the right of the gimp.
Make Cross, Twist, Cross picot?
The next bit is to do with making the loop around the pin?
Then CTC again, then make 2 twists with the pair to the right of the gimp.
Start by preparing your achievement by doing 2 twists in the hanging pair that you find on the right of the cord/string.
Make CTC picot.
Fall over/tip over the pin!
Neatly clear/get through one loop.
Stick in the pin then tension the thread.
CTC.
Make two twists in the pair hanging to the right of the cord/string.
I am about to attempt a pattern from Neue Kloeppelideen fuer Torchonspitzen by Katarina Egger. My attempts to translate the names of the stitches using a German dictionary are rather bizarre and the diagrams don’t help that much.
Can anyone give me English equivalents of: Ganzschlagloecherschlag, Rohrstuhlgrund, schraeger Ziergrund? (sorry, hotmail doesn’t do umlauts, or I don’t know how to). I can handle kleine Spinnen and if all else fails I can choose my own stitches.
Checking out Ulricke Loehr’s book “The Beginning of the End”
Rohrstuhlgruende = Rose ground
Schraege Ziergrund = rose ground variation (p44 2.1.6)
Loecherschlag = Torchon or half stitch ground
Couldn’t find Ganzschag but it equals whole stitch.
And if you can’t put the umlauts in you can add an ‘e’ after the letter to indicate.
German has a bad habit of running lots of small words together to form one really long, incomprehensible-looking word, so the first step is to work out what the shorter words are!!!. To simplify it all a bit, schlag = stitch and grund = ground (which seem to be more or less interchangable as far as the translation goes!)
Doing a bit of research in multilingual lace books: the most comprehensive I’ve found is Bridget Cook’s Building Torchon Lace Patterns, with its sampler of 20 different ground variations described in detail and in 4 languages.
Locherschlag = Brussels ground or torchon & halfstitch ; locherschlag-grund = torchon ground – take your pick!
rohrstuhlgrund = roseground or Dieppe ground
ganzschlag = cloth stitch / wholestitch and twist (as a ground stitch)
schrager ziergrund = bias ground
zierfaden = gimp (= decorative thread); ziergrund = decorative ground.
konturfaden also = gimp .
As in English, there seems to be a certain amount of flexibility / disagreement about what is meant!
>Ganzschlag = #99 which = cloth stitch and twist
>Locherschlag 2 x gedreht = #150 which = Dieppe reseau
>Schrag = #501 which = slanting, bias, on the bias
>Zierfaden = #229 which = gimp
>Ganzschlagloecherschlag, =
>reseau Rohrstuhlgrund,
>schraeger Ziergrund? = maybe slant / bias
I believe Schraeger ziergrund to be……….. bias ground
and locherschlag x 2x to be ………..ctt pin ctt. (creating a hole as
locher means hole)
schrag………..bias
Zierfaden……..gimp
loecherschlag…………half stitch (ct pin ct
ganzschlag …….. whole stitch or cloth st and twist, depending on the
book you are looking at.(ctct pin ctct)
This info is from a german lace book together with a German Dictionary. Hope
it helps
A while ago, there was a discussion about the pronunciation of ” Tonder”,
I think it was in gumlace? Well, we’ve just had 2 Danish ladies in the
house, and the correct pronunciation is (approximately) “Tunner”, with the
u pronounced as in “summer”. Just forget about that d…
Museums
Honiton in Devon – All Hallows Museum – not to be missed. It really is a
lovely collection of lace. It used to be a much nicer stop when the Honiton
Lace Shop was open, but Jonathon has closed it and opened up an Italian
Eatery instead.
Olney in Buckinghamshire – It has the home of Cowper which is used as the Cowper and Newton Museum, when you look out the window, you can see the spire of the church which is very reminiscent and supposedly the inspiration for the church window bobbins. It has a small lace collection with a small room of lace AND if you walk down the main street (ask at the museum which way) there’s a building with a lacemaker in the stone pediment. Very cool to have pictures of….
http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=11756
Cecil Higgins Gallery and the Bedford Museum (they are next door to each other) in Bedford, Bedfordshire – Cecil Higgins has some nice lace to view, especially some nice pieces of Thomas Lester lace, don’t skip the panels of lace that sit kind of out in the hallway in the second floor (If they are still there). Cecil Higgins has eye-candy-lots of lace on display, Bedford museum deals more with social history of the county. There are lacemakers and pillows and bobbins in the Bedford Museum.
Bath – Museum of Textiles, lace on costumes, nice, but I like lace for lace’s sake
Luton – A nice display of lace in glass cases and drawers. It is worthwhile to request to look at the collection that is not on display. They have, for example, hundreds of not thousands of prickings. It’s close to London, so could be a day trip from there.
Victoria and Albert Museum in London – Slide out panels of lots of lace and other textiles. It’s very nice to spend time in the textile room, sketching lace and taking pictures (no tripod allowed, but you can take photos without a flash.) It’s not far from Harrods. http://www.vam.ac.uk/
The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery purportedly has a fine collection of lace and bobbins but as I found out “at present there are no costume or textile displays due to extensive modifications to the Museum buildings”. This is getting to be a habit – found out earlier in the year that the Victoria and Albert Museum also has packed most of its lace collection while renovations are carried out.
But the good news: this morning Joyce Mackey, long time volunteer in charge of the lace at the Narryna Heritage Museum, made a special trip to the museum to show me their lace collection which is not on public display. She also cares for the costume collection so it was interesting morning ‘back stage’.
I didn’t expect to find any more lace after we left Hobart for a hurried tour of the less populated areas but it turned up:
The little folk museum in Deloraine is in an old building that was an Inn from 1866 until 1894. It has been refurbished to depict the lifestyle of a country publican of that time. And his wife is shown in the parlour relaxing with her (Princess style?) lace pillow! I asked an attendant if lace had been/was popular in the area but she didn’t know – there was an active craft group in town but she thought the woman who
made lace had left a few years ago… An evening stroll round Sheffield to see the famed murals was a delight. Especially when DH spied, through a machine-lace curtained shop window, a lace pillow that looked like it was in use. We waited the next morning until the shop opened. The owner is a spinner and weaver but hopes to find time soon to learn lacemaking. The lace, pillow, books etc were her grandmothers. The bobbins had been turned by her engineer grandfather; they are midlands style but, out of necessity perhaps, instead of beaded spangles they have metal D-shapes screwed in the end to add weight and stop them rolling.
This is just to let you know that I discovered a delightful museum in Canberra (just off Northbourne Ave near Civic) that contains the most exquisite Ukrainian embroideries and other craft work. It is called the Ukrainian Orthodox Centre and Museum. And is located at in McKay Gardens, Turner. Admission is free BUT it is not open everyday, you need to ring in advance. The people are very friendly and speak with REAL Aussie accents. There is a display of a variety of Ukrainian national Costumes and like other parts of Europe, the costume varies with the region. There are also beautiful icons, the decorated eggs and wood carving. It is also very small in area but really packed with goodies to see.
Graph Paper
I’ve just been downloading free graph paper for a project for my students and wondered if the Gumnuts know that they can download graph paper for designing from free websites. Just enter graph paper into Google and you’ll find them.
You don’t need to. Just get Steph Peters’ wonderful little programme called “Dots” (free to all lace makers) and you can produce your own in whatever size or angle you want.
BTW, I drew up almost all the prickings I used in my Proficiency on the computer (especially as I can print them on powder blue soft card, easy on the eyes). There was nothing in the guidelines to say HOW prickings should be drawn – I just did the Guild example “to show I could do it”, just in case. No comments were made about this, so I guess it’s OK to use computer generated prickings. I even drew a template for the fan curve in stiff plastic and marked it with notches to use to hand draw the fans! (idea from Rosemary’s book)
I use Graph Paper Printer from http://www.marquis-soft.com/ to do all my graph paper from and at $20 it did not break the bank 🙂
Hm, is the stuff at http://www.mathematicshelpcentral.com/graph_paper.htm any good?
or http://www.printfreegraphpaper.com/
http://www.incompetech.com/graphpaper/
has free graph paper charts – including polar – that can be printed
out on your printer.