The LaceNews Channel on YouTube – Update for July 2011

This is the first monthly update for the LaceNews Channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/lacenews.  Ninety-five videos and four new playlists were added in the July search, for a current total of 1,148.  A complete pdf of the titles in their correct order for all the playlists can be downloaded at July_2011_playlist. Let me know if you would like the original MS EXCEL file.  The new additions are shown in red. Many of the new additions were first posted in July, but I am still discovering older videos which are also added in. If you see something that is missing, or if you have suggestions for better organization, please write to lacenews@gmail.com.

Newly added playlists include:
Estonia – Knitted Lace (13 videos)
Italy – Orvietto Crochet  (1 video)
Russia – Orenburg Lace Knitting  (11 videos)
United Kingdom – Shetland Lace   (4 videos)

Below I summarize  the number of new videos added to existing playlists:
Australia – Museums   1
Belgium – Bobbinlace   1
Brazil – Bobbinlace       3
Brazil – Needlelace       1
Croatia – Lepoglava      2
France – Bobbinlace      2
Malta and Gozo – Bobbinlace   2
Slovenia – Bobbinlace   1
Spain – Bobbinlace       34  (I’m now searching on ‘Puntaire’ – lots of results)
Sri Lanka – Bobbinlace   1
3 Tatting playlists    17
USA – Bobbinlace    1

I’m trying to get the help of the tatting community to better organize all the tatting videos.
I would also suggest that people look at the videos on Spanish Bobbinlace under the name ‘minairecatala’, which show the remarkable work of lacemaker Aida Pou. Her Catalonian Blondes are amazing.  See, for example, http://tinyurl.com/453vnmt.

Posted in The LaceNews Channel on YouTube | 1 Comment

Ebay Alerts! Thirteen items – August 4, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/3tj9jx6 ANTIQUE LACE-FINE 19THC SILK MALTESE LACE EDGING
Size:
4″ x 85″
Starting price: $65.00
Auction ends: Aug 07, 2011 05:41:58 PDT
Offered by:
Maria Niforos, Ebay seller mithya, London-New York, United States
Comments: The large alternating cross and leaf repeat is not uncommon in Maltese borders. This example seems a little loosely done, but it might just be a little worn. As with most Maltse, it is well done. It is a reasonable length in good condition.

   No bids.

http://tinyurl.com/3lvlwoh ANTIQUE LACE-BRUSSELS DUCHESSE LACE
Size:
2-3/4″ X 58″
Starting price: $65.00
Auction ends: Aug 07, 2011 05:48:34 PDT
Offered by:
Maria Niforos, Ebay seller mithya, London-New York, United States
Comments: Good narrow length of Duchesse – the gimp outlines and minimal use of raised work might put it more on the Bruges Bloemwerk side. Well worked motifs with a nice contrast between half and whole stitches. Aside from a minor reattachment, it looks in very good condition.

   Sold for $66.00, 2 bidders.

http://tinyurl.com/3j3wo6u ANTIQUE LACE-CIRCA 17THC. POINT DE FRANCE LACE
Size:
3.5″ x 45″
Starting price: $45.00 with reserve
Auction ends: Aug 07, 2011 06:23:51 PDT
Offered by:
Maria Niforos, Ebay seller mithya, London-New York, United States
Comments: The main French marker in this piece is the hexagonal picoted mesh. As seen in the last photo on this post, there also seems to be a symmetric design repeat although it’s a bit hard to spot. Italian Coraline tends to be a bit more random.  I don’t see any raised elements. The looped header edge is made with a little thicker thread, although the looped form is seen in original examples. It’s hard to tell from the photos, but the footside edge might be a bobbinlace, but again the design is not untypical of these pieces. Really hard to tell if it is completely original, the difficulty in tracing the design is bothering me a bit. Condition looks great, and this is a rare lace.

   $46.00, 2 bidders, Reserve not met.

http://tinyurl.com/3d67n2v ANTIQUE LACE-CIRCA 1660’S-1700’S,FLEMISH,ITALIAN LACE
Size:
4-3/4″ X 94″
Starting price: $45.00
Auction ends: Aug 07, 2011 09:07:33 PDT
Offered by:
Maria Niforos, Ebay seller mithya, London-New York, United States
Comments: Very good border of Italian tape lace, usually associated with the l’Aquila area. The tape seems a little wider than usual, but the mirrored undulating designs are very typical. Well made with solid linen thread, lace like this has an impressive presence. I’d put it more in the mid 18th c, but it was made over a very long period. Condition appears very good, just repair and some attachment needed on an edge, areas not shown.

   $45.00, 1 bidder, reserve not met.

http://tinyurl.com/3g4vsgj ANTIQUE LACE-IRISH CROCHET TEA COSY
Size:
8″ x 12″
Starting price: $75.00
Auction ends: Aug 07, 2011 09:42:40 PDT
Offered by:
Maria Niforos, Ebay seller mithya, London-New York, United States
Comments: A few tea cosies have been up for sale in the past few months – this one is of Irish Crochet. I can’t tell if it was actually made for this purpose, but it is a charming piece. The motifs are nicely done, and there is a little raised work. I assume one would put a liner under the lace to provide insulation and show off the crochet patterns. It may have been remade from other piece, hard to tell, but condition looks good. It does seem a bit overly white, perhaps a sign of bleaching.

   Sold for $75.00, 1 bidder.

http://tinyurl.com/3cd6rea ANTIQUE LACE-EXQUISITE ALENCON LACE EDGING
Size:
3.5″ x 81″
Starting price: $45.00 with reserve
Auction ends: Aug 07, 2011 11:50:13 PDT
Offered by:
Maria Niforos, Ebay seller mithya, London-New York, United States
Comments: A good length of Alençon with either a bride tortillée or Bride Bouclé ground – photos aren’t close enough to tell which. Rather romantic design typical of the mid and later 19th century.  The condition (albeit one join), the bride ground, and the workmanship are all pluses in this piece. The lack of elaborate fillings is a negative – but I think the pluses outweigh the minuses.

   $233.68, 4 bidders, reserve not met.

http://tinyurl.com/3okytw8 ANTIQUE LACE-CIRCA 1600’S , FINE INSERTION LACE
Size:
4″ x 23″
Starting price: $45.00 with reserve
Auction ends: Aug 07, 2011 12:34:28 PDT
Offered by:
Maria Niforos, Ebay seller mithya, London-New York, United States
Comments: A very good short length of Reticella cutwork. Cut at the top edge, but the bottom original edge seems intact. Nicely done rosettes, very closely worked. The tripartite division is very typical of early work.  I won’t guarantee the date, but the density does look quite good. 16th, maybe early 17th century. Wish it were longer.

   Sold for $202.50, 4 bidders.

http://tinyurl.com/3b6ozbc SUPERB ANTIQUE HM VICTORIAN BRUSSELS DUCHEESE LACE 56″
Size:
49″ x 56″
Starting price: $49.99
Auction ends: Aug 07, 2011 17:40:22 PDT
Offered by:
Ebay seller SNOWBABY5, Western NY, New York, United States
Comments: Good wide Duchesse de Bruges border. Motifs are quite cleanly made, without raised work. Note the unutual looped picots on the brides.  A few holes, but it seems that no material is missing, so repairs are straightforward.

   Sold for $51.00, 2 bidders.

http://tinyurl.com/4xxpkdn Antique 1800s Lace Applique Embroidery Collar Exquisite
Size:
9-10″ wide, inside neck ~17″
Starting price: $650.00 Buy-it-Now or Make Offer
Auction ends: Aug 07, 2011 18:02:00 PDT
Offered by:
Ebay seller gb-best, Pennsylvania, United States
Comments: This wide cutwork embroidery color is very interesting. Normally I’d consider it a litte outside the definition of the laces shown on Ebay Alerts, but the presence of this piece is outstanding. The padded embroidery is even used as layers of petals in the roses. No idea where it was made. A few minor breaks, but overall condition is very good.

   Did not sell.

http://tinyurl.com/3ley473 ANTIQUE MALTESE BOBBIN LACE LAPPETS SHAWL SHAMROCKS 80″
Size:
9″ x 80″
Starting price: $199.99
Auction ends: Aug 07, 2011 18:30:55 PDT
Offered by:
Ebay seller mulgaking, Victoria, BC, Canada
Comments: Good Maltese scarf. The solid trefoil design is well done, more tending toward Gozo work. It is pieced together from 4 strips, well matched at the seams. This is pretty typical of Maltese construction. Seller does not report on condition, but I can’t see anything obviously wrong from the photos.

   No bids.

http://tinyurl.com/3u4n23k ANTIQUE LACE-SUPERB ROSEPOINT NEEDLEPOINT LACE
Size:
3″ x 55″
Starting price: $45.00 with reserve
Auction ends: Aug 08, 2011 04:58:32 PDT
Offered by:
Maria Niforos, Ebay seller mithya, London-New York, United States
Comments: This piece has the feel of Point Colbert, the French needlelace promoted by the Lefebure firm in Bayeau in the mid to late 19th century. The toilé is quite solid, and the edge is more elaborate, not too typical of contemporary Italian work. The picoted loops on the brides also seem consistent with Point Colbert. Most documented pieces give more emphasis to the sculpted cordonnet, and don’t have so many picoted loops around edge motifs. That’s a little more Italian in nature, but it doesn’t look like Burano work. I don’t see any obvious damage from the photos.

   $61.00, 2 bidders, reserve not met.

http://tinyurl.com/3um7k6t ANTIQUE LACE-FINE 19THC. IRISH LACE
Size:
7″ x 45″
Starting price: $95.00
Auction ends: Aug 08, 2011 05:06:29 PDT
Offered by:
Maria Niforos, Ebay seller mithya, London-New York, United States
Comments: The long rayed ‘daisy-like’ motifs in Irish crochet can get a little awkward, but the work well here. Very good raised work in the motif centers, Clones knots ornament the brides.  Overall a very good example. No obvious damage from the photos.

   Sold for $95.00, 1 bidder.

http://tinyurl.com/3o8oatj ANTIQUE LACE-CIRCA 1700,SUPERB NORTH ITALIAN LACE
Size:
3″ s 152″
Starting price:
$45.00 with reserve
Auction ends: Aug 08, 201105:25:17 PDT
Offered by:
Maria Niforos, Ebay seller mithya, London-New York, United States
Comments: Interesting Milanese-type tape lace. I like it because it seems intact, the header and footer show typical Italian innovation, and there are a few decorations to the tape. Not many, and this piece looks better when viewed at a standoff. I guess the ends are seamed? There’s no photo and a little hard to understand from the writeup. A few spots, but no structural damage. A very nice example of an fairly early lace.

   $61.00, 3 bidders, reserve not met.

Posted in Ebay Alerts! | Leave a comment

Lace Event: 5th Vale of Belvoir Lace Day – September 24, 2012

5th Vale of Belvoir Lace Day
Date:
September 24, 2012
Place:
Hose Village Hall
Harby Lane, Hose LE14 4JR
Time: 10.00 AM UNTIL 4.00 PM

Supplier:  Roseground Supplies

Contact: Mrs. Penny Reed, 171 Melton Road, Melton Mowbray, Leicester. LE13 1LA
Telephone: 01949 869168

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Lace of the Month – Tatting – August 2011

I am one month off on the Featured Lace writeups – I still have to do July’s important 18thc Belgian needlelace post. The delay is attributable to the Los Alamos fire, and also to time spent developing the LaceNews Channel on YouTube. In working on collecting YouTube videos, it is obvious that there is a large interest in tatting. Of the 1,056 videos so far on the site, 385 of them are on tatting.  I also confess to making a statement on another lacemaking blog that I don’t much like tatting… so as penance I’m putting up this piece as the August Lace of the Month. It is quite remarkable.

This little piece is 13″ long and 5-1/4 wide along the centerline. It represents very early techniques, before the method of joining one picot to another was presented in 1851 in the work “Tatting Made Easy” by an author listed only as “A Lady”. Before this time motifs were made separately, then tacked to a temporary base paper or fabric, similar to the finishing method for Irish Crochet. The joins are done by literally tying picots together with separate knots done with a needle. This is clearly shown in the photo below.  Another characteristic of early tatting is the inclusion of needlelace fillings in some open spaces. In this regard it also resembles various higher quality Irish Crochet pieces, the best of which include very similar fillings.

The picot tying method is attributed by some authors to France. One such was Mlle. Eleonore Riego de la Branchardière, who in her 11 tatting books advocated both fine netting needles and sewing needles to pass the working thread through picots. (All authors comment on how fine the netting needle must have been to accomplish this task.) The 1851 “Tatting Made Easy” work gives the first written explanation of how to pass a shuttle through a working thread drawn through a picot. But something was lost here, no longer did a single thread pass through the picot.

This method of tatting is unfortunately obsolete, and is not represented in any of the YouTube videos. Someone clearly has an opportunity to set this straight. There is a wonderful density and frillyness to this type of work that somehow has been lost in modern tatting. The use of separate motifs is freed from the geometrical restrictions of conforming to convenient shuttle tie-in points, and the variety that can be assembled is quite wonderful.

Note: if you are just looking at the home page of LaceNews, please be sure to read the important comments made on this post. They are normally not visible unless  you click on ‘comments’.

Posted in About the featured lace | 10 Comments

Lace Event: Wolverhampton Lacemakers Lace Day – September 24, 2011

Wolverhampton Lacemakers Lace Day
Date:
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Place:
Baptist Church
Winchester Road, Fordhouses, Wolverhampton WV10 6EJ
Time:
10:00 AM until 4.00 PM

Workshop: Pauline Hardwick, “Unusual & Colourful Yarns”

Tickets: Members £3.00, Visitors £4.00, Shopping only, £2.00
Contacts: Sue Kalra, 01902 843195 or suckalra@btinternet.com
Jenny Roberts, 01922 473234 or jroberts@sky.com

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Lace Event: North Downs 30th Lace Day – September 24, 2011

North Downs 30th Lace Day
Date:
September 24, 2011
Place:
Yateley Centre
Yateley, Nr Camberley, Surrey GU46 6NW
Time: 10.30 AM UNTIL 4.00 PM
Flyer: Northdowns

Speaker: Nicky Höwener-Townsend, “Suffolk Lace”
Suppliers:  Chris Parsons, bobbins
Doreen Gill, books

Tickets: £5.00  North Downs members £4.50, Young Lacemakers £1.50, including tea, coffee, and talk.
Cheques payable to North Downs Lacemakers with SAE
Contact: Mrs. Carole White, 3 Friars Keep, Rectory Lane, Bracknell, Berks RG12 7 AZ
Web site: http://www.northdownslacemakers.org.uk/events.php

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Lace Event: 4th Vale of Belvoir Lace Day – September 24, 2011

4th Vale of Belvoir Lace Day
Date:
September 24, 2011
Place:
Hose Village Hall
Harby Lane, Hose LE14 4JR
Time: 10.00 AM UNTIL 4.00 PM

Tickets: £3.50
Contact: Mrs. Penny Reed, 171 Scalford Road, Melton Mowbray, LE13 1LA

Posted in UK and Ireland | Leave a comment

Lace Event: Bishop’s Stortford Lacemakers Lace Day – September 24, 2011

Bishop’s Stortford Lacemakers Lace Day
Date:
Saturday, September 24, 2010
Place:
The Village Hall
Magdalen Laver, Nr Harlow, Essex CM5 0EG
Time: 10.00 AM UNTIL 4.00 PM

Speakers: Radio Cambridge’s Christopher & Janet South

Tickets: Adults £4.00,  Young Lacemakers and Shoppers £1.00
Cheques payable to Bishop’s Stortford Lacemakers
Contact: Mrs. J. Ayres, 10 Hinton Way, Great Shelford, Cambs CB22 5BE

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Lace Event: Suffolk Lacemakers Lace Day – September 17, 2011

Suffolk Lacemakers Lace Day
Date:
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Place:
War Memorial Community Centre
Twelve Acre Approach, Ipswich, Suffolk IP5 1JF
Directions: http://tinyurl.com/422ykz6
Time:
10:00 AM until 4.00 PM

Speaker:
Gwynedd Roberts – Jottings of a Lacemaker in France

Tickets: £4.50
Contact: Pat Hansford, 9 Salehurst Road, Ipswich, Suffolk 1P3 8RT

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Lace Event: Nottinghamshire Bobbin Lace Society Autumn Lace Day – September 17, 2011

Nottinghamshire Bobbin Lace Society Autumn Lace Day
Date:
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Place:
Trowell Parish Hall
Stapleford Road, Trowell, Notts NG9 3QA
Time:
10:00 AM until 4.00 PM
Website: http://www.revill.force9.co.uk/nbls/ldays.htm
Speaker:
Theresa Marriott, Notts and Lincs Air Ambulance
Vendors:
Roseground, Winslow Bobbins

Tickets: Members £3.00, Non-members £4.00 at the door.
Contact: Paulene Beardsley, 5 Wroxham Drive, Wollaton, Nottingham NG8 2QR

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