It is explained in one of the Ipswich lace books that Elizabeth Lord Lakeman was 95 when she died, and that she was probably making white linen lace because that was what she could see. Â It would have been useful to sew it to the edges of linen clothes and household linens, to extend their lives. Â When shabby, a new length of lace would replace the original. Â Textiles were recycled and cut down for smaller people until there was very little left, because of the intensive manual labor involved in making woven textiles. Â It should be noted that in the kit of Lakeman's lace supplies donated to The Smithsonian was a wide pricking for making black silk lace. Â This is evidence she could make either, when she was young. Â Sometimes many of us need to answer questions from the public that require a basic knowledge of history in order to put lace history in context. Â Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center ----------------------------------------------------- In a message dated 12/9/2017 12:22:17 PM Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: Â Karen was very generous to let me use photos of her Ipswich, MA lace samples in our library exhibit earlier this year. They were positioned near samples made by Chris Guarnieri from Karenâs book & they made a nice display. My question? Why is the Smithsonian Ipswich lace white? From previous discussions that I recall, Ipswich is blackâhelp! Susan Hottle USA
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