I have been very interested in the recent discussions on Arachne, particularly the information about the 1970s revival of needlelace and the increase in interest in crafts in countries apart from England. Thank you to all who have added to the knowledge of our heritage in this area.
Now the discussion has moved on to attempts to define lace, all very thought provoking, but I have no expectation that we will ever reach any conclusion that we can all agree! I suggest that there are a wide range of fabrics/items that 99% of lacemakers and non-lacemakers would look at and say 'that's lace'. These could be made by any one of numerous techniques, by hand or machine or a combination of both (Kate Middleton's dress was machine net and machine-made motifs, the lace fabric as a whole was assembled by expert hand stitchers). The problem of definition comes when we are looking at work that is not small and white with lots of holes, but uses techniques we usually associate with lacemaking - particularly bobbin and needle-lace, but also the craft laces such as tatting, knitting, crochet, filet, Tenerife.... Personally I am happy to leave the subject slightly fuzzy at the edges, but I'm not sure this is going to be any help to Devon with her catalogue entries! On a specific point I'm afraid I disagree with Elena - bobbin lace evolved in the sixteenth century from braid making and exactly the same techniques were used for the colourful surface decorations in metal threads and coloured silks as for the white linen bobbin lace on the ruffs of the time - where bobbin and needle lace were often used together, and were sometimes barely distinguishable. Bobbin lace techniques can still be used for making a wide variety of shaped and straight braids some of which (eg Milanese) would be easily recognised as lace, but others are much more solid and would be described as braids. Gil >From a chilly Northumberland, where the sun is shining for the first time for more than a week - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
