Collectors, for what their opinion is worth, tend to assign the name Argentan to laces with brides bouclée and also with a very solid clothwork, like this recently sold piece on Ebay (see attached). Here, the hexagonal base is completely covered with buttonhole stitches. But the technique was done in both Argentan and Alencon, and itâs really impossible to tell the difference.
Iâm sure you remember that I taught you how to do brides tortillée and Brides bouclée in the 2012 class. Loretta certainly remembers, since she was also in the class and wrote an article on it in the IOLI bulletin when she was the needlelace editor. Brigitte Delesques-Depalle also describes this in her book. Both brides tortillée and bouclée, the base is exactly the same, consisting of 3 layers. First you lay down a diamond shaped grid. Second layer, gather the apexes of the diamonds so that the diamonds turn into hexagons. Third, go over the hexagonal base with either buttonholes or overcasting, or some combination of both. Iâve kept track of exactly how this was done virtually every piece Iâve ever come across for years. Itâs a continuum â sometimes you only twist around the base, sometimes you include one buttonhole on one side of the mesh. Sometimes more. Sometimes you buttonhole everything. It varies with pattern design, with the time period, and with manufacturer. Iâm planning a detailed article for IOLI on this in the future (after I explain EXACTLY how to do the Burano square mesh, which is going to take two articles). Not exactly sure what Levey means by âtwisted buttonhole stitchesâ. But Iâve seen this type of ground (twisted, buttonholed, something inbetween) in pieces as early as the 2nd quarter of the 18th c. It first appears in very small spaces, but the technique is exactly the same as in the later âHerren Alençonâ where the lace is largely round with a narrow border and several rows of esprits above. Designed to be ruffled around a gentlemanâs cravate or cuffs. Laurie From: Devon Thein <devonth...@gmail.com> Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2020 2:36 PM To: lacelijst - <lace@arachne.com>; Carolyn Wetzel <wetzel.l...@gmail.com>; Laurie Waters <lswaters...@comcast.net> Subject: Brides Tortillee Would one consider a piece of French needle lace with a Brides tortillee mesh to be Alencon or Argentan? Also, I don't really understand how it was made. With Alencon, you do needle lace stitches across a row, then you whip back. But in the case of the Brides tortillee all the sides are whipped. Is there an easy and logical way to do this? It is supposed to be a time saver. Also, Levey says, p. 54, "The mesh of twisted buttonhole stitches worked across laid threads, which is now associated with Alencon seems not to have been adopted widely until about 1750, when patterns again decreased in size and when crisper, heavier lace returned to favor." How would one recognize if the mesh were made this way? Devon [demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type image/jpeg which had a name of 233369206539a.jpg] - 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: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
