Blog & News

I recently watched a whole Rembrandt documentary just to look at the collars. 

But this art historian just did a whole post on the painting of lace and what the details tell her.

Rembrandt's Lace 

I found this short YouTube video on the conservation of a 1660 dress really interesting. It is heavily embellished with a point ground lace unique in the use of a ribbon-like gimp (described as parchment lace - paper tightly wrapped in silk thread). Take a look!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gJs84kKzdc

I mean, the whole deal with 2 NELGs is ruff... Maybe we can just use it as a tag line.

Anyway: nice piece in The Magazine Antiques about the Bard exhibit: "End Notes: Frill Seekers".

Hey fans of historic laces: the video of our talk for the Maine Historical Society is up. You can find it on youtube at this link:

https://youtu.be/edclWzhqbEQ

It also sits at a page on the MHS site, if you prefer that link. 

The Story of Ipswich Lace, a Unique American Craft of the Early Republic *NORTHERN THREADS SERIES* 

The year 2022 was OIDFA’s 40th anniversary.  In order to celebrate, OIDFA published the pattern collection.  It contains various lace patterns such as tape lace, Torchon Lace, Polychrome Lace, needle lace to name a few.  The price is $27.  I have only 2 copies left.  If anyone is interested, please contact me at traysumiko@gmail.com.  

Lace, that Most Coveted Textile [that should be a gifted article link that gets you past the paywall]

And they have Fanny Appleton Longfellow's dress. Someone in the comments talked about that as well, there's another piece about that at a different site. 

A French Gown in the Spanish Style

This is remarkable--a bobbin lace chair with an actual bolster headrest and bobbins hanging. 

lluís alexandre casanovas blanco's 'UMT' chair explores politics of traditional weaving crafts

For the past four years, Spanish architect Lluís Alexandre Casanovas Blanco worked closely with his mother, María Lluïsa Blanco Estébanez, to develop the intriguing ‘UMT’ chair. Sporting a minimalist black frame and a delicate lace-made backrest and seat, the chair is both a furniture piece and an historical investigation into the politics of traditional weaving techniques, particularly the use of bobbin lace in decoration.

Making Lace: Global Networks

A research symposium on historical and contemporary lacemaking traditions around the world

9:30am ET to 12:30pm

Part of the Bard events. You don't have to get a ticket--apparently it will just livestream on this page on the day. 

In case you cannot get to the Bard Graduate Center Museum in NYC in person before Jan 1, 2023, they have a really nice online experience of the Threads of Power exhibit: https://exhibitions.bgc.bard.edu/threadsofpower/

Podcasts are great to listen to while you make lace! This Dressed Podcast recently had the curators from the Bard exhibit, but now there are 2 more episodes with Elena Kanagy-Loux. 

Dressed: History of Fashion podcast 

I also enjoyed the Tim Gunn episode where he spilled the tea about his academic work, and other great tidbits about his path to where he is today.