Blog & News

There have been several people interested in owning their own copy of the Mundillo lace book by Carmen Arteaga. We have one copy in the library, but some people would like to have their own anyway. 

It is #634 in the library if you want to see the cover. 

So far there are at least 3 of us interested, so we are considering bundling shipping that way. Ordering is not straightforward from a website though, we have to coordinate with Carmen directly. 

Write to Mary at the Librarian email address if you want to be included in a purchase. The book is $40 and some shipping. Let's say I need to know by the end of April, and I can distribute them locally after that, including at the retreat for people attending there.

I love the idea of supporting this American lace and Carmen is terrific--I met her at IOLI last year. And I added her book to Wikipedia, btw. 

Lovely website: Armenian needlelace initiative.

Came across a story about it here, but linked below is the project website.

Story: https://armenianweekly.com/2026/04/06/armenian-needlelace-initiative-launch-announced/

https://www.armenianneedlelace.org/

Is there anyone in our area teaching this? We have a deep Armenian community near me.

Hi all--

Just to let you know that this article on the Piecework blog posted--and they asked me yesterday for permission to use the image. It had been one we offered for our article before and they said it was a good illustration of the topic, so of course I gave them permission. 

Here's the other stuff which is also interesting. 

https://pieceworkmagazine.com/threads-of-independence-celebrating-americas-250-years-of-needlework-traditions/

Hello all--

I just wanted to let you know that I intend to be in Sturbridge for the Irish lace talk. And I was going to go through our collection this week and pull other Irish lace items that we have, in keeping with St Patrick's Day celebrations of lace culture. 

If there are other books you want me to bring--or you want to check back in--I'll be there. Let me know by Friday March 20 if you want me to dig through the collection though. 

Mary

This lacemaker was new to me--maybe other people who have been around the practice longer know of this work. But it sounds fascinating with unusual materials.

https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-lacemaker/

There aren't enough examples of the work in that piece, I had to look for more.

https://www.instagram.com/rowanpantherlace/

And here's the British Museum piece, you can zoom in to see the fibers in great detail.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_2023-2001-1?selectedImageId=1613909269

Since many of you lace makers are also spinners and knitters, you may be interested in this video describing the history and current status of Faeroe Island yarns and designs: thewoolislands.com.

One of the things that I found fascinating was the historic practice of three people knitting the same sweater at the same time--one on the sleeves and two on the body. They didn't have circular needles but instead used 8 or more double pointed needles, so that more that one person could be knitting at the same time.

Who knew?

Piecework Magazine has an online article about George Washington Carver's lace crochet passion! I had no idea - Learn something new every day.

https://pieceworkmagazine.com/george-washington-carver/

Check out the link to read about an article on Ipswich lace that will be in the upcoming issue of Piecework magazine!

Jill

We heard the news today that Ulrike Voelcker's husband passed away unexpectedly in early December. Please keep Ulrike, and her friends and family in your prayers.

Jill

Using Fray Block to secure finishes in lace was discussed at today's meeting. Unfortunately, as Clare noted, it does appear that the product is no longer available. It would appear that private equity has struck again and has been buying up various sewing related companies and not all products are being migrated. Sad. So look for other options, but definitely not Fray Check.