Blog & News

I have an alert set up for bobbin lace news, and usually it has not much more than the monthly meetings of local groups at a library.

I was surprised to see this piece about Dior come up. Lovely stuff. The story includes a video, I'm not sure I can embed it.

https://youtu.be/w3pK57hsAFM

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/dior-used-extremely-rare-technique-165446355.html

In this collection, for example, butterfly embellishments were made using Tombolo-style embroidery. Tombolo lace, which dates back to the 15th century, is created using a special, extremely meticulous technique, and is an important part of the region's heritage.

Alas, the Big E has announced that there will be no fair this year.  While it is so important for public health, we will miss it.  We hope that we will be able to go in 2021.  For more details see thebige.com.

Since I found out about the existence of Ipswich lace, I have been obsessed with it. I scour through museum archives to find examples. I've looked through Abigail Adams' letters to see what lace she bought (can't tell). Have searched colonial newspapers for ads (not clear).

My lace goals included skilling up enough to make quantities of it for my reenactor kit. Of course, now that workshops are cancelled, I thought that was unlikely. 

But after our meeting yesterday, I went to The Lace Museum to look for those IOLI pins we discussed, and saw their workshop list included Ipswich lace! I'm so pleased. Thanks for the pointer to whoever that was.

https://thelacemuseum.org/workshops.html#

For those who might not know the backstory on Ipswich lace, here's a nice item from the Smithsonian. It was written by Karen Thompson, who will offer the workshop.

https://americanhistory.si.edu/node/47313

The following link will provide you with all of the information about the competition. I hope some might find this of interest and enter.  Margaret Susans was NELG's first teacher of Flanders in the 1980's.

https://www.kantcentrum.eu/en/competition-flanders-lace

I was curious about what would happen to the Big E this year given how much has been cancelled due to the corona virus.  Here is an article about that topic from the Hartford Courant :

https://www.courant.com/coronavirus/hc-news-coronavirus-big-e-agricultural-fairs-20200515-4scdqlhhlvejbncho3oqc3gt4u-story.html

Given that they are not state supported, I hope that this virus settles down by mid-September since it will be a terrible hardship for them otherwise.  

In the mean time I plan to put together some lace for them to exhibit, assuming that it may go on as planned.  I hope that other NELG members will also do the same.

Since we can't go on any field trips like the Gardner Museum for a while, I was taking a look through the state of MA digital archives today. I was impressed to find some old lace texts, but I particularly enjoyed looking through these historical lace samples in the Clark University collection.

https://digital.clarkart.edu/digital/collection/p16245coll1/id/101333

I found the "book view" version to be most helpful.

My source was DigitalCommons, which is where I found a bunch of the other old texts. https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search_field=all_fields&q=lace

Since we cannot meet in person at NELG Retreat, we'll be having a Virtual Retreat in Place on Saturday, May 16 from 11am to 3pm. Drop by to make some lace and visit with friends! There is no set program.

The meeting will be left open all day, so please join whenever it's convenient. You are also free to drop in and out; simply use the same link to rejoin the meeting.

Members will have received the link to the event via email. If you did not get the email and would like to join please contact us at nelginfo@gmail.com.

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Jill

Holly Van Sciver shared the news that this year's Ithaca Lace Day is cancelled.

"It is with great disappointment that the FLLG has voted to cancel our 40th Annual 2020 Ithaca Lace Day and rescheduled it for Columbus Day weekend 2021. As much as we are all anxious to celebrate with each other, given the uncertainty about a second wave of coronavirus coming in the fall, along with the demographic and nature of our event, we feel that we cannot assure our attendees and teachers a safe event.

The good news is that we will have another year to plan and celebrate our event's 40th anniversary with joy instead of angst."

I hope everyone is staying safe.  While our retreat in May has been cancelled, I am wondering what everyone is doing.  For myself, I am working on the carp-dragon piece I started in 2012.  I suspect that I will finish it this time. What I love about this piece, aside from the design, is that it takes a lot of problem solving.  The order of the bobbins is fairly complicated, so it takes some concentration.

So what are you doing to cope with this social distancing that is fiber related?  Are you working on an interesting (to you) piece of lace?  Are you sewing something?  We would love to hear what you are doing that is fiber related now.

Long-time NELG member Carloyn Samonds, passed away on Friday, March 6. You can find her obituary and also sign the guest register on the Douglass Funeral Services website: https://douglassfuneral.com/wp-content/plugins/funeralworks_obituary_plugin/ajax-obituary2.php?Counter=1975&mn=25#guestbook

Jill