My colleague (W.) at the Embroiderer's Guild was very helpful in identifying the various types of lace and stitching in these items. The doiley in the fourth picture down (the only pure white one, the rest being ecru), is a technique known as "broomstick crochet", which she explained briefly to me. The tablecloth with the vast expanse of lacework is crochet, not tatting. I don't know why I thought it might be tatting - it is nothing like it of course! But as W. said, it is a beautiful example of crochet. The doiley in the fifth picture down had me gobsmacked at the detail. W. said it looks to be machine-stitched, but very old.
Ken's Mum was delighted to check them all out after I'd been to the Guild yesterday, and she was especially interested in the white doiley I mention above. As soon as she saw it, she exclaimed "Oh I did one like that!" and told me how she'd seen a workmate doing a different type of crochet. MIL asked her about it, and when the other lady explained how it was done, MIL rushed out to buy the tools so she could learn how to do it too! What a coincidence for her to see this example after more than 70 years!
Getting back to the topic of tatting, one of the embroidered doilies in the top picture has a gorgeous tatted edge, so I will scan a closeup of it and post a pic here shortly, for Gina and Maggie Ann in the USA, who are both talented stitchers who can do this beautiful lace work.
3 years ago
3 comments:
The "broomstick" lace is also known as hairpin lace. It is sometimes used in conjuction with tatting. Here's one example:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/6896/hpdoil.html
See...we're having fun vicariously even if we can't see it up close & personal!
:-) gina
Broomstick lace and hairpin lace are actually two different techniques, rather than two names for the same thing.
Broomstick crochet is worked along a crocheted chain and creates one row of large loops, whereas hairpin lace is worked on a fork and creates a strip of work with loops on two sides that is then crocheted into designs like your doily.
Thank you Gina and Sarah, for your information on the lace doiley crochet technique. It's always interesting to learn more about what I have in my collection.
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