Bobbin and Needlelace

 

Lace can be made with myriad techniques and variations of techniques.  It's one of the things that hooked me with bobbin lace.  You could spend the whole of your life exploring those techniques and never reach the ends.  That only expands when you begin looking at other types of lace.  I mentioned before the book, The Art of Lacemaking by Ann Collier.  That book has allowed me to try techniques I never would have even known about and this is one of those projects - my first foray into needlelace.  

Crochet is also a type of lacemaking and this is my multi-year project - a garden in crochet.  When I was living in my house, I loved working in the garden.  One day, in one of my vintage needlework magazines, I found the pattern that became the center panel of this project. It was a pattern for a tea tray but, since the thread I used was larger than the pattern called for, it was too large for a tea tray.  I got the idea of making a garden to cover my bed.  I found a variety of filet crochet patterns in an online copy of French crochet books from the 1920s, when there was a passion for filet crochet.  In my garden, I have flowers and walkways and, of course, birds and bees!  It took about 8 years to finish the crochet but I felt it needed a structure to hold it - a quilt.  Now, I'm not remotely a quilter but I've dabbled in small things like the tea cosies I'd been making.  How hard could it be?!! 

I decided I needed some way to finish off the edges of crochet so, of course, I turned to bobbin lace.  I'd been working on this edging from my practice of projects from Ulrike Voelcker's Discover Explore Master Torchon book.  With the samples (which I'll add in another post), I worked them for as long as I was enjoying them.  I really loved this pattern so I'd already worked about 60 inches.  I ended up needing about 220 inches but at least I was part of the way there.  Soooooooo,,,,on I went.  Fortunately the pattern worked up relatively quickly and before too long, I had enough to go around.  But it needed one more thing.  I found some tear drop beads with a hint of pink that matched the backing and border fabric.  With those at the tip of each peak of the lace, it was all tied together and finished.

Another project from Ann Collier's book.  Needlelace motif made with silk threads.  This took FOREVER! I made a lot of mistakes and, then, learned a lot with with project that doesn't yet have a place to live.  For now, it's displayed in my studio just waiting for the right project for display.

Ever since I first learned to work bobbin lace, I've wanted to make a fan.  It took me a long time before I felt I had the skills to work it properly.  I found this kit (pattern and fan sticks) in Holly VanSciver's online store. It's about 8 inches across and was very challenging to work but totally worth the effort.  Here it's sitting on a table covered by a doily made by my Grannie many, many years ago.  I like that juxtaposition. She would have been so interested in the lacework.

And finally, another long-term project I finished this year.  This project actually started when I found this antique frame in a little antique shop outside of Decatur, IL.  I loved the shape and the convex glass.  I had been wanting to do a pictorial bobbin lace piece so I decided to design it to fit this frame. I've been working on it from time to time over the past 5-6 years, partly because I didn't have all the skills I needed to complete the piece.  I would work a bit and then stop and practice certain techniques for the next section.  The design was meant to reflect life on the prairie.  It's another example of not being perfect but being perfect for documenting the growth of my skills in the technique.  But it was putting it on the backing of this heathered green felt and into the frame that made it come alive.

While these are not by any means all the projects I've worked on or completed over the past few years, they're representative enough of the projects that meant something to me and that I enjoyed completing.

And so it goes

Anyone who knows me knows I love the connection my work makes with all the crafter las who came before. I love the continuity it gives. When I found an article in a 1931 magazine giving an old pattern from Godeys, it made me feel even more connected to the ancestors who were also suckers for an old pattern. 

I've been wanting a crochet project for quite a while, so when I came across this pattern I knew it was meant to be. It's been such a joy to work (even if I actually made enough stitches for 2 projects, with all the ripping out I had to do). Keeping your eye on the prize over 110 blocks across was quite the challenge. Ha!

Although it's now called filet crochet, when this pattern was first published, it was referred to as "block" or "block and space," or so says the accompanying text. 110 blocks by 110 blocks is daunting but, as you can see, very worth it. 

I was just going to do a couple of rounds with single crochets and be done with it but now it's done, I realize it should be a centerpiece for a larger project. It will be very easy to surround it with panels of floral designs that could eventually be a bed topper or something similar. 

But for now I'm quite happy about how it came out and can feel the same pleasure of those ladies in 1865 who completed it back then. For that matter, I can feel the pleasure my Grannie would have felt had she attempted this pattern. And so it goes. 

A lovely obsession with a typical ending

I've been tooling along and was thiiiiiiis close to finishing

 when the thread ran out.

Isn't that the most typical thing you've ever heard?  Hundreds of yards of size 30 crochet cotton and I run out with 2 inches to go?  Geez!

So off I go to hunt some more size 30 crochet cotton to finish my 2 inches of this...

I can see I'm going to have to starch the points to get them to lay flat but that's it.  That's my filet crochet double window valance.  It has been a lovely obsession.

Now to the 3rd window.  I'm guess it should be tatted.  I'm off to find my big shuttle and get loaded up. 

Not so much

Making a piece of filet crochet is so intoxicating that I can lose all track of time.  Trying to see what the next line is going to make it look like.  I know that sounds stupid because I can see the x's on the graph that show me what it looks like.  There's just something about seeing it come to life.

I finally finished the second repeat of the pattern but it's still leaving me about 4-6 inches short.  So I've had to identify a section of the repeat that will fit into the bottom edge repeat that will fit in the distance I need to go to finish things off.  I think I've found it and it means adding about 30 rows onto each side.

So much for almost being done. Ha!  I've been reading the Yarn Harlot's blog this week where she's been talking about completely buying into the thought that should could knit a couple of sweaters on the way to a conference in an area that was going to be cool because she'd left all her woolens at the house.  Just in that little window of madness a knitter (or crocheter) really thinks that the laws of physics are optional and fingers and needles can reach mach speed and do what no one else on the planet can do.  I get it, I really do.

Deep in my heart I knew I wasn't really that close to being done with my curtain because after I've finished the length I need, I still need to crochet the border onto it.  After that I still need to add the top section that will fit onto the curtain rod.  You see, I'm not really that close after all.

But deeper in my heart, I'm thinking, "I really think I can do it."  Challenge on.