Any Lacemaking Ancestors?

[Gillg]

Quite a few of the wives and daughters of my ag lab ancestors in Huntingdonshire were lace makers, but Nottingham is one of the best-known lace-making places.

From the other side of my family we have an antique wedding veil of Brussels lace (very popular in Victorian times) which has served quite a few of our brides over the past couple of hundred years.  Both my cousin and I let the side down, however, because we wanted something modern!

Gillg

[LizzieW]

I tried lacemaking a few years ago and despite being an experienced knitter and moderately good at crochet, I just couldn't get the hang of lacemaking.  I think experienced lacemakers work without patterns, but I didn't get that far and couldn't even understand the patterns, which are not written in words, as knitting and crochet patterns are, but in patterns (at least the ones I was supposed to work with)

Lacemaking isn't cheap to take up either, it's not just a matter of a couple of knitting needles or crochet hooks, so I don't know how our poor ancestors did it.

Lizzie

[Gillg]

I know they got sore fingers from the bobbins and damaged their eyesight through peering at the intricate patterns in poor light.  Apparently Brussels lace makers worked in a damp room to keep the fine threads from drying out and virtually in the dark apart from a ray of light shining onto the lace pillow.

Gillg

[tawny75]

I have some wives of Ag Labs who were lace makers here in Bucks, we used to make Pillow Lace and apparently it is where Kat stitch was invented (what ever that is) ( I will need to check a book at home for that one though)

Here is a Silk Manufactory - a branch of those at Aylesbury and Waddesdon - at which about 30 females are employed. The other female villagers make straw plait and pillow lace. Bricks and tiles are manufactured here on an extensive scale. A weekly Market at Whitchurch was granted in 1245, together with a Fair on the festival of St. John the Evangelist."
[History and Topography of Buckinghamshire, by James Joseph Sheahan, 1862]

[Kimbrey]

No ancestors who were Lacemakers but there are quite a few of us making it today as a hobby of course !

There are "groups" all over the country,the Lace Guild has a website if you are interested in having a go !!

[Sophie30]

I'm with Lizzie on this one! As a keen embroiderer I was tempted to have a go until I saw the patterns and the process. My goodness - talk about complicated! I just couldn't get my head around the concept of how that jumble of bobbins and thread even begins to resemble the complicated patterns that are used. As creative as I am (I will have a go at most things arty/crafty) I just dont think I would have the patience for lace making :-)

P.S Shame on you Gillg  

[Luzzu]

I've got a 4 x gt grandfather who was a lace maker in Nottingham
- Joseph Skidmore (1809-1875).

His granddaugher, Emma Dicks, was known apparently as fine needlewoman, who kept her linens spotless and made lace for Queen Victoria - no proof of course  .

Luzzu

[Sophie30]

Thats quite a claim to fame! 

[danuslave]

I know they got sore fingers from the bobbins

You get sore fingers from pressing pins through the card with the pattern on it and into a fairly solid pillow!

I did bobbin lacemaking a few years ago as a hobby and have a friend aged 88 who makes yards of the stuff.

It's not actually as complicated as it looks - at any given time you are only using a few (4-6) of the dozens of bobbins that are on a pillow, and there is a lot of repetition of the pattern.  It is, however, very time consuming - especially for the finer laces like Honiton.

It tends to suit people who have a 'mathematical' brain and can follow charts rather than words.  If you can do cross stitch you can probably do lacemaking    

virtually in the dark apart from a ray of light shining onto the lace pillow.

There were various lacemaker's lamps, filled with water, that focussed the light - but it must still have been very difficult.  See

http://lace.lacefairy.com/Lace/Gallery/LaceLamps.html

Linda

PS If you want to have a go, find a good teacher.  It's almost impossible to learn from a book