The laces that took decades to learn and you hear of villages training their children to make are bobbin laces. What she is doing here is still impressive but it is not the lace that takes years to learn as you can see here this is a much faster type of lace.
Keeping historic skills alive is very, very important! How can we appreciate the level of skill and the time requirement otherwise?? Modern machinery has duplicated and replaced many artisan skills, but would anyone have attempted the machine/computerised version without the already valued original skill??? History is important!! Thank you once again for including us in your exploration of this lace!! 👍💗💗💗
I got a friend who does a bit of needlepoint lace from our part of the woods, aka "Dentelle de Luxeuil". Two thing she told me and I'll pass on to you: 1- The best backing fabric color is green, it is both restful for the eyes and the thread stands out more. It's the traditional color for it in many region in France. 2-One of the best (and most productive) thing you can do to practice is to actually repair old pieces. My friend does that a lot, she says it's the best "training wheels" because, well, repairing stuff is important, but also because tension and stuff are different in a collar, or a sleeve, or a bigger piece, than they are in a sampler. If you're not in a hurry, and would like getting old French lace for practice, I may be able to send you a piece or two… I haz connections! :)
I'm not doing anything as important as recreating a Worth gown. I'm just learning, but Oh what I would do for some old french lace to study and mend before I make my mitts.
Thank you Picasso Manu! And tell your friend thank you from me! That would be so amazing! I am speechless! Please send me an email! My address is the description!
Wow, this conversation made my day. It seems sewists are so kind, and sharing and I just love seeing this community supporting each other!! High fives and hugs to y'all!!!
I think you should do a smaller "test" collar. It's akin to doing a mock-up to see what your future problems will be going forward on the Worth collar. I admire your patience and sharing it all with us.
Congratulations on your first project. I’ve been a lacemaker for 32 years. I don’ t know how much you have worked on your technique since this video. For you or others to help with your tension you can use silk pins to keep your stitches straight when the stitch calls for it. It is easier to keep the same tension for your rows. Also, a more modern way of doing battenburg is to take a brown paper grocery bag. Cut or tear the bag fully open then wrinkle it until it is fairly pliable, place this between your foundation fabrics. This enables you to easily use those silk pins as I mentioned to help keep your tension on your rows. The paper bag also allows you to pick up your work to work in your hand rather than keeping it on your cutting mat. I do approximately nine different laces. I’ve been taught by many types of teachers from professionals to elderly women who have specialized in their countries typical type of lace. It’s one of my passions to lace. The collar of the dress your planning on doing looks beautiful and an exciting project to look forward to completing. Good Luck!
Hi Ranae Monsen, so good to read your comments and tips coming from a professional experienced person adds comfort to beginners. I would like to connect with you to see your work from different places and a variety of laces. I have a great interest in learning Thank you 🙏❤️🙏
I feel like that sampler square would go great on little throw pillows. It would be an interesting sensory thing to fiddle with and make the house look craftsy.
All these stitches are all stuff we'd use to make dream catchers at camp when I was a kid. Isn't it funny how history pokes its head in random places like that?
As a person who has done NO historical sewing but who thoroughly enjoys watching all you ladies who are experts, in my humble opinion...I think you should remember something: no dress makers had ALL the skills that many of y'all are, by necessity, having to acquire. Back in "ye olden days"...a dress maker would have made dresses...and purchased lace from a lace maker. Each had their expertise in their own area. I so love the idea of acquiring many of the skills embodied in a specific dress and your confidence in tackling those! This was a joy to watch, M'am! ...and yes, I'm putting lace making on my list. Thank you!
when I do my needle lace I use a large embroidery loop to hold the backing cloth, this helps with the tension as there is no movement from the backing.
Please show us the samplers! I love seeing the process, and you shouldn't limit yourself to just showing the final pieces. It's so comforting to beginners like me to know we're all going through the same amount of work
I research/make needlelace (I focus mostly on French and Belgian laces) and it's so cool to see other people demonstrate it! Sometimes this passion can get a bit lonely since needlelace is not much of a thing in the English speaking world anymore, so I'm very stoked to see this. Btw. I have a collection of books on needlelace and just as yours, most of the "modern" ones were printed in the 80s. It's almost like when you look for a book on needlelace, it's either public domain or from the 80s, no inbetween. xD
I have one from 1973. my neighbor thrashed many books for handcrafts like this, i only kept a few, the others i made other people happy with - i have just so much space to keep everything, and so much time to try and make the things.
The readers' Digest Complete Guide to Needlework shows needle laces and how to make them, if you need a written guide...but honestly this video is better because it shows the working in progress :-)
Please consider doing videos. There are a lot of us that do early modern re-enactment and textiles that are interested in early needle lace and there isn't a lot out there.
Holy moly... I have a new appreciation for lacing... and netting... and fishnet stockings... it's insane to think that someone so long ago was like 'you know what, I bet if I did X, it would make a decent pattern
I know you’ll probably not see this but thanks so much for this. My mom found a few works from my great grand mother and was amazed at how she could ‘crochet’ so tiny, Neither of us could figure out what stitch she used. I’m fairly certain now it was the double Brussel net stitch. I’ll have to practice for next time I visit my mom.
Hallelujah Chorus is the biggest "finishing a project" mood. Also, this really puts in perspective for me how easy knitters have it doing our 'lace' compared to lacemakers. I just make a loop and move on.
Not just knitters, lol! I clicked on the video thinking it looked like a fun new skill I might want to learn. Three squares in, couldn't help but think of how best to replicate the samples in crochet. 27 minutes in: "This square took eight hours." Nah, I'm good. 😅 I cannot believe your dedication, it's utterly heroic! I'll stick to doing my lazy crochet knockoffs, but I'm very glad to have watched a demonstration of the needle lace process. My appreciation for this skill and those who attempt, to say nothing of mastering, it... Wow. Heroic!
I had recently gotten into 3D embroidery....and I've come to the realization that the stitches are pretty much the same, just used differently and now I'm thinking about trying my hand at this since I already know the basics and my tension has definitely improved 👀
This is such perfect timing because I've just started a massive lace garden project too and I've been having trouble finding resources that illustrated how to do the stitches in a way that made sense to me. Watching the varient pea stitch here I suddenly understood exactly what every illustration was trying to show me.Thank you so much and best of luck with the collars, I can't wait to see your progress.
The thing I really find fascinating about lace is that at some point in history, someone sat down and said "I have some thread, I have a needle, how can I put these together?" I just think it's so interesting that someone had to sit and tie thousands of tiny knots before finding patterns that were 'correct'. Amazing work, you did a beautiful job on all of them!
Using a lace pillow with pins anchoring stitches will even up your tension and consistency much better and easier than the anchoring thread. Well done!
With each progress post you made on this over on Instagram, I was completely in awe. Even as a sampler, this has resulted in you making such a cool piece of art! I hope you end up hanging this or somehow displaying it in your home, because it’s so beautiful. I’m excited for this costume build progress, because I’ve never seen someone learn to make lace for a costuming project! I love seeing creative people learn knew things.
This was wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing. It brought tears to my eyes as I remembered watching my great-aunts and grandmother make lace, especially the 2 pea stitch variations (# 6 & 8 squares). As widow women (their husbands died in accidents in the cotton mill) born in the late 1800's, my great-aunts made extra money by making lace for a wedding dress shop in Atlanta. They would ride the Greyhound bus up to deliver, as none of them could drive. Incidentally, they would work on a piece for about 15 to 20 minutes, take a break, then go back and work for another 15 to 20 minutes. This helped to ensure that they maintained the correct tension throughout the project and reduced fatigue and aches. I seem to recall a cheater technique that my great-aunt Laura did, where she took a length of needle tatted lace and stitched it to a piece of cloth, then did the lace stitching to fill. Sometimes there was a medallion piece pinned in and then lace stitch was used to fill in around and connect it to the rest of the piece. Kind of hazy on how they did it, as it was back in the "60's and I was a kid distracted by sunshine and fun, while they stitched and talked on the front porch. By the way, when you go to size it, you may want to use diluted Elmer's glue, instead of starch. That's what my g-aunts, grandmother, and mom used on all of their handwork as it doesn't turn your work yellow like some of the starches. Pin it down on cardboard or foam, and spray on diluted glue, put bamboo skewers around and cover with lightweight muslin or cheesecloth to allow to dry. Best wishes and lots of luck on your Worth project.
I get the feeling doing a test collar would likely be a good idea so you can get a little more familiar with the techniques before doing the real thing, plus it'd be fun to watch if you did a video of it. And this video did actually make me think "Hmm... Maybe I should try that." So good job!
My God, you have the patience of a saint. Also, it’s so cool to see how you are improving with each new section. You are a fast learner! Deciding to make the lace from scratch is a level of dedication, commitment and bravery I can only wish I had.
I've been making bobbin lace (on and off) since I was 8 (so around 17 years) and i'm so excited to see you make the collar! To answer your question, a bolster pillow is a type of lace pillow that is is sort of tube shaped, there are many different shapes of lace pillow most of them unique to certain areas or types of lace (I believe in one area of France the traditional pillow was tyre shaped to allow for long continues pieces and the space in the middle was used to store equipment!)
One of my first memories is learning to bobbin lace, mostly just remember the lady teaching me having long red nails as she pointed and showed me as she spoke English and I didn't at the time. Also, there's a photo of me cutting the band at some sort of bobbin lace conference somewhere.
This is something that I have ALWAYS wanted to learn how to make. Lace making is once of the few things that my mother doesn't know how to do, a d thus hasn't taught my sister and me how to make. (I've been embroidering - mostly cross stitch, but other techniques too - since I was 5 (32 years now). But bobbin lace is definitely something that has piqued my interest ever since I went to a renaissance faire and saw someone making it. Watching the women create masterpieces simply by flipping a few bobbins . . . It blew my mind!
I have a bobbin lace making kit my great great aunt had gotten in the 1960s or 1970s but never got around to making before she died in 1976. My grandma took it to learn but never got around to it, either, and now her eyesight it too bad. Third time's the charm maybe? I remember being intrigued by it when I first learned about it in a magazine when I was 7 or 8
I love needlepoint lace , just love it .. So can you imagine, why only really rich people could afford it, when the lace was made by the hand and used really thin thread... often i suppose even a silk!!!!
Suggestion to help you along as you learn to moderate your tension: Chalk lines along your squares, and use pins to hold the previous row in place so you can focus on the current row rather than starting to overtension in the middles of the rows. Im not sure if this is a 'legit' way of doing things but it might be a helpful hack to help you along as you find your feet with it. :)
You did SUCH a great job with this Marika! Your sampler is beautiful and your enthusiasm for your ambitious Worth project is infectious! Also, I'm hearting Brandenburg Concerto no 4!! My favourite!
I have a box full of beautiful handmade lace and other needlework made by my great grandmother. The amount of work put into it is astounding. I admire you greatly for learning and practicing these skills, they are a dying art.
Yes! Absolutely do more samplers and show us 😁 was loving this, and as a novice (bobbin) lace maker, when you're working on your pillow I would suggest adding pins to your repertoire for keeping the tension good - you'd stick them inside some of your smaller loops. Best of luck with finding/making your lace pillow, and happy lace making!
Bobbing lace is the only thing my mum couldn't master out of all the crafts she tried . I love all the bobbins and I have them now she is no longer with us . I wish you success in your making
Your work certainly turned out beautiful and for your very first try - incredible. Your patience and your skill with needle and thread shows in your work. It is clear that you are very experienced and accomplished even just with sewing and embroidery by hand. Your antique lace reproductions are going to be lovely. My German grandmother used to talk about her mother making handmade lace, both bobbin lace and “pin lace” but she was describing your needle lace technique. I’ve never seen anybody even attempt to reproduce this art. Thank you! My Grandmother was born in the late Victorian era, soon after her family crossed over to the U.S. from the Black Forest region of Germany. Even when I was young she couldn’t do lace making any longer. I’ve never seen needle lacework until today and it brings such wonderful memories back of time spent listening to my Grandmother reminiscing. Thank you so much.
I'd love to see a sample collar! Also, how about you frame that sampler with a backing of black (either fabric, felt, or construction paper)? It's absolutely gorgeous and I would think it should be displayed
My great aunt had those stork scissors which i inherited when I started doing fiber work in middle school. I went on a choir trip in high school and had it confiscated by the TSA soon after 9/11. I'm so excited to see that they are still around and I would be able to buy them.
What Lark McGregor said is correct. My Great Aunts used to come visit my Grandma 👵 Josephine and they knew crocheting, embroidery and needlework. They said nobody made these things perfect. Just as long as they looked good in the end. They would crochet the pieces without the tape and sew them together and they looked just like the collar you showed. They did this with these extremely tiny silver crochet needles. They also said that they used the single crochet of yesteryear to make many of their collars and they would do twists on the stitching so people could not tell the difference. It was easier and took less time. What you did there is beautiful and once you get more experience it will be easier. That’s what my great aunts told me. They helped teach my siblings and I how to sew and all sorts of things. My mom really appreciated it because she was just so busy with everyday life of farming/ household and kids. We really appreciated learning things from them. Mom sewed things. She made school bags, shirts, pants, jackets and dresses for us. I wore two different dresses to proms that she made.
OMG that sampler is SO GORGEOUS! I have always marveled at how intricate lace is and I never knew how it was made until this video! I loved the pea stitch in the 8th panel the best! I definitely think a smaller "test" collar is a great idea! It'll be an excellent practice for getting the tension on the stitches more even and be a great mock-up for the real thing. Super excited to see more of your adventures in lace making!!
I love your courage in recreating that very beautiful antique dress! and learning a new skill from scratch for it! Thank you for bringing this handwork into the twenty-first century here in the USA.
This is so lovely, and making lace is quite uncommon on this continent today! Your patience in display and description in this video is rare and special ! I’m so excited to see what all you do - both with the Worth Gown collar, but also if you find other uses for this skill!
I think it’d be cool to see your process for making both. It was really fun to see you progress through this project and I’m getting excited to see how it all comes together.
When you mentioned the hours of work on this project, it made me think of a time when a good friend asked if she could comission a crocheted or knit shawl from me. I asked her when she would need it, and explained it could be very expensive (even with a discount). And when she said she wanted it for a wedding this weekend (3-4 days time), I nearly spit out my coffee. Now in her defence, she really did not know the time it takes to knit/crochet a large shawl, but when I told her it would take 3 to 6 months depending on the pattern and it would need to be done in my spare time (as i work a full time job). She said she would just order one online. LOL I commend you for the time you take with all your garments, and feel as though you (and many others in the Living History/Costuming worls) are a kindred spirit. :) LOVE WATCHING & LEARNING!!
Recommending go ahead and make the sample collar - extra experience in lace making never hurts! You may end up with a usable sample for another outfit, or at least another lovely display piece for your home. Love these tutorials! :)
I'm in total awe. Didn't have any intentions of needle lacing but I can tell you that this video has definitely inspired me. It's a beautiful craft that is lost in the digital world of today. The amount of time and effort you put into this is just mind blowing. Thank you for sharing this with us.
It looks amazing, especially for a beginner! And don't worry about not mastering every kind of stitch immediately - "mass" produced handmade needle lace was usually made by several people, with everyone knowing one kind of stitch or stage perfectly and just making it over and over and over again. So practice really made it perfect - but it was years of practice! I wish you good luck and happy lacemaking!
Hello, I've lived in Nottingham my whole life. As Nottingham was the industrial powerhouse of the UK lace works for many years, I've always had an interest in lace making and its history. For years I've considered of making lace, and now I might just give it a go.
It's really nice to see someone that is excited about what they are doing. It seems like everyone either is actually bored or thinks it's cool to appear bored. You glow with excitement about what you are doing & that makes it so interesting to viewers, it sure did to me anyway. Thanks for a great video!
I would like to see you work your way through this process. Perhaps most people learn somethings from doing it on their own, others learn from books and doing it own their own, but a great many of us learn quite a bit by watching and listening, then the other two things seem to fall into place better.
watching you work is almost hypnotic...most of us do not realize how much work goes into making lace. My neighbor's grandmother was an old Italian nonna who made lace with a bunch of spools... amazing work... I crochet edgings on baby blankets.. not even a little bit as complicated as this lace... No wonder only the wealthy could afford to wear lace and often times lace was reused.
Wow! I stand in awe! Please film everything you make - I would love to see a tubular (🤣) pillow, a test collar and, of course, the "real" thing. Keep at it, dear
I haven't actually worked on Battenberg lace in about 30 years, since my college days, but you've inspired me to do something with it again. Lovely video, thank you.
This is so fascinating to me! Ive been crocheting for 11 years but have recently been so interested in all of the fiber arts, and lace making has become my new obsession! It is art! Thank you for this amazing informative video and awesome demonstration!!!
It's a shame that people do not appreciate the time and tedious efforts of handmade embellished fashions of our New York designers. I cry when I see them make such outlandish outfits out of the fine works.
Hi! I have never ever made lace in my life, but those Artists who do beautiful work with needle and thread need to be commended for their vision of carrying out their work of art. I saw you making the first block, and when you made the first line of the second block I decided to “pitch in my two unworthy cents”: if I were to try to make a sampler I would take the added time to make faint lines in the block, like lines on a notebook piece of paper, that way one could practice making the same height of the loops and maybe it would help with learning the tension from loop to loop. Thanks you for sharing your enthusiasm with your viewers! : )
I think a sample collar would be the way to go, the practice will help you with keeping tension on the Worth collar (at least, I guess it works like when you learn knitting) - and I'm sure it'll be a lovely thing worth showing off somewhere
First time viewing. I knit, crochet, cross stitch, latch hook and I've always wanted to learn how to make lace. I seriously couldn't thank you enough for making this video!
Thank you for this. I've not seen this ever. Very brave doing something for the first time and putting out there. Hope you get all the delight you should in your learning. It is good for the brain too learning a new skill.
That's beautiful and it looks like a lot of fun. I think a test collar is definitely the next step. It should help you to resolve the tension issues. Now that I've seen it being done, I suspect that needle lace is something I'll have to try for myself.
When the question is "would you be interested in seeing..." The answer is always yes!!!
😂😁
hear hear!
Haha I totally agree!
@@EnchantedRoseCostumes j:
Yes, always!
The sheer audacity of deciding to replicate a process that entire villages spent decades perfecting floors me. You are my HERO!
The laces that took decades to learn and you hear of villages training their children to make are bobbin laces. What she is doing here is still impressive but it is not the lace that takes years to learn as you can see here this is a much faster type of lace.
Keeping historic skills alive is very, very important! How can we appreciate the level of skill and the time requirement otherwise?? Modern machinery has duplicated and replaced many artisan skills, but would anyone have attempted the machine/computerised version without the already valued original skill??? History is important!! Thank you once again for including us in your exploration of this lace!! 👍💗💗💗
I got a friend who does a bit of needlepoint lace from our part of the woods, aka "Dentelle de Luxeuil". Two thing she told me and I'll pass on to you:
1- The best backing fabric color is green, it is both restful for the eyes and the thread stands out more. It's the traditional color for it in many region in France.
2-One of the best (and most productive) thing you can do to practice is to actually repair old pieces. My friend does that a lot, she says it's the best "training wheels" because, well, repairing stuff is important, but also because tension and stuff are different in a collar, or a sleeve, or a bigger piece, than they are in a sampler.
If you're not in a hurry, and would like getting old French lace for practice, I may be able to send you a piece or two… I haz connections! :)
I'm not doing anything as important as recreating a Worth gown. I'm just learning, but Oh what I would do for some old french lace to study and mend before I make my mitts.
Thank you Picasso Manu! And tell your friend thank you from me!
That would be so amazing! I am speechless! Please send me an email! My address is the description!
@@EnchantedRoseCostumes AWSOME IM JADE!!!
Wow, this conversation made my day. It seems sewists are so kind, and sharing and I just love seeing this community supporting each other!! High fives and hugs to y'all!!!
oh that sounds amazing that you have a friend who makes lace! I'm starting out with sewing and someday i want sew lace !
I think you should do a smaller "test" collar. It's akin to doing a mock-up to see what your future problems will be going forward on the Worth collar. I admire your patience and sharing it all with us.
Congratulations on your first project. I’ve been a lacemaker for 32 years. I don’ t know how much you have worked on your technique since this video. For you or others to help with your tension you can use silk pins to keep your stitches straight when the stitch calls for it. It is easier to keep the same tension for your rows. Also, a more modern way of doing battenburg is to take a brown paper grocery bag. Cut or tear the bag fully open then wrinkle it until it is fairly pliable, place this between your foundation fabrics. This enables you to easily use those silk pins as I mentioned to help keep your tension on your rows. The paper bag also allows you to pick up your work to work in your hand rather than keeping it on your cutting mat. I do approximately nine different laces. I’ve been taught by many types of teachers from professionals to elderly women who have specialized in their countries typical type of lace. It’s one of my passions to lace. The collar of the dress your planning on doing looks beautiful and an exciting project to look forward to completing. Good Luck!
Hi Ranae Monsen, so good to read your comments and tips coming from a professional experienced person adds comfort to beginners.
I would like to connect with you to see your work from different places and a variety of laces. I have a great interest in learning Thank you 🙏❤️🙏
👌❤️👌
.wow i love lace have tatted for fourth years and have so much fun and scadsof Jace 😊
I spy Miss Bernadette Banner in the background :) Love the Mask of the Red Death.
I’m super into the “sexy fishnets” stitch in the next to last panel! I love it!!!
Heehee I wonder how well the pea stitch would hold up as fishnets 😂
That sounds dangerously tempting and so fun!
Exactly what i was thinking...
I feel like that sampler square would go great on little throw pillows. It would be an interesting sensory thing to fiddle with and make the house look craftsy.
All these stitches are all stuff we'd use to make dream catchers at camp when I was a kid. Isn't it funny how history pokes its head in random places like that?
reminds me of when i was learning clones lace and sewn irish lace. so beautiful
As a person who has done NO historical sewing but who thoroughly enjoys watching all you ladies who are experts, in my humble opinion...I think you should remember something: no dress makers had ALL the skills that many of y'all are, by necessity, having to acquire. Back in "ye olden days"...a dress maker would have made dresses...and purchased lace from a lace maker. Each had their expertise in their own area. I so love the idea of acquiring many of the skills embodied in a specific dress and your confidence in tackling those! This was a joy to watch, M'am! ...and yes, I'm putting lace making on my list. Thank you!
when I do my needle lace I use a large embroidery loop to hold the backing cloth, this helps with the tension as there is no movement from the backing.
I was actually wondering if I could do something like that to help me out so thank you!
Please show us the samplers! I love seeing the process, and you shouldn't limit yourself to just showing the final pieces. It's so comforting to beginners like me to know we're all going through the same amount of work
I research/make needlelace (I focus mostly on French and Belgian laces) and it's so cool to see other people demonstrate it!
Sometimes this passion can get a bit lonely since needlelace is not much of a thing in the English speaking world anymore, so I'm very stoked to see this.
Btw. I have a collection of books on needlelace and just as yours, most of the "modern" ones were printed in the 80s.
It's almost like when you look for a book on needlelace, it's either public domain or from the 80s, no inbetween. xD
I have one from 1973. my neighbor thrashed many books for handcrafts like this, i only kept a few, the others i made other people happy with - i have just so much space to keep everything, and so much time to try and make the things.
The readers' Digest Complete Guide to Needlework shows needle laces and how to make them, if you need a written guide...but honestly this video is better because it shows the working in progress :-)
Please consider doing videos. There are a lot of us that do early modern re-enactment and textiles that are interested in early needle lace and there isn't a lot out there.
Meli1380 yep! Came to comment that!
Seems like the perfect time for you to write your own book and bring it back into the public eye! 😘😘😘
Holy moly... I have a new appreciation for lacing... and netting... and fishnet stockings... it's insane to think that someone so long ago was like 'you know what, I bet if I did X, it would make a decent pattern
I know you’ll probably not see this but thanks so much for this. My mom found a few works from my great grand mother and was amazed at how she could ‘crochet’ so tiny, Neither of us could figure out what stitch she used. I’m fairly certain now it was the double Brussel net stitch. I’ll have to practice for next time I visit my mom.
Hallelujah Chorus is the biggest "finishing a project" mood.
Also, this really puts in perspective for me how easy knitters have it doing our 'lace' compared to lacemakers. I just make a loop and move on.
Such a mood😂😂😏
Not just knitters, lol! I clicked on the video thinking it looked like a fun new skill I might want to learn. Three squares in, couldn't help but think of how best to replicate the samples in crochet. 27 minutes in: "This square took eight hours." Nah, I'm good. 😅
I cannot believe your dedication, it's utterly heroic! I'll stick to doing my lazy crochet knockoffs, but I'm very glad to have watched a demonstration of the needle lace process. My appreciation for this skill and those who attempt, to say nothing of mastering, it... Wow. Heroic!
Just imagine me shouting "SAMPLER COLLAR" over and over, very passionately.
I had recently gotten into 3D embroidery....and I've come to the realization that the stitches are pretty much the same, just used differently and now I'm thinking about trying my hand at this since I already know the basics and my tension has definitely improved 👀
This is such perfect timing because I've just started a massive lace garden project too and I've been having trouble finding resources that illustrated how to do the stitches in a way that made sense to me. Watching the varient pea stitch here I suddenly understood exactly what every illustration was trying to show me.Thank you so much and best of luck with the collars, I can't wait to see your progress.
The thing I really find fascinating about lace is that at some point in history, someone sat down and said "I have some thread, I have a needle, how can I put these together?" I just think it's so interesting that someone had to sit and tie thousands of tiny knots before finding patterns that were 'correct'. Amazing work, you did a beautiful job on all of them!
Using a lace pillow with pins anchoring stitches will even up your tension and consistency much better and easier than the anchoring thread. Well done!
With each progress post you made on this over on Instagram, I was completely in awe. Even as a sampler, this has resulted in you making such a cool piece of art! I hope you end up hanging this or somehow displaying it in your home, because it’s so beautiful. I’m excited for this costume build progress, because I’ve never seen someone learn to make lace for a costuming project! I love seeing creative people learn knew things.
SeanMcGCostumes I was thinking it would look darling as a throw pillow, or framed as wall art 😊💕
Oooh ya, frame it!
This was wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing.
It brought tears to my eyes as I remembered watching my great-aunts and grandmother make lace, especially the 2 pea stitch variations (# 6 & 8 squares).
As widow women (their husbands died in accidents in the cotton mill) born in the late 1800's, my great-aunts made extra money by making lace for a wedding dress shop in Atlanta. They would ride the Greyhound bus up to deliver, as none of them could drive.
Incidentally, they would work on a piece for about 15 to 20 minutes, take a break, then go back and work for another 15 to 20 minutes. This helped to ensure that they maintained the correct tension throughout the project and reduced fatigue and aches.
I seem to recall a cheater technique that my great-aunt Laura did, where she took a length of needle tatted lace and stitched it to a piece of cloth, then did the lace stitching to fill. Sometimes there was a medallion piece pinned in and then lace stitch was used to fill in around and connect it to the rest of the piece. Kind of hazy on how they did it, as it was back in the "60's and I was a kid distracted by sunshine and fun, while they stitched and talked on the front porch.
By the way, when you go to size it, you may want to use diluted Elmer's glue, instead of starch. That's what my g-aunts, grandmother, and mom used on all of their handwork as it doesn't turn your work yellow like some of the starches. Pin it down on cardboard or foam, and spray on diluted glue, put bamboo skewers around and cover with lightweight muslin or cheesecloth to allow to dry.
Best wishes and lots of luck on your Worth project.
I get the feeling doing a test collar would likely be a good idea so you can get a little more familiar with the techniques before doing the real thing, plus it'd be fun to watch if you did a video of it. And this video did actually make me think "Hmm... Maybe I should try that." So good job!
Sample collar, as a mockup cause it never hurts to practice a little bit more. You should feel comfortable and confident going into the final.
My God, you have the patience of a saint.
Also, it’s so cool to see how you are improving with each new section. You are a fast learner!
Deciding to make the lace from scratch is a level of dedication, commitment and bravery I can only wish I had.
As a bobbin lace maker, I too, understand the hallelujah at the end! Thank you for sharing! Please continue to share!!!
I've been making bobbin lace (on and off) since I was 8 (so around 17 years) and i'm so excited to see you make the collar! To answer your question, a bolster pillow is a type of lace pillow that is is sort of tube shaped, there are many different shapes of lace pillow most of them unique to certain areas or types of lace (I believe in one area of France the traditional pillow was tyre shaped to allow for long continues pieces and the space in the middle was used to store equipment!)
One of my first memories is learning to bobbin lace, mostly just remember the lady teaching me having long red nails as she pointed and showed me as she spoke English and I didn't at the time.
Also, there's a photo of me cutting the band at some sort of bobbin lace conference somewhere.
This is something that I have ALWAYS wanted to learn how to make. Lace making is once of the few things that my mother doesn't know how to do, a d thus hasn't taught my sister and me how to make. (I've been embroidering - mostly cross stitch, but other techniques too - since I was 5 (32 years now). But bobbin lace is definitely something that has piqued my interest ever since I went to a renaissance faire and saw someone making it. Watching the women create masterpieces simply by flipping a few bobbins . . . It blew my mind!
I have a bobbin lace making kit my great great aunt had gotten in the 1960s or 1970s but never got around to making before she died in 1976. My grandma took it to learn but never got around to it, either, and now her eyesight it too bad. Third time's the charm maybe? I remember being intrigued by it when I first learned about it in a magazine when I was 7 or 8
Seona Elizabeth Coster |
I'd never seen this in practice before! Very interesting! It reminds me a lot of crochet and macrame.
I love needlepoint lace , just love it .. So can you imagine, why only really rich people could afford it, when the lace was made by the hand and used really thin thread... often i suppose even a silk!!!!
I never knew that that cotton thread was meant for!!! So glad I know now
oh my god, you took something that looked impossible and made it look doable now. You're my new hero!
Lovely young woman and a pleasure to listen to. Her skills & patience are amazing. Her video is quite well done, too. Would love to see more
Suggestion to help you along as you learn to moderate your tension:
Chalk lines along your squares, and use pins to hold the previous row in place so you can focus on the current row rather than starting to overtension in the middles of the rows. Im not sure if this is a 'legit' way of doing things but it might be a helpful hack to help you along as you find your feet with it. :)
I cant even fathom how much patience this takes.
You did SUCH a great job with this Marika! Your sampler is beautiful and your enthusiasm for your ambitious Worth project is infectious!
Also, I'm hearting Brandenburg Concerto no 4!! My favourite!
Thank you Cathy!! I am feeling really good about this project! 💗
I have a box full of beautiful handmade lace and other needlework made by my great grandmother. The amount of work put into it is astounding. I admire you greatly for learning and practicing these skills, they are a dying art.
Yes, I would definitely like to see you do the test collar. I feel like I could watch a video of just hours of you making lace.
Yes! Absolutely do more samplers and show us 😁 was loving this, and as a novice (bobbin) lace maker, when you're working on your pillow I would suggest adding pins to your repertoire for keeping the tension good - you'd stick them inside some of your smaller loops.
Best of luck with finding/making your lace pillow, and happy lace making!
Bobbing lace is the only thing my mum couldn't master out of all the crafts she tried . I love all the bobbins and I have them now she is no longer with us . I wish you success in your making
Your work certainly turned out beautiful and for your very first try - incredible. Your patience and your skill with needle and thread shows in your work. It is clear that you are very experienced and accomplished even just with sewing and embroidery by hand. Your antique lace reproductions are going to be lovely.
My German grandmother used to talk about her mother making handmade lace, both bobbin lace and “pin lace” but she was describing your needle lace technique. I’ve never seen anybody even attempt to reproduce this art. Thank you!
My Grandmother was born in the late Victorian era, soon after her family crossed over to the U.S. from the Black Forest region of Germany. Even when I was young she couldn’t do lace making any longer. I’ve never seen needle lacework until today and it brings such wonderful memories back of time spent listening to my Grandmother reminiscing. Thank you so much.
I'd love to see a sample collar! Also, how about you frame that sampler with a backing of black (either fabric, felt, or construction paper)? It's absolutely gorgeous and I would think it should be displayed
My great aunt had those stork scissors which i inherited when I started doing fiber work in middle school. I went on a choir trip in high school and had it confiscated by the TSA soon after 9/11. I'm so excited to see that they are still around and I would be able to buy them.
I appreciate that you included the mistakes and just the whole process. Great to learn from. Thx.
What Lark McGregor said is correct. My Great Aunts used to come visit my Grandma 👵 Josephine and they knew crocheting, embroidery and needlework. They said nobody made these things perfect. Just as long as they looked good in the end. They would crochet the pieces without the tape and sew them together and they looked just like the collar you showed. They did this with these extremely tiny silver crochet needles. They also said that they used the single crochet of yesteryear to make many of their collars and they would do twists on the stitching so people could not tell the difference. It was easier and took less time. What you did there is beautiful and once you get more experience it will be easier. That’s what my great aunts told me. They helped teach my siblings and I how to sew and all sorts of things. My mom really appreciated it because she was just so busy with everyday life of farming/ household and kids. We really appreciated learning things from them. Mom sewed things. She made school bags, shirts, pants, jackets and dresses for us. I wore two different dresses to proms that she made.
OMG that sampler is SO GORGEOUS! I have always marveled at how intricate lace is and I never knew how it was made until this video! I loved the pea stitch in the 8th panel the best!
I definitely think a smaller "test" collar is a great idea! It'll be an excellent practice for getting the tension on the stitches more even and be a great mock-up for the real thing. Super excited to see more of your adventures in lace making!!
I think doing a sampler collar would be not only good practice, but it would be beautiful in its own right.
I was hoping you'd be showing how to make this lace! This is going to be so cool!
Holy Moley. That looks so awesome!
I love your courage in recreating that very beautiful antique dress! and learning a new skill from scratch for it! Thank you for bringing this handwork into the twenty-first century here in the USA.
This is so lovely, and making lace is quite uncommon on this continent today! Your patience in display and description in this video is rare and special ! I’m so excited to see what all you do - both with the Worth Gown collar, but also if you find other uses for this skill!
for anyone wondering, the music in the first few parts of the video is Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no. 4
I think it’d be cool to see your process for making both. It was really fun to see you progress through this project and I’m getting excited to see how it all comes together.
When you mentioned the hours of work on this project, it made me think of a time when a good friend asked if she could comission a crocheted or knit shawl from me. I asked her when she would need it, and explained it could be very expensive (even with a discount). And when she said she wanted it for a wedding this weekend (3-4 days time), I nearly spit out my coffee. Now in her defence, she really did not know the time it takes to knit/crochet a large shawl, but when I told her it would take 3 to 6 months depending on the pattern and it would need to be done in my spare time (as i work a full time job). She said she would just order one online. LOL
I commend you for the time you take with all your garments, and feel as though you (and many others in the Living History/Costuming worls) are a kindred spirit. :)
LOVE WATCHING & LEARNING!!
I was once asked to sew a prom dress for $50 and they needed it in a week 🤦🏼♀️ most people really don't understand how long things take to make.
@@EnchantedRoseCostumes Oh, it is so true! - Still amazed btw... LOL. Definitely have this marked for future reference!!!
Put. It. In. A. Frame! It’s gorgeous!
Oh my goodness I love this work. I don’t have a favorite.
Recommending go ahead and make the sample collar - extra experience in lace making never hurts! You may end up with a usable sample for another outfit, or at least another lovely display piece for your home. Love these tutorials! :)
I'm in total awe. Didn't have any intentions of needle lacing but I can tell you that this video has definitely inspired me. It's a beautiful craft that is lost in the digital world of today. The amount of time and effort you put into this is just mind blowing. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Someone who knows how to teach at last. Thank you
I just found you and am in awe of how quickly and confidently you learned the stitches. 🥰 The only problem is now you have inspired me to try. 😂
It looks amazing, especially for a beginner! And don't worry about not mastering every kind of stitch immediately - "mass" produced handmade needle lace was usually made by several people, with everyone knowing one kind of stitch or stage perfectly and just making it over and over and over again. So practice really made it perfect - but it was years of practice!
I wish you good luck and happy lacemaking!
Hello,
I've lived in Nottingham my whole life. As Nottingham was the industrial powerhouse of the UK lace works for many years, I've always had an interest in lace making and its history. For years I've considered of making lace, and now I might just give it a go.
It's really nice to see someone that is excited about what they are doing. It seems like everyone either is actually bored or thinks it's cool to appear bored. You glow with excitement about what you are doing & that makes it so interesting to viewers, it sure did to me anyway. Thanks for a great video!
I'm learning lacework with crochet and this is just fascinating! You did a great job.
Even with it being your first time and not being perfect these samples are so beautiful! :D I can't wait to see your finished project.
I would like to see you work your way through this process. Perhaps most people learn somethings from doing it on their own, others learn from books and doing it own their own, but a great many of us learn quite a bit by watching and listening, then the other two things seem to fall into place better.
That 8 hour block earned my sub! You did amazing 💕
Thank you for subscribing 💗
Thank you for sharing your arttistic skills and your refreshing smile !
That flowery shirt looks really nice on you!
i've never seen anything like this before, how beautiful!!
watching you work is almost hypnotic...most of us do not realize how much work goes into making lace. My neighbor's grandmother was an old Italian nonna who made lace with a bunch of spools... amazing work... I crochet edgings on baby blankets.. not even a little bit as complicated as this lace... No wonder only the wealthy could afford to wear lace and often times lace was reused.
I think you are doing great. I have been making lace for over fifty years. I must do pillow laces.
Wow! I stand in awe! Please film everything you make - I would love to see a tubular (🤣) pillow, a test collar and, of course, the "real" thing. Keep at it, dear
*guiltily puts down easy knitted piece and returns to complex vintage lace crochet pattern*
another way to make lace, exciting!
I haven't actually worked on Battenberg lace in about 30 years, since my college days, but you've inspired me to do something with it again. Lovely video, thank you.
This is so fascinating to me! Ive been crocheting for 11 years but have recently been so interested in all of the fiber arts, and lace making has become my new obsession! It is art! Thank you for this amazing informative video and awesome demonstration!!!
Yes,yes,yes to the sampler!
Watching you make a sampler collar would be interesting. Watching someone learn as they go is so very helpful. =)
This was so fun to watch! And I would love to see both a sampler collar video and an actual collar video! I like to see the progress 💗
This reminds me so much of crochet! The logic of it is very similar
Anyone remember where in a Betty Davis movie she was crocheting lace with the tiniest needle and wearing glasses while she did so? Always intrigued me
A model of patience embodied! Nicely done.
I would love to see more samplers. Since it's part of the process for making your dream dress it would be good to see everything you end up doing.
I did not think I was going to be interested in trying this but now after watching this I MUST HAVE MINESELF A LACE SAMPLER!!
I always wanted to learn to make lace for historical costuming! Thank you for this content
It's a shame that people do not appreciate the time and tedious efforts of handmade embellished fashions of our New York designers. I cry when I see them make such outlandish outfits out of the fine works.
Hi! I have never ever made lace in my life, but those Artists who do beautiful work with needle and thread need to be commended for their vision of carrying out their work of art. I saw you making the first block, and when you made the first line of the second block I decided to “pitch in my two unworthy cents”: if I were to try to make a sampler I would take the added time to make faint lines in the block, like lines on a notebook piece of paper, that way one could practice making the same height of the loops and maybe it would help with learning the tension from loop to loop. Thanks you for sharing your enthusiasm with your viewers! : )
I think a sample collar would be the way to go, the practice will help you with keeping tension on the Worth collar (at least, I guess it works like when you learn knitting) - and I'm sure it'll be a lovely thing worth showing off somewhere
Wow..wow..wow!! Fantastic video. People never cease to amaze me with how talented they are. Thank you
I am now tempted to try needlelace. Thank you.
My favorite was the second to last. I'm all for more samplers before the main event, practice makes perfect!
Thank you for sharing. I consider this one of the best videos I've ever seen. Miniature macrame
What amazing beautiful work. Please show the sampler collar.
That lace (the diamond) looks like snake skin. So so amazing.
Beautiful work! It's amazing to see how much you learn from start to finish :) reminds me of my own adventures in knitting lace
I have recently become interested in putting handmade lace on some of my projects and I would love to see you make the smaller lace collar.
Congrats! This is amazing! Definately share the sampler collar! I'm looking forward to seeing this lace in other shapes than squares
I like all of them Thankyou for showing your work and it will be lovely to see your collar being made
First time viewing. I knit, crochet, cross stitch, latch hook and I've always wanted to learn how to make lace. I seriously couldn't thank you enough for making this video!
Thank you for this. I've not seen this ever. Very brave doing something for the first time and putting out there. Hope you get all the delight you should in your learning. It is good for the brain too learning a new skill.
I've never seen this before. Watching you do this has made me want to try it. Another new hobby.
That's beautiful and it looks like a lot of fun. I think a test collar is definitely the next step. It should help you to resolve the tension issues. Now that I've seen it being done, I suspect that needle lace is something I'll have to try for myself.