Little pieces of history, part five

I've got just a few pieces of fancywork to feature in this series.  This time, a ruffle edged doily.



This is another piece of thread crochet from my great aunt.  It had been starched and the ruffled edges are still quite stiffened.  It seems to have been packed away rather poorly over the years.  While the centre motif is in very good condition, with only a few stray wisps of thread coming loose where it appears a new thread had been started and the ends sewn in, the edging has quite a bit of damage.  Especially the white portion.  I would love to give this a thorough cleaning and get the starch out, but I don't know what would have been used.  Who knows how long ago it was starched in the first place?  About the only thing I can say for sure is that it was NOT stiffened with sugar.

Whatever it was, it gives the white threads an almost translucent quality.  I'm afraid that cleaning it might actually damage it even more.  There's no chance of repairing it, if it can be repaired at all, until the starch is removed.

I wonder if I should contact our local museum and see if there's someone there who can advise me.  They don't have a lot of stuff like this (their displays are mostly bead and leatherwork), but it wouldn't hurt to ask.  Or perhaps the Crochet Guild of America could give me some pointers.

Hmmm...

Little pieces of history, part four

I've fallen behind on blogging about the wonderful pieces of fancywork I inherited.

I think this next piece is my favourite of them all. A gorgeous round tablecloth, just over 2 feet across, not counting the crocheted edging.



This is another piece from my great aunt. The fabric is thick and densely wove, and looks to be cotton. I got a little surprise when I examined it more closely for this post. A distictive numerical stamp on the back. I do believe this used to be some sort of sack! A flour or sugar sack, perhaps.




Here's a detail of the repeated floral motive. It is done in embroidery floss using satin stitch, stem stitch and French knots. The black marks that you see on the bottom are from what looks to be other numbers on the back, written in marker, that extend beyound the hem. The fabric was definitely repurprosed.



I just love this thread crochet border! There is some minor damage to a couple of lengths of chain that I have found, and a couple of dots of what looks to be rust, but aside from that, this piece is in suprisingly good condition. Very sturdy. I'm pretty sure I can fix the damage to the crochet myself, too, in such a way that it would not be noticable anymore. I just have to make sure I can match the thread, first.

The hem is something I find really remarkable about this piece. As you can see from the photo above, it has two rounds of machine stitch. Hemming something round is always a challange, so I'm impressed with how neat it is right from the start.

It's the back of the hem that has me fascinated! Looking at it, there's a bit more concern about the condition of the piece, and it will need gentle care.

The crochet edging was actually worked directly onto the fabric. It looks like a circle of single crochet was worked around the edge of the circle first, encasing about a quarter inch of fabric, but worked so that the top of the stitches faced *into* the work, instead of out. At least one more round of single crochet was worked after that, then there's a ring of double crochet worked around the edge, serving as the foundation for the rest of the edging, which is worked in rows.

The foundation portion of the edging is fastened down with basting stitches, the edge is folded under for the hem, then machine sewn, creating the hem and turning the crochet foundation to the outside of the piece at the same time. The very first round of single crochet is completely hidden in the back. This is the part that is showing some wear. You can see the loose ends of the weave through the crochet thread, and in a couple of places they've worked themselves out of the loops around them, leaving empty crochet stitches hanging around. Of the two rounds of machine stitch, the inside one used to just catch the edge of the hem, but as the ends worked themselves loose, very little of it is still attached. It's the outer ring of machine stitching that is holding the hem in place.

I can't tell if the edging was completed before or after the hem was turned and sewn. I would guess after, or the pulling on the fabric would have yanked the crochet foundation right out of the weave. Unless the fabric was cut *after* the crochet was worked. That's certainly possible. I would love to have seen it being worked.

It's a remarkable piece, and I just love it!

Little pieces of history, part one

I have long had a passion for hand made items. Particularly items that are meant to be used. Aside from appreciating the time and skill required to make these items, I like how they can also connect us to the past. Even if I have no idea who made something or why, a piece of that person's hard work lives on.

While out in Manitoba a little while ago, my mother passed on a whole pile of items. Many of them belonged to her late aunt. Others had belonged to my mother's sister. When my aunt had to leave the farm and the property was sold, these items passed through several hands before making it to me, more than a year later! *L*

Over the next while, I'll be posting photos I took of the hand made pieces and telling a little about them. Most of them have seen a lot of years of use and some, sadly, have a fair amount of damage.

At this point, I have not done anything to them. They've been sitting in bags or boxes for a long time, and I've made no attempt yet to clean or press any of them. They are just as I've received them.

Here's the first. (If you want to see larger photos, just click on the image to be taken to my flickr page)



This small piece is worked on linen, which has such a lovely drape and softness. It measures about 16 inches square, including the border.



The embroidery appears to be done in cotton embroidery floss. The flower petals and leaves are done in Laisy Daisy stitch, with a bit of stem stitch among the leaves and satin stitch for the middles of the flowers. The black border is also done in stem stitch.



The crochet border is worked into an edge of single crochet. The edge of the linen has been folded over, and the fold is completely encased in the single crochet edge at the back. The border is a filet crochet finished with loops and picots.

This piece, according to my mother, was worked up by her late aunt, who was prolific and highly skilled. My mother had given me some small boxes of embroidery flosses, perle cotton, needles and tatting shuttles many years ago. Along with the finished pieces I brought back this trip, my mother also passed on a whole lot of crochet thread, some incredibly fine for use with a .75mm hook.

The last time I saw my great aunt, I was very young and barely remember her. I do, however, feel honored to have these items of hers. She was a remarkable woman.

Feature Friday: Tatting

My introduction to tatting goes back quite a few years, to my mother's aunt.  No, she didn't teach me to tatt.  In fact, as far as I can remember, I only met her once.  My great-aunt lived on the family home stead several hours drive away, and the one trip I remember my parents taking me along to visit her, I was too young for much of it to stick with me.  I remember parts of the drive.  I remember her showing me her spinning wheel and demonstrating how to use it, then coming back to it later on my own and giving it a try.  It stopped working for some reason and, afraid that I'd broken it, I quickly left!  I have only the vaguest memories of what she looked like.

When my great-aunt died, my mother found herself with a number of items her aunt had made, as well as some of her materials.  I had taken up embroidery by then, so when my mother found a couple of small boxes of embroidery floss, she gave them to me. I greatly appreciated the gift, and used some of the silk threads to embrioder a vest for my daughters.  I still have it, along with another I'd made.  Who knows - maybe some day, they'll be passed on to my future grandchildren, and they'll be wearing tiny vests embroidered with threads that belonged to their great-great-great-aunt!

Mixed in the the skeins of floss were two strange looking tools I'd never seen before.



Looking through my craft books, I discovered they were tatting shuttles. Being the curious sort, I tried my hand at it.  The bit of tatting you can see at the top of the photo is about as far as I got! *L*





Although the silver shuttle was quite lovely, it was the plastic one that I found the most useable.  The longer, upturned point made it easier to work the thread around itself and could be used to join loops in picots instead of a crochet hook.


I made many attempts to tatt.  The only knot I was able to master was the half knot.  For those who embroider, a half knot is a lot like doing a buttonhole stitch around a loop of thread.  I was able to do a double knot well enough, but I kept loosing track of which one I was supposed to be making in the pattern!

One of the difficulties with the old shuttles was loading them with thread.  Modern shuttles have solved that problem.



I picked up this shuttle with a spare bobbin and built in hook at a Walmart, I think.  I actually broke it out of its packaging for the first time today and gave it a try.  I was able to do one loop well enough, but am totally mixed up on doing the next one.  I definitly need to practise it more.  The new shuttle is certainly easier to work with than the old shuttles my great-aunt used.

Somehow, though, it's not quite as satisfying.

Special feature - embroidered linen

Embroidery detail
Originally uploaded by amkb

First off, I did NOT make this! It's almost 50 years older than I am.

When my elder daughter was just a baby (she's now 16!), we lived in Victoria, BC. She and I had gone to a nearby mall, which had some sort of event going on. The mall was filled with tables of people selling goods of all kinds. There was on woman who was selling hand embroidered antique linens she picked up from all over.

I fell in love with this piece. Linen embroidery on linen cloth, now almost 90 years old. The embroidery includes cutwork and pulled thread embroidery and has a scalloped edge. It's one of the most incredible pieces of workmanship I own.

I have different set I bought from this same woman - a small tablecloth with 8 matching napkins. The last time I saw her, shortly before we moved, I saw the most incredible huge tablecloth with 12 matching napkins, also in linen, that matches this one in skill and quality, but blew it away with the variety of techniques. It was so tempting to buy it. I even had a check in my pocket, waiting to be cashed, that could have paid for it.

We bought a car, instead. The car is long gone, but the linens I bought from this woman remain.

I wonder if she's still in business?