#bobbinlaceproject

Piecework Summer 2023

I like to feature the projects with full directions contained in this issue although there are multiple historical and contemporary articles that offer inspiration as well.

The cover project with the dragons in cross-stitch is a linen pin-cushion created by Deanna Hall West based on a 1885 needlework book which had me thinking what we really need is to put some dragons on sweaters.

The 1909 Lady’s Mitts in lilac are a re-working of a pattern from Weldon’s Practical Knitter by Liz Stewart using size 2 needles and Cascade Yarns Heritage Silk a mix of merino and silk. Although they did not have cell phones to play with, they did need their fingers free yet warmed.

The cream colored square with the puffy set of leaves was inspired by the novel Anne of Green Gables, the story of a spunky orphan, and an 1871 book of patterns for knitted counterpanes, or bedspreads. This is such a daunting task that Joyce Noverr who reworked the pattern, suggests you ponder a throw, a pillow, or even a pin cushion instead.

The tiny bird with the black bead for an eye is a first project in bobbin lace created by Karen H. Thompson from DMC Perle Cotton size 8. This accompanies an article by Evelyn McMillan on far more elaborate lace projects which depicted mythical stories, and there is another on applique embroidery upon netting--called Swiss embroidery, for some reason by Karin J. Bohleke.

The cover story on Aran sweaters, the heavily cabled versions we know today, explains how no one wore such a thing in Ireland before the mid-20th century, which makes them what historians call an invented tradition. Invented, in this case, in order to create a mythic story about how old and symbolic the stitch patterns were so as to sell more sweaters! Suffragettes knitting are another topic and so are thimbles, plus there is more.