The story of an original cottage industry. The story of Irish lace.
Irish lace is world famous for the intricate designs that develop from very simple patterns. While lace making today is a big business, with large factories rolling off yards of fabric in minutes, the earliest Irish lace was a basic cottage industry.
In the 1800s Ireland was a divided land. The wealthy lords owned the land and tenant farmers produced crops for the owners. Many families in Ireland lived in small cottages on land called crofts. The family usually grew their own food on land not used for producing crops for the Lord of the Manor. Most of the crofters were "dirt poor" with little money for necessities.
With the lack of land and the rocky soil the most productive crop to grow was potatoes. Some of the cottage farmers did grow grains or vegetables, but even the seeds to produce these crops were too expensive for most of the tenant farmers. When the potato blight swept across the country between 1845 and 1851 and destroyed the crop it meant starvation for thousands of households.
Many of the Ursuline nuns were familiar with Venetian lace, brought over from France. Women had been producing rough cloth for their families for generations. The nuns realized the opportunity that these skills presented to help save the people from the famine and began teaching many girls and women to produce the fine crochet that has come to be known as "Irish lace." The wealthier Irish families that could afford to buy the lace earned the name of "lace curtain Irish."
Designs and motifs were developed by families. The patterns were closely guarded secrets passed from mother to daughter. The details were kept so secret that many of them were lost as the families either died or fled the poverty for other lands.
Designs and motifs were developed by families. The patterns were closely guarded secrets passed from mother to daughter. The details were kept so secret that many of them were lost as the families either died or fled the poverty for other lands.
The crochet schools established by the nuns in the 1850s and 1860s disappeared as fashions changed and the demand for the cottage lace declined. The introduction of factory production changed the industry and mass production of lace is now the rule.
The 1880s saw a brief revival of the cottage lace industry and produced most of the samples that are now family heirlooms or museum pieces.
Information obtained from this website:http://www.chiff.com/home_life/holiday/st-patricks-day/irish-lace.htm
An added bonus is if you go to the Museum tab and scroll down to the bottom of the page till you see this symbol and click on it you can take virtual tours of some areas of Ireland.
With the wonderful history of Irish lace it seemed fun to recreate a handkerchief in the style of Irish lace with a crocheted trim.
I have laid out a 13 inch square of the finest cotton I could find. A batiste would be perfect, mine was a fine muslin. I then sewed the crocheted lace trim all around the each edge piece separately, not sewing down the corners where they meet.
I then miter and turn the corners and sew them in place.
You now turn over your hanky and trim away the fabric from the back of all lace as shown.
You will leave a small edge against the seam all around the hanky.
You now press the edge in toward the body of the hanky.
Turn the hanky over and topstitch a seam on top of this raw edge as close to the original seam as possible.
You now have a finished handkerchief with "Irish" lace.
I will be linking to Kathleen's White Wednesday at her site Faded Charm. I will also join Becca for Show and Tell Wednesday at her site Blue Cricket Design. Please go on over and see what other awesome things people are blogging about.
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