IS THIS THE CRAFTS GROUP?

What do you think? Could this be the Thursday Crafts group? Seven ladies here. After all, there are seven of us.

I'm afraid we bear no resemblance to this group. We come in paint shirts and sweats most of the time. (I have a special stack of 'grungies' reserved

just for working on crafts.)

This is a group of ladies out for a stroll...dressed in their finest; hats and parasols included! Well, at least that's how it appears. Actually, it is an advertisement for patterns you could order, and was pictured in late 1800's 'The Young Ladies' Journal'.

I used to do alot of sewing, but can't even imagine attempting something so intricate. The book pictured below was issued in 1890, and featured 136 pages of instructions and illustrations of popular 'work' of this era: crochet, embroidery, crewel, kntting, macrame', tatting, etc, etc.

Here is a group modeling 'indoor' attire....

And, another group modeling (you guessed it!)'outdoor' attire...

I've included a few pages from the Work Table book.
My grandmother used to love to do tatting, and tried in vain to teach me. It's become almost a lost art, now.

I was not familiar with 'Netting', but something called 'Guipure Netting' had been introduced way back in the middle ages. It used a kind of thick cord or thread round which, threads of gold, silver and silk were twisted. Special needles were required; made from steel, ivory, bone and boxwood. These netting additions were added to parasol covers, handkerchief and chemisette borders (ouch!), collars, cuffs, etc.

Can you remember the Macrame' craze of the 60's?

I'll bet you didn't know it started long before that!
Well, have you guessed that I have a fascination with the Victorian Era?

It's fun to take a peek into the past. It was such an interesting time, but I wouldn't want to trade places!