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!

4 comments:

Cathryn said...

Hi Susan, The macrame craze was still alive in the 70's. I made a purse for an art class in college. Man, I wonder where that is. I love the picture of the ladies. So you have a group of ladies you do crafts with ~ that is so neat. I'm jealous. :) I love the opening song. Somehow coming to your blog I always go back in time ~ to my time. It feels like home. That's why I visit so often. Lord Bless ~ Cathryn

Gina said...

Whoa! Tatting is alive and thriving! There are several online groups devoted to promoting tatting and tons of blogs. Visit mine and you'll find links to more than 80 blogs that are focused only on tatting.

But lacemaking as a whole is still not as popular as it used to be, viewed as too tedious and time-consuming by many. I also belong to a local lace group that promotes all types of lacemaking and we'll be demonstrating our skills at a downtown event this weekend.

If you want to learn tatting, let me know and I can give you tons of online resources!
http://threadsofatattinggoddess.blogspot.com/

Jane Eborall said...

Hellllooooo there!! I tat and have been making tatted lace for over 50 years. It's very, very much alive. Put 'tatting' into Google and you'll find tons of sites and lots of addicts!!!!
Jane - http://janeeborall.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Oh Yes Susan That Is The Crafters Group . I know it is me because it how skinny I really in .It only took three days to lace up that Corsett !!!I do enjoy when you put on the collection you have of post cards .
Mary