Arsenic and Old Lace... Without the Arsenic (But With the Cup of Tea) - Part 2

Here it is, what you have all been waiting for - the pictures of the lace.
Before we start, it might be a good time to get a cup of coffee or tea, or a glass of wine - whatever takes your fancy - and settle in. There are 60 photos, 54 of them are of the laces themselves - 130 pieces of lace in all. In this post - Part 2 - I will include laces 1 thru 59. Laces 60 thru 130 I will put in Part 3, which I will post tomorrow.

The box - just arrived, filled with excitement, filled with mystery, filled with lace we hope. It was quite a bit bigger than I had expected.

The pile of lace straight out of the box. Many hours of sorting and untangling ahead. In amongst the treasure-trove of lace were an assortment of not-so-treasure-y things: rusty pins, rusty needles with thread still in them, lengths of yarn, several large pieces of plain white cotton fabric, disintegrating, several large pieces of white cotton lawn in good condition, an old pillowcase neatly folded, and one doll sock. It was quite fun sorting it all out, and overall I was very pleased with the amount of lace that came out of it.

The sorted pile of laces, ready to be washed.

All soaked and hand washed in a solution of lukewarm water and baking soda, ready to go out on the line.

Washing line full of laces, each one finger pressed open to help it dry flat, and carefully hung.

Basket of finished laces, washed, dried, blocked/pressed, and rolled, ready to use.

There are quite a variety of lace, both handmade and machine, ranging in condition from "will fall apart if you look at it too hard" to "aging quite well", and workmanship ranging from rank amateur to stunning. Almost all of them are cotton or linen, including all the net laces, with one silk lace (or possibly two)  and 3 silk embroidered organzas.

Laces 1 - 3. No. 3 is tatted with thread as fine as standard sewing thread.

Lace 4

Lace 5. This would have been made as an overlay to go on a bodice or corset.

Lace 6

Lace 7

Lace 8

Lace 9

Lace 10

Lace 11

Laces 12 - 14. These three are the silk organzas.

Laces 15 - 17

Laces 18 - 19

Laces 20 - 21. No. 21 is quite unusual in that instead of the usual floral motif that is common with broider analgise, it has a Jacobean style deer motif embroidered on it.

Laces 22 - 24

Laces 25 - 27

Laces 28 - 29

Lace 30 - 32

Laces 33 - 35

Laces 36 - 37

Laces 38 - 39

Laces 40 - 42. No. 42 is an old upholstery trim. 

 

Laces 43 - 45. I'm thinking No. 43 is possibly silk, or silk embroidery on a cotton net foundation.

Laces 46 - 48

Laces 49 - 53

Laces 54 - 56

 

 

 

Laces 57 - 59