Dear Clay How kind of you to write and let me know you enjoyed the story of Margaret Hamer's Lace. She really was a wonderful old lady, attending stump-work classes with her sister Kathleen only a few months before her death. On Saturday I went north of Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield to teach Casalguidi embroidery to an Embroiderers' Guild class. It was over 50 miles of not pleasant driving up the motorways and then into a town I always seem to get lost in, but the students were so enthusiastic it made it all worth while. One of the other mementoes of her sister given to me by Kathleen was a little Casalguidi drawstring bag worked on fawn even-weave linen in a very modern colour-scheme of orange and green, showing that Margaret even a couple of years ago was still a superb needlewoman and definitely with an eye to colour. All the students marvelled at the embroidery and it gave them inspiration.
Casalguidi embroidery was worked by nuns in Pistolia, Northern Italy, early 20th century. There is a very good book by Effie Mitrofanis, Kangaroo Press, Australia. A four-sided stitch pulled thread area is worked on even-weave fabric. This is the background for free needle-weave and needle-lace stitches, a bit like stump-work, a bit like Romanian Point Lace, but not the same. Other stitches include bullion knots, wrapped cord, padded raised-stem band and knotted tassels. The needle-weave is used for leaf shapes and the needle-lace for flower petals and butterflies wings. Angela Thompson [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Clay Blackwell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "A Thompson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2003 10:52 PM Subject: Re: [lace] Margaret Hamer's Lace, 5 end. > Dear Angela - > > Thank you so much for taking so much time to share with all > of us the gifts which Margaret's sister has given you. You > must have been a wonderful friend to Margaret to have been > so highly thought of by her sister. I hope I have an > opportunity to meet you one day! > > Clay Blackwell > Lynchburg, VA, USA > - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED]
