I have come across a rather odd reference and I was hoping some of our British members might be able to help.
In Gabrielle Pond's book "An Introduction to Lace" she refers to Bedfordshire as a Torchon lace. First, in the photographs on page 29, the photo of what I would call Torchon is labelled "East Midlands Bobbin Lace, c 1870" while on the same page what I would call Bedfordshire lace is labelled "Traditional Torchon Bedfordshire bobbin lace." I would have thought that this was just a printing mix-up in the labels, but she makes the same reference in the text. On page 31 she describes Torchon as "A common type of lace made chiefly in England and France from cotton or flax, in geometrical designs, rather similar to Maltese. It is often coarse and used principally for household linens." I think this description applies more to Bedfordshire/Cluny than it does to what we now call Torchon, especially the "rather similar to Maltese" reference. My question is - did people in England generally refer to Bedfordshire as Torchon lace, or is this just something Gabrielle Pond came up with? By the way, these references are taken from the second edition of the book, published by Charles Scribners Sons in 1973. Adele North Vancouver, BC (west coast of Canada) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
