In a message dated 6/5/04 8:57:13 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> Thirdly, Gunnel > counted the bobbins on one pillow, only 18 bobbins and we opined that it > would be > unlikely that you could make a piece that wide with so few bobbins. Worse, > the > card on the piece says that one of the women is reading a book to the others > to > "break the monotony". "What monotony?" Gunnel and I asked loudly causing > members of the public to move away from us uneasily. > -------- Dear Lacemakers, It is surprising that a painting of this period would lack details as to bobbins. I know from experience in reading art books in which there are portraits of lacemakers, that usually the artist showed great details. However, this illustrates that there are always exceptions and nothing is set in concrete. As to reading a book, this does not sound unusual. Just last night, I was reading a book on American quilting history in which several contributors mentioned that a person was selected to read at all-day quilting bees*. Each hostess at the time would have a very limited "library" and it was a way to share books of poetry, etc. In the case of 18th-19th century quilters at a quilting bee, a person least experienced in stitching would be recruited to read. This ensured a more perfectly-stitched quilt! In an early period in Europe (in the case of the painting at the Met - 1720 in Milan), when printed books were expensive and rare and possibly not very available to women, it was probably a real treat to have someone read. Remember, they did not believe in sloth. Even a group of priviledged lacemakers might have made lace from sunrise to evening, whereas we take breaks in our lacemaking routine. As my favored English embroidery history teacher, the late Joan Edwards, taught: Put yourself in their place .... their room, their chair, their clothes, their companions, their lighting, their source of supplies and designs, their cares and worries, the purpose of what they were making .... when you are trying to determine what might have been normal to women of a previous era. *For Arachnes in countries where quilting is not done - a quilting bee was held by a hostess when all the decorative piecing of fabrics had been completed for a quilt top. The group (usually neighbors) would join the top to a filling layer meant to provide warmth and bottom layer, with small running stitches that traveled across the quilt in a decorative pattern. A "bee" was/is a gathering of people for a special purpose, so I suppose you could have a lacing bee to complete a tedious step in a group lace project! Please note it was customary to invite husbands and beaus to join the ladies for refreshments and entertainment (music/dancing/games) in the evening, so not unusual for the hostess to spend the entire day in the kitchen. Ugh! Jeri Ames in Maine, USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
