In a message dated 8/23/2004 12:09:01 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
When he caught me at my 2nd or 3rd retro-effort and repeated all th reasons against such, I looked up from my pillow and - bold as brass - said: "I married *rich*; I do this for pleasure"... Perhaps another response would be that you make lace for the most discriminating clientele. I can't imagine that poor quality would be tolerated in lace intended for royalty or aristocracy. In fact, in Tina, Mr. Le Fort is quite angry to hear that there is a mistake in the lace. Later he pleads with Tina to return to Belgium to help complete a special lace commission for the princess. Admitting that the writer may not have known much about lace making, it is nonetheless interesting to note that Tina has actually been taken into the house of a member of the aristocracy where her job is to do nothing but mend lace all day. She is being paid $40 a week and all of her living expenses. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art we have pieces of lace that have been so artfully mended that it is staggering to think how long it must have taken to do it. It is certainly a tribute to how highly the lace was valued. A great deal of our information about lacemakers and their economic conditions come from the period when lace was in decline, after the introduction of machinery. I often wonder if the extrapolation of these poor economic conditions back in time is actually justified. In the Despierres book on the Alencon industry, I believe she gives some figures that indicate that lacemaking was relatively well-paid compared to other female occupations and that lacemakers were considered desirable wives because of this. Alencon was a very luxurious fabric. I can't imagine it brought the high prices it did if mistakes were routinely made and left in. Devon - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
