We are talking about an interesting period in Dutch life here. Simon Schama in his book 'The Embarrashment of Riches' looks at the issues of hard working people suddenly having money (and with money comes leisure time) as they reaped the rewards of trade and investment. Vermeer, Frans Hals and many of the other painters of this period show middle class people with outstanding interiors to their houses - tooled leather 'wall paper' for want of a better word. If we accept that even in England in mid 1800s women who were middle class still made shirts for their men as both a way of showing love and economy (see Cranford by Mrs Gaskell) it would not be unreasonable for sewing and crafts to be so in this period in the Netherlands. We know that stump work (incorporating needle lace stitches) was a gentlewoman's craft at this time (some outstanding examples in the V&A). Some thoughts for you
Kind Regards Liz Baker thelace...@btinternet.com My chronicle of my bobbins can be found at my website: http://thelacebee.weebly.com/ From: bev walker <walker.b...@gmail.com> To: David Leader <lacema...@q7design.demon.co.uk> Cc: lace@arachne.com Sent: Monday, 17 October 2011, 22:57 Subject: Re: [lace] Re: Vermeer's Lacemaker on Exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum For her hope chest? (or that period equivalent). Narrow lace inserts were used to join pieces of cotton fabric for bed sheets, and modest trim was made for clothing. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003