The War-Time Woman: 19th of May 2012

I am happy (and somewhat relieved....) to announce the final line-up for our 1940s study day 'The War-Time Woman'.
1)Sheila Shreeve MBE will present an overview of the period, complete with slides, and with particular reference to Walsall's Hodson Shop Collection.
2)Then I will waffle on about how brilliant 1940s dress patterns are until someone shuts me up - please feel free to bring your patterns along for me to coo over!
3) After lunch our friend Geraldine Howell will be braving the dangers of the M6 to join us and talk about the Utility Scheme, a subject she has studied extensively.
4) And last, but by no means least, one of the nationally renowned and respected make-up artists of 'The Vintage Salon' will be joining us to share her tips and secrets of 40's hair and make-up. The photograph accompanying this post shows the handywork of the Birmingham based company, whose work has featured in magazines including Vogue.

I am also happy to announce that tickets may be reserved at no extra cost to those that have already paid their annual subscription. Any seats remaining after members have booked theirs will be available to the general public for just £10.

Hope to see you there!

'Torchon Lacemaking' by Jan Tregidgo

It's taken a while for me to form an opinion on this book...... it takes about an hour to produce an inch of lace, and I wanted to be sure I'd given it a fair crack!

A couple of years ago I got chatting to a couple of members of the Lace Guild, the U.K's foremost society for lace-makers. At the time I was plodding through Pamela Nottingham's 1970's classic 'Bobbin Lace Making' (out of print), which I wasn't finding very inspiring. The lace-ladies agreed with me that the Nottingham book had a few shortcomings, including dated designs and an odd layout which put working diagrams and written instructions on different pages. They told me that their teacher, a certain Jan Tregidgo, was about to publish her own beginners' book on the subject of Torchon lace, and that they had been taught by Jan using the techniques she described in her book.
The ladies were so nice, and so helpful, I resolved to buy Jan's book.

One redundancy later it took over a year for a second-hand copy to come up on Amazon for the right price (buying textiles books second-hand is my idea of austerity living....that and wild boar terrine from Lidl). Being me I scorned the idea of starting at the beginning, though the introductory chapter on materials and tools is comprehensive, and the first few designs are attractive enough. No, I wanted to start on page 112, a Spanish fan edging with a Dieppe ground. Thanks to Jan's technique of using numerous close-up photographs of the work, in - shock, horror! - coloured threads, I was able to work the lace quickly and easily, and also able to understand and track individual threads and pairs of bobbins through the work. I was also able to flick back through the text and find instructions for the various stitches and techniques I had been too impatient to learn beforehand.

During the duration of the Lace Guild exhibition of 2010, lots of well meaning lace-makers very kindly gave me old pamphlets or photocopied patterns and instructions, but I must admit I remained mostly baffled and in a tangle. Thanks to this book in just a few weeks I have a decent basic knowledge of bobbin-lace stitches, and a pair of bobbins on every pin. If you too would like to know your footside from your spangle, buy this book. I have really enjoyed it and am sure others will too.


Torchon Lacemaking
Jan Tregidgo,
Crowood Press,2010
ISBN 978 1 84797 201

Hardcover, 240 pages

Cover Price £25
Amazon Price new, £19.50, second-hand from about £15.