My current best guess that I may follow up later after consulting my books: from looking closely at the silver flowers, it is clear they are woven in some manner. I would imagine that the little medallions of flowers (which look to be slightly raised because of the silver thread but still part of the sheer fabric around them) were made all separately. These could then be attached to the bobbinet, which would be cut away in the back to provide that sheerness. The curly designs around the outside of the medallion and on the edge of the lace would be by bringing a thread through the bobbinet, which I believe is called Limerick Lace. There’s also a similar type of lace called Carrickmacross Lace that may also be helpful to look at and would very well create those raised curling designs. Though I want to say that the wavy metallic ribbon is woven in the same way as the medallions (which I’m still not sure exactly how that would be done but can do some research) it would appear possibly not, as the metallic striping is both too uneven in how it appears, but also continus in a way that suggests it is a piece of flat metallic embellishment sewn over top of some silvery piece of fabric or a fine weave cotton that has been sewn down to the bobbinet. For this I would highly recommend looking at Carrickmacross Lace. The more metallic trim in the first picture above the lace is most likely either bobbin or crochet lace, I can’t zoom in well enough to see though. The other silver flowers in the last two pictures appear to be out of silver bugle and round beads, though I may take another look.
3 years ago
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Agree that it is embellishment on a bobbinet ground. The top looks like some kind of metallic trim. None looks like actual metal lace. Likely done with synthetic metallics to my eye.
3 years ago (edited)
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I’m learning bobbin lace at the moment, it doesn’t look like any bobbin lace I’ve seen. I would say it’s probably embellishments on net
3 years ago (edited)
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I feel fairly confident that the flowers are a type of needle lace. There's a video by The Met on Needle lace and bobbin lace that might help you. I linked it below. 👇 https://youtu.be/Gs7O2utaX88
3 years ago | 2
Hard to tell, but I’m not sure it’s hand woven. (Specially the top trim on the first picture.) For me that’s not bobbin lace, more like metal embroidery on net. I think I can see the rows of tiny metals “springs” that you notice on the dress too in the third picture. But not 100% sure. To do something that fine by hand seems honestly close to impossible without decades of practice (and hundreds hours of work).
3 years ago | 0
This doesn't look like bobbin lace to me. I have dabbled in bobbin lace and this doesn't look like anything I have seen in person or photographs. If you were able to get some better quality pictures, I might be able to get an answer from some international lace instructors about it.
3 years ago
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Mariah Pattie
Thanks for all of the advice on fabric dying! An order from Dharma Trading Co is on the way to me.
Next topic: the neckline lace. These are currently the highest quality photos I have of it, and they aren't great. But what are your theories? My best guess is currently that it's bobbin lace, with metal ribbon embroidery embellishment. But I have no experience with lacemaking, so I really don't know. There is a denser mass of threads beneath the flowers, and the ribbon near the top almost looks like a silk satin ribbon, but wavy on one side. I could be wrong about the bobbin lace. It could even be all embroidered on top of cotton bobbinet, with the gold thread securing a ribbon along the edge. But what do you think?
3 years ago | [YT] | 182