Gosh, Doily Day was fun! Who would have guessed these unassuming, old-fashioned textile pieces could be so thrilling?? (Well, we had a clue, but we wanted to spread the love!)
Thank you to everyone who visited, enjoyed making a doily craft, and appreciated doilies with us. We all learned so much about the history of doilies, as well as about the resurgence of doilies in the fine arts. And we know you're never going to look at doilies in the same way again! (You're welcome!)
In other exciting news, the Lacis Museum's off-site storage facility (and the office-warehouse-headquarters of Lacis.com operations) will be beautified with a huge, fabulously graphic, fully-multicolor mural by the phenomenal local artist, Doran Dada!
Doran went to Berkeley High School. He studied art at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in the Netherlands, and in his world travels, absorbed the sacred and ancient artistic traditions of Egypt—and is now an internationally recognized avant-garde visual artist.
Here is artist Doran Dada with Jules Kliot, Museum Director and Curator of the LMLT, in front of the blank slate that is the eastern-facing front facade of the Lacis office and warehouse.
Shown above is what we anticipate seeing on the Lacis.com HQ's front facade on Adeline! We're so excited!
Jules enjoyed giving a tour of his The Bird in the Textile Arts exhibit to the lovely Art on Site folks, organized by art historian and researcher Barbara Rydlander.
   The Lunar Nautilus Bustle Dress is made of iridescent pink silk, pale aqua blue silk, lace, glass buttons, organza ruffled trim, vintage sequin trim, iridescent plastic beads, and a mysterious iridescent buckram-like fabric... |
And here's a friendly reminder that our last two classes of the year are happening soon! |
And we received a much-needed shipment of new lace and lace trims! Alençon, chantilly, venise lace, oh my! We're sure to have just what you need for your project.
With that, we bid an affectionate adieu to the Spooky Season (our favorite month and holiday). The Lacis Museum Team hopes you all had a fantastic Halloween!
Jordan's Natural-Dyed Velvet Quilt Square & Erica's Embroidered Jacket
We love it when our talented Lacis visitors are working on a project and show us a photo, or even bring in the project itself! Inspiration abounds in this place, and that's in no small part thanks to you. Read our Customer of the Month section for even more amazing work done by our Lacis friends.
Jordan, currently a student at the California College of the Arts, used natural dyes, like logwood, to give her velvet fabric this plummy purple hue! She enjoys quilting, and doesn't consider this her best work (good enough for decorating a messenger bag like this, if just for her own use, she notes) but she's primarily a weaver, anyway. (We think it looks just fantastic!)
Erica is always embellishing her garments so beautifully with her embroidery!
This tree in a boat
and sea creature blew us away. (Writhing tentacles are always a great motif!) Erica was struck by this style of boat construction she discovered in an art exhibit while visiting Seattle's National Nordic Museum: it's a Clinker-built boat, to be precise (also known as a "lapstrake"). These images and their placement were also inspired by the suggestive waves found in the print of the fabric. Erica even made the garment herself, from pattern she found in a Japanese garment magazine. Awesome job, Erica! We love your work—ever stylish, and ever so creative!
Tours are by appointment only
Opening reception event | Images from the exhibit
Detail from "6 Fighting Birds on a Buddhist Shawl" [12441]
The bird in literature and on canvas has long held its place through all civilizations and all times.
The bird captured in thread and textiles is more obscure and less defined. Depicted by a single thread, a bountiful palette of threads, a thread following a hook or threads flowing in harmony through the bobbins of lace, the bird is captured by the hands of the creator.
This amazing presentation captures this spirit from Pre-Columbian Peru to the earliest of laces to a world of unbound wealth of thread, color and needle.
For Katherine Bond of Berkeley, the exhibit was, in her words, "Spectacular!" She was "speechless at the display of time, quality, variety and geography of the works."
Visitor Virginia Davis was similarly floored, enthusing that it was "totally FABULOUS."
Paula and Rob Patterson, who came to visit all the way from Colorado, said that, "As birders, we so appreciated this exhibit. Thank you!"
Lacis Museum member Blair Van Tassel felt the same way: "Beyond amazing details," she agreed.
These pieces from our collection are terrific examples of a number of different lacemaking techniques! Be sure to check out our display that contains these, and many more gorgeous doily specimens—it'll be in a display case on your left-hand side, almost the first thing you see when you come into the shop.
Sections of the Shetland Lace Sampler of Cathy Adair-Clark
This generous donation of decorative textile artworks from Cathy Adair-Clark is a tour de force of talent and devotion to the world of needlework, specifically her world of knitting and Shetland yarns: "I fell in love with Shetland sheep and their fleeces, and that has ruled my life since 2007."
The magnificent Shetland lace sampler she constructed in 2012 is 8 feet by 6½ feet, comprising 67 different fleeces of yarn, all hand-spun by Cathy herself. We also have her personally compiled tome of sketches available for your perusal, with each motif and its pattern, along with sources and progress reports, all passionately and fastidiously documented.
Sweet Olivia is getting married, and we happily sent her this splendid 1980s tiara decked with satin and organza lilies and sprays of pearls.
She reported back to us, "The crown arrived yesterday and I'm in love! It's stunning and I can't believe how amazing your customer service and shipping speed was! I'm psyched because my bridal hair trial is tomorrow morning and I can have it with me to try out! Thank you again for everything!" It means a lot to us when our Etsy friends give us updates like this.
Thank you so much updating us, Olivia—and congratulations on the nuptials!
And Diane, who bought some vintage handmade Irish crochet lace trim, left us this kind review: "The lace is beautiful and in excellent condition. It shipped so fast! I love Lacis, it was a favorite of mine when I lived in the Bay Area and still holds strong from afar!" Thank you, Diane, for your continued support! We're glad our Etsy shop allow us to connect with our old Lacis friends, even when they move far away from us.
A History of the Headscarf
The headscarf is, arguably, the most deceptively simple of garments. Just a single piece of rectangular (sometimes triangular) fabric, it can be made from any range of textile materials—cotton, linen, silk, lace, etc.—and it can be assembled in infinite ways, into a multiplicity of configurations. For such a universal thing, it can be so perplexing! How on earth can a piece of cloth be so beautiful, so meaningful, and so controversial? Found throughout history and across world cultures, it signifies so much to so many.
When it comes to the headscarf, there are, we assure you, no simple answers to be found. We just thought we'd dredge up some interesting insights from across the internet for your perusal—and invite you to fall down the rabbit hole with us.
Madame Denise Poiret, wife of French fashion Designer Paul Poiret.
Credit: AP
A headscarf from the Lacis Museum permanent collection
Museum ID No.: 25770 This delicate square piña head-covering from the Lacis Museum's permanent collection is an especially unusual expression of love and affection.
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 Perhaps the most fascinating thing about this particular headscarf is that it defies our usual expectations about needlework being an exclusively feminine domain.
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 The accompanying note—itself in exquisite longhand—reads: |
Conservative, rebellious, culture-defining: A brief history of the headscarf
from CNN Style
"Throughout history, the headscarf has sat atop the heads of culture defining women—and men—from monarchs including Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II to the daring flappers of the 1920s.
"Ranging from patterned prints to luxe fabrics to simple sheaths, the fashion item is wrapped in centuries of interpretation."
Silent film actress Anna May Wong was known for her taste in headscarves. Credit: Sasha/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Between the headscarf and Islam:
Is the headscarf an Islamic requirement?
from the European Academy on Religion and Society
"The headscarf is not an Islamic invention. The veil has been part of women's clothing in many regions of the Arabian Peninsula before the Quran was revealed in the 7th century...
The headscarf becomes many things throughout history: everything from medieval sign of piety—to Renaissance orientalism—to legal prohibition.
Left:
A wimple as shown in Portrait of a Woman, 1430-1435, by Robert Campin (1375/1379-1444), National Gallery, London. The wimple is constructed of four layers of cloth and the pins holding it in place are visible at the top of the head. Center: And who could ever forget this magnificent head-dressing, which is arguably just as decadent as that sumptuous pearl? It contained, in fact, a pigment more valuable than gold.
Right: Several countries, including France, Germany and Austria, have limited women from wearing full-face coverings such as the niqab and burka in public spaces. Credit: Abdul Majeed/AFP/Getty Images
"What is worth mentioning here, is that the headscarf has also been part of female clothing in Europe since ancient times. In the Middle Ages, head coverings became customary among Jewish and Christian women: young unmarried women wore their hair down, while married women covered their hair with scarves or hairnets."
A short history of African headwrap
"In the 1960s and 1970s as Black men and women began to unapologetically reclaim their heritage as a means of rebellion and Black pride. The headscarf was embraced once again.
Beauty, pride, and practicality.
Left: The impassioned and wide-ranging discourse of Lyndsay Archer, from Jamaica, is supplemented with this arrestingly gorgeous photo from 1950s-60s Cameroon, taken by Seydou Keïta.
Center:
Fierce activist, legendary musical artist, queen—the iconic Nina Simone.
Right: During World War II, the headscarf returned to its utilitarian origins as women took up new postings in factories. Credit: AP.
"For me, every time I stand in front of the mirror to wrap a scarf upon my head, I am in awe of intricate patterns that play upon the fabric. I'm reminded of my ancestors—my grandmothers and generations of great grandmothers—who covered their heads out of both necessity and force. But also as a means to conserve a legacy—a legacy that has stood the test of time and has survived colonialism, the middle passage, slavery, and post-emancipation societies. Each time I wrap each end of fabric across the crown of my head, I'm reminded of resistance to conformity, the dare to demand justice, and the crown that naturally graces my head."
Believe us when we say, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Don't even get us started on all the swoon-worthy South Asian or Southeast Asian hijabistas—that is, hijab-wearing fashion bloggers—because we could rave about their style for days on end. The Good Weekender's Malaysia-based Liyana Aris (@theliyanaaris), shown left, is but one example.
Clearly, the already venerable, historied headscarf is going to remain relevant for a long time to come. Just take these recent fashion stories as an indicator:
Last year, Vogue came out with a compilation of looks in How to Wear a Headscarf—According to Tokyo's Street Style Stars.
Around the same time, Amani (writing at The Cut) asked quite pointedly, "Are Headscarves Only Cool When They're on the Runway?"—raising a number of very important questions.
And Grazia reported in an editorial: Looks Like We're Reviving Headscarves, According to the SS22 Runways.
The headscarf leaves the world of fashion and commerce, though, and enters that of global politics and human rights when, following the death of Mahsa Amini, Iranians both within their home country and overseas have been coming out in "the biggest wave of dissent against strict religious dress codes since the early years of the 1979 Islamic revolution."
Iranian women are risking their lives by deliberately and publicly wearing white hijabs, or removing them altogether in order to burn them or wave them high in the air above their heads. If you cannot ignore their message—if their courage moves you to action—Sara Saeedi offers some cogent advice on how to break out of the bystander effect, and show your solidarity in a meaningful way.
Don't forget, Lacis Museum Members receive 20% off of books purchased in our Museum shop
Modern Japanese Embroidery Stitches
Noriko Tsuchihashi
FX58 $19
Holy cow! The succulents, sea urchins, jellyfish and starfish, coral and insects—don't even get us started on the contemporary monogram designs.
Tsuchihashi's range of designs are appealing, modern, and enormously approachable. Her globe-trotting aesthetic is manifested through her lovingly curated Atelier Mon Chou Chou shop in Nara, Japan, but also through her own textile artistry. For example, did you know that the cicada is "a symbol of good fortune in Souther France"? That inspired her beautiful cicada design (on page 30). Or that the Tuareg people "consider gold unacceptable for wearing"? They prefer crafting items in silver—thus, Tsuchihashi's monochromatic Tuareg-inspired motifs (pages 36-39).
We would love to take this opportunity to share with you all the costuming talents of one of our very favorite customers and LMLT members, Genevieve Nielsen!
Genevieve is not only extremely kind and congenial, but she is tremendously creative, detail-oriented, and research-driven... meaning she possesses the magical trifecta of qualities that make her a talented costumer AND an accomplished academic! Passionate about history, mythology, and the everyday world of the Vikings, she recently earned her Master's degree in Medieval Icelandic Studies... in Iceland!
Genevieve, you belong in the Lacis Museum Hall of Fame. A thousand thanks for your support, your positivity, and congratulations on your scholarly achievements—not to mention your astonishing oeuvre of absolutely stellar costume creations.
Aren't you intrigued? We urge you all to explore Genevieve's gloriously prolific, riotously colorful, time-tripping adventures on Instagram: she's @needle_and_crow. Her work is amazing!!
Interested in taking a class? You can drop off your completed registration form in person during business hours, email it to us, or simply give us a call to enroll!
Nautilus Cockade
with Patrice Krems
Saturday, November 5, 2022 — 12:30 PM to 5 PM
$55 + $20 kit fee (payable to instructor)
The Nautilus Cockade is a perennial favorite at Lacis. In this class, you learn how to transform flat ribbons into three-dimensional nautilus shells that can be varied in countless different ways, limited only by your imagination. You may be most familiar with cockades on military hats and cloche hats and dresses from the 1920s. But in this class, you will learn how to make a vintage-style Nautilus Shell Cockade and give it a modern twist. You will also learn how to make a beaded tassel as well as add a beaded picot edging to your Nautilus Cockade.
The Nautilus Cockade can be used as a pocket to hold your notions on a chatelaine, turned into a brooch, or used as a millinery flower on a new or vintage hat. And just in time for the upcoming holidays, this favor makes a spectacular gift for a loved one or a stunning ornament for your Christmas tree!
A Tatted Snowflake
with Kevin Baum
Saturday, November 19, 2022 — 12:30 PM to 4 PM
$45
Come celebrate the holidays with this festive tatting class designed for past students of Kevin's
Beginning Tatting Classes. Elevate your tatting skills to create an heirloom tatted Snowflake!
Hang them on Christmas tree branches on wreaths during the holiday season. Use them to dress up holiday
packages or table centerpieces. Or frame these works of art and give them to friends and family!
Prerequisites: Students will need to know the shuttle tatting basics: namely, the double stitch and how to create and connect rings and
picots. Under Kevin's guidance, students will begin their holiday projects. Students will choose one
from several snowflakes, from easy to advanced. Finishing and blocking your finished snowflake will be
discussed.
Clones Irish Crochet: A 4-Day Workshop
with Máire Treanor
Wednesday-Saturday, April 5-8, 2023 — 10 AM to 5 PM
$300.00 for all 4 days (or $200.00 for any 2 days)
Máire is excited to return to Lacis once again!
Lacis is once again pleased to announce the return of Máire Treanor, master of Irish Crochet, for a 4-day in-person workshop of Clones Irish Crochet.
In the first two days, newcomers will work on Clones lace jewelry, learning the basic stitches of Irish Clones lace, before progressing to traditional motifs of wild rose, shamrocks, vine leaves, grapes, and other motifs familiar in Irish Crochet, which use packing cord, as well as the unique Clones knot filling stitch and edging. Returning students can bring a project on which they have been working, getting advice and help on finishing it.
Students will discuss how to read antique Irish Crochet patterns and the international charts used in Ukrainian, Russian and Japanese books, with samples of garments in Modern Irish Crochet.
Prerequisites: For this captivating workshop series, students should be familiar with the basic crochet stitches of chain, single crochet, and double crochet in yarn. During this special workshop, Máire encourages students to work at their own pace, with individual help and encouragement.
Beginning Tatting
with Kevin Baum
Two-Session Mid-Victorian Dress Workshop
with Catherine Scholar
Don't miss the annual Festival Of Black Dolls Show & Sale—and the delightful, professionally trained, naturally silly Daisy the Clown (Kynisha Ducre). It'll be at the Oakland Public Library's African American Museum!
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The Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. We are a unique legacy museum located in Berkeley, California. We host a wide range of hands-on workshops, several galleries of rotating exhibits, and our Museum Shop carries an extensive supply of vintage goods, craft- and costume-related books, and needlework supplies.
Our purpose is to:
• Preserve lace and textiles of all cultures from all periods
• Provide a resource center for research and documentation of these objects
• Educate and disseminate knowledge of lace and textiles
For just $25.00, you can become an official, card-carrying Lacis Museum Member for a year—and enjoy exclusive benefits! Get your membership via our Etsy shop, or alternatively, contact us in a number of other ways to join this vitally important circle of Lacis friends. We thank you for your support!
• 10% discount at our Etsy shop for purchases over $50
• 20% off books purchased at the Lacis Museum shop
• Free museum admission for you and up to (4) guests
• Special invitation to show openings
• Class discounts
A Message from Our Director
A museum cannot ignore its purpose in preserving moments of history. Recognizing which moments have relevance are determined by the purpose the Museum sets out to fulfill. Rarely is there a moment in human history that has universal significance to be relevant to every Museum. We are at such a moment in time where survival of every individual and every institution is at stake. Survival is still in the hands of a free people. We must express this rare power by voting this November 8, recognizing that this is our only chance.
—Jules Kliot, Director
The Lacis Museum of Lace & Textiles
2982 Adeline St.
Berkeley, CA 94703
