Contents in This Month's Issue
First of all, our elevator construction project is so close to reaching completion, we're practically giddy with anticipation. We can't wait to take that first ride!
Second of all, we have sensational news to share, Lacis friends! On September 10, from 11 AM to 3 PM, you can find us at the History Fair at the Camron-Stanford House, the last of the beautiful Victorian mansions that once surrounded Lake Merritt and the first museum in the City of Oakland.
We'll proudly join a coterie of 20 exciting history museums and other local history-related groups, all reaching out to the East Bay community to engage with the past. This is the perfect event for history enthusiasts, family historians, students of all ages, teachers, and cultural heritage practitioners alike! Anyone with a curious mind and interest in learning about the past is encouraged to join us—and this means you!
Those who RSVP in advance will receive a raffle ticket at check-in. Enter to win door prizes throughout the day! Tickets will also be sold at the door. General Admission is $5 for adults, but children under 12 get in for free, as do Oakland Public Library members—so don't forget to bring your card and RSVP, if you can!
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Don't Miss Out on the Hinged Gate Purse Workshop!
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We're very excited to be hosting Lynn McMaster's Hinge Gate Purse class later this month on Saturday, September 27!
Lynn is an incredible costumer and milliner. Her oeuvre spans so many historical eras, and it's all just jaw-droppingly gorgeous. See more of her work in this month's newsletter—she's our honorary Customer of the Month!
Just in case you needed some historical inspiration, here are some purses from history must be distant cousins of the Hinge Gate—mainly gambling purses, but also this incredible knitted reticule that hangs in the most dramatic way! Originally from France and Britain, they now reside in NYC at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  |  |
Kimberly Ligocki's Shirtlace Buttons
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.
We were so dazzled by this splendid array of shirtlace buttons made by Kimberly Ligocki! They bear more than a passing resemblance to Dorset buttons, but they're actually something quite different. The design "looks like a mandala so I'm hooked," confessed Kimberly. We totally get it—we can't tear our eyes away from them! Here's the tutorial she followed on YouTube by Gina B Silkworks in the UK.
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For these shirtlace buttons, Kimberly used plastic rings for the form and perle cotton #8. She's a committed crafter—check out her designs on Ravelry, Etsy shop and blog! |
 
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Orrine Pryor's Handmade "Housewyfe"
We loved seeing this wonderful bee-themed embroidered piece by Orrine Pryor of Richmond! The busy hive and hexagonal honeycomb motifs are so charming.
Wondering about its interesting proportion? It's intended to become a traditional housewife! No, not that kind of housewife—we mean a "housewyfe," or "husswyf," which is basically a needle roll! It'll be useful as well as beautiful.
Orrine used cross stitch and drawn thread work techniques in DMC 6-strand and perle cotton, embellishing with Mill Hill glass seed beads and paillettes. Next up for Orinne is another very interesting traditional textile project: a biscornu! Thank you so much for sharing your fantastic work with us, Orrine!
Kendra Crochets a Chair Cover
We are of the opinion that classic crochet granny squares are the best way to cozy up your home.
To demonstrate that fact, Kendra is giving an armchair a makeover with this adorable cover she made. She based it on this gorgeous (and freely available!) Primavera Flower pattern published by Serbian crochet designer Dragana Savkov Bajic. We love the detailing on the sides—cleverly done! Thank you so much for sharing it with us, Kendra—we've totally fallen in love with the pastel aesthetic of Dada's Place. Dragana's blanket patterns are incredibly gorgeous, and her animal creations for children are too cute for words.
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Behold the armchair cover in situ! Now that is one inviting vibe. |
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Call For Instructors!
Do you have a passion for...
Preserving the your cultural textile arts heritage?
For cultivating and educating the textile arts community?
For spreading the love of needle, bobbin and thread?
If this applies to you and you're interested in joining the ranks, don't hesitate to reach out to us!
We've recently renovated our second-floor space—it's been considerably expanded, illuminated with natural light, and we've installed an elevator! We're proud to say that our improved classroom is welcoming and accessible for everyone.
Now the time has come for us to upgrade our class offerings... and we know many of our Lacis regulars are already gifted and experienced teachers and would be a perfect fit!
Most frequently requested, in particular, are lace making and millinery courses. Do you teach lacemaking (bobbin lace, needle tatting, crochet or knitted lace, etc.) or historical costuming and hatmaking skills? Perhaps you've already led similar workshops, or have designed an interesting textile art workshop that would complement these fields. We'd love to hear about it. Fill out a Prospective Instructor form and email it back to us at info@lacismuseum.org!
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.
If you find you're still hankering for birds after a tour of our Bird in the Textile Arts exhibit, then be sure to take a look at these beauties, too.
These beautiful examples of Mola are representative of a recent donation from Carolyn Stratton Darby Gragg, of Piedmont. They were obtained—literally—in the waters of Panama:
"We spent quite a bit of time there visiting while we were on our sailboat in 2008. We bartered for some of them with fishing gear, i.e. hooks, lines, buckets and with sewing and school supplies."
The Kuna people would navigate their small boats (dugout canoes called ulu) out into the bay of the archipelago, where Carolyn's own vessel was anchored, to make these trades.
A traditional art form of the Kuna people of Panama on the San Blas Islands, the Mola panels are part of their traditional costume, with matching panels worn on the front and back of a blouse.
The distinctive Mola employs a reverse-applique base using multiple layers of colorful fabric, with surface embroidery embellishments that complement the designs.
Themes range from the purely organic to geometric, with the colorful local bird population as an obvious subject—a fitting tie-in to our newly-opened exhibit, The Bird in the Textile Arts. When you get a chance, drop into the Museum Shop to see eight of Carolyn's gorgeous Mola panels on display!
Can't get enough of these electrifying colors, and tales of ocean voyages, exploration and adventure? Blogger Mira Nencheva of The Life Nomadik extensively documented her time among the Kuna people, in writing and photographs—including about their aforementioned style of nautical trading and their Mola-making tradition.
The University of Oregon's Museum of Natural and Cultural History has some nice Molas available to look at online, too.
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.
We weren't the least bit surprised when this fantastic vintage Mexican blouse sold almost the minute we listed it. Even though it was dotted with small holes and needed some repair, it was obviously a treasure. So richly embroidered, and such jewel-like colors...!
This style of blouse is made in the Nahua region of San Gabriel Chilac, Puebla, Mexico. It was often used as part of the China Poblana dance costume. The embroidery is sewn onto plain weave cotton, which is then pieced into the rayon fabric to make a blouse. The outside edges are finished with a blanket stitch.
The heavy areas of embroidery have two fabrics, a piece of lightweight white fabric on the outside and a heavier natural color canvas inside. The embroidery goes through both layers. The rayon does not line the entire blouse and most of the embroidery is unlined.
In fact, there are some images of none other than Frida Kahlo herself favoring this style of blouse; here's one.
And how cool is this hand-stitched vintage Japanese yukata? Made of lightweight cotton with a festive, large-scale print of dancing marine-blue fans, it's perfect for the dog days of summer, on so many levels. This savvy customer made the natural choice for the season.
Still available in our Etsy shop...
Hollywood icons like Joan Crawford, Debbie Reynolds, and Barbara Stanwyck loved Eve Stillman's lingerie. She was a socialite from Upper Manhattan who "had never worked a day in her life," according to her husband. But in 1949, his company, Gracette Lingerie, was struggling, and about to go under. At that point Eve entered the fray.
And what, exactly, was her brilliant idea to save her husband's sinking ship? Simple. She pivoted their product line to serve far more glamorous lingerie and sleepwear designs—at a commensurately upscale price point. You could find her label in exclusive department stores like Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue, and she became a leader in her industry for over half a century. We have no fewer than half of a dozen of her fabulous lace and satin lingerie items in our Etsy shop at the moment, and they're such a sweet treat for the eyes.
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Everyone's heard about the origin of the teddy bear: the legend goes that Theodore Roosevelt declined to shoot a bear when hunting with the Governor of Mississippi. The story spread and made toy stuffed bears popular. But have you heard of Holt Collier, who advised the president it would be unsportsmanlike in the first place? In 1848 Collier was born into slavery in Mississippi; he killed his first bear at the age of ten, and he rose to become Roosevelt's most trusted bear tracker.
The ubiquity of teddy bears, not to mention their association with the juvenile period of life, perhaps relegates them to the obscurer corners of textile history, but we find it's those very qualities that make them important! Teddy bears are a significant part of our material and popular culture in America and across the world.
After all, in widespread cultural practice is the tradition of giving teddy bears as a "gift for children," and they "are often given to adults to signify affection, congratulations, or sympathy," too (Wikipedia). Disney's Winnie-the-Pooh franchise is worth somewhere in the neighbood of 3-6 billion dollars. And a particularly rare, highly collectible antique teddy bear—say, a Steiff Titanic Mourning Bear—can run you $136K!
But, more meaningfully than that, we've been seeing some truly incredible work done by textile artists all around the world who make teddy bears. Today, it would seem a deep love for teddy bears is almost universal across world cultures.
A lover of teddy bears is called an arctophile. The first recorded usage appears in the 1970s, and as you'd expect, the arctos comes from the Greek word for "bear".
One name you should know: Margarete Steiff (1847-1909). "Crippled by polio as a child, she earned her living as a seamstress... In 1880 she made a felt pincushion in the shape of an elephant, which she later adapted into a toy for her young nephews and nieces.... By 1900 she was engaged in a small family business manufacturing stuffed toys." (Shire Album: Teddy Bears and Soft Toys).
The most expensive teddy bear on record sold for a staggering 2.1 million USD at auction, and was a collaboration between Steiff and Louis Vuitton (it came with a custom Louis Vuitton suitcase, trench coat, and beret).
Early teddy bears were typically either stuffed with straw or a material that sounds much more fantastical than it actually is: excelsior ("wood wool," or fine wool fibers). Kapok, or fibers from the "Silk-cotton tree" that grew in European colonial regions, were also used.
A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) was inspired by a conflation of two bears: first there was a live cub that served as a WWI mascot for Canadian troops. Veterinary doctor and soldier Henry Coleburn brought little "Winnie Peg" (shortened in time to "Winnie") to England, and when the war was over, she became a permanent resident of the London Zoo.
Being exceptionally playful and well-socialized with humans, Milne's young son Christopher Robin was only one of many young Londoners who fell in love with the bear.
This would explain why he so doted on the second bear, a teddy his father bought in him 1921 at Harrods. It was an Edward Bear, part of the "Alpha Bear" line of teddy bears by J. K. Farnell. This original Farnell teddy resides in the New York Public Library, along with the whole crew (that is, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Kanga and Roo).
PS: We carry a few interesting titles on the topic of teddy bears in the Lacis Museum Book Department, if you feel inspired to investigate further!
TEDDY BEARS: The Collector's Guide to Selecting, Restoring, and Enjoying New and Vintage Teddy Bears by Margaret and Gerry Grey (RV06, $15)
From 1994, this is still a really good guide to the history of teddy bears. (Their website is also a blast from the past.) It includes plenty of sound advice, from best practices when procuring your own rare bears ("How to Spot a Fake"!), to an entire section devoted "Care & Repairs." In an appendix they thoughtfully include a directory of teddy bear museums in the US, Britain, and Germany, though you can find teddy bear museums in Thailand, Korea, Japan, China...
MAKING ADORABLE TEDDY BEARS from Anita Louise Crane's Bearlace Cottage by Anita Louise Crane (SV66, $15)
This book is amazing. Not only does Crane deliver detailed fictional histories about her bears' characters, it's full of elaborately staged photographs starring said bears taking tea, preparing a Christmas meal, reading bedtime stories to a porcelain doll, etc... and they all have a slightly dreamy, fuzzy, suffused-with-light quality. All we can say is, "Wow." Want to make your own teddy bears? The sewing patterns and tidbits of advice sprinkled throughout are also a plus.
TEACH YOURSELF Teddy Bear Making by Jodie Davis (FF13, $25)
This hefty little compendium represents a complete course in bear-making. It's thorough yet concise, and clearly illustrated, and includes seven patterns for making different styles of teddy bear.
TEDDY BEARS and Soft Toys by Pauline Cockrill (SI46, $12)
This is the most portable little book of them all, and charmingly old-fashioned. It's a Shire Album from 1988: aggressively informative, packed with pictures, dense with tiny text. But handily almost pocket-sized, so it takes up almost no room on a shelf and you can get your teddy bear fix wherever you go.
Don't forget, Lacis Museum Members receive 20% off of books purchased in our Museum shop
Embroidery Italian Style
Elisa Ricci's Ricami Italiani: Antichi e Moderni Italian Embroideries: Ancient and Modern |
The original book by Ricci came out in 1925; it was finally reissued in 2006, but that edition has long been out of print. Here at last is another anastatic reprint ("printing from a zinc plate on which a transferred design is left in relief by the etching out of the rest of the surface")! There's an in-depth introduction by Bianca Rosa Bellomo of the University of Bologna (@biancarosa_bellomo), then 300+ pages of reproduced text, followed by 10 pages of analytical index. It's all in italiano, of course. B&W illustrations of all kinds throughout. EN76 $46 |
Silvana Fontanelli's Quaderno di Ricamo Canusino Corso Base
Workbook of Canusino Embroidery: Basic Course |
Canusino means "from Canosa di Puglia," which is in the eastern part of Italy. Its economy is still powered in large part by handicrafts and textiles! In spite of this book's historical rigor, it is still a lovely and welcoming introduction to the classic motifs of the region. EN77 $36 |
Manuela Scarpin and Elisa Franzin's Jacobean: Nuove Idee per un Ricamo Classico Jacobean: New Ideas for a Classic Embroidery |
The crewel embroidery of the 1600s, imagined for a new era! Departing from the use of wool alone, the authors experiment with new designs using modern materials: mouliné, silks, metallic threads, cordonnets and perlé cotton... Again, the text is in Italian, but don't be daunted! Ambitious embroiderers can easily familiarize themselves with the relatively limited set of specialized terminology. Punto catenella is "chain stitch", punto pieno imbottito is "padded full stitch", etc. Merely flip to the back of the book for the Punti Utilizzati ("Stitches Used"), a 14-page graphic guide to all the stitches! EN78 $28 |
Anna Rocchi and Giovanna Cantoni's Punto Kaleidos: Point by Point: New Interpretations and Creative Proposals on Bandera Fabric |
According to this Italian Needlework blog, bandera fabric is a cotton with a very distinctive weave. "The idea to embroider on this fabric seems to date to the late 17th century," Jeanine says, "reaching its full height of popularity during the 18th century." Usually done in wool, the embroidery employs just a few stitches and colors (Chain Stitch, Satin Stitch and Padded Satin Stitch, Long and Short Stitch, French Knots and Stem Stitch—at first just in Savoy Blue or Wine Red, although it evolved to include yellow, green, and pink.) It's not dissimilar from Huck embroidery, in that you embroider intermittently through floats in the weave. You can make really cool, subtle, flowing patterns! Lots of project ideas in here. EN79 $37 |
Odd Dot Sticker Books
Bibliophilia — Imaginarium — Antiquarium
MM53 — MM59 — MM51 $26/each
Now, here's a departure from your usual Lacis fare. These "Illustrated Compendiums of Adhesive Ephemera" from Odd Dot (the creators of our too-cute Tiny World felting kits) are chock-full of stickers that would suit your aesthetic! Natural history — the occult — fun typography — old-timey things galore! You'll want to sticker your whole life with these images. We were utterly bewitched. Open one up and fall down the rabbit hole...
Essential Sashiko:
A Dictionary of the 92 Most Popular Patterns
FX59 $19
Newly released just this month is yet ANOTHER indispensable guide to getting into sashiko! And for those of us who are already sashiko fanatics, you'll want this for the stitch dictionary alone.
 Norwegian Sweaters & Jackets "The best of Kari Hestnes's decades-long career in a single collection."
Kari Hestnes, who's been designing knits for nearly forty years, brings you "classic cabling, dynamic textures, and brilliant multicolor patterns for sweaters, cardigans, and tops, all featuring Hestnes's inimitable style and characteristic aesthetic flourishes." If you knit at a pace similar to ours, and you want to have these done by Christmas, don't hesitate—start right now! |
 Norwegian Style Christmas Knits You can take a sneak peek at this book in of our shop—it'll be available for sale soon! We're absolutely head-over-heels for the acorns and mushroom patterns within. You can make four gorgeous species of mushrooms here... and the amanita is too cute for words. There are leaves and other accessories to knit—like spheres and mini stockings—which would be perfect for so many settings, and not just during the Yule season. |
This month, we shine the spotlight on one of our most popular instructors, Lynn McMasters! For 30 years she has worked as a scientific illustrator, but she's probably best known for her years of teaching at venues like the Costumer's Guild West's popular SoCal event, Costume College, and the GBACG's annual Costume Academy.
Lynn has a deep and long-abiding passion for millinery. And, as you might guess from the wide-ranging styles shown above, she doesn't play favorites with historical costuming eras: whatever she turns her attention to consumes her attention and becomes her new obsession.
It's primarily the materials—feathers, obviously, but also straw, paper, beads, metal, and even wood—that spark Lynn's inspiration first. The ideas come flowing upon her tactile and visual encounters with all "things fabric, or any material I can make things out of."
Lynn's innate skill with needle and thread runs in her family. "I got into sewing as a young girl following my mother, aunt, and grandmother," she tells us, and began "costuming on a small scale making period costumes for porcelain dolls, I also got into writing patterns for doll clothes. That led me to my hat pattern line, once I started making full-size costumes for Renaissance Faire (starting with the Costume Competition at Northern Faire)."
For Sew Historically Costumes's "Edwardian Costume Challenge" (#EdwardianMay), Lynn styled this russet-auburn wig and crowned it with a sculptural feather headdress. If its sweep and proportion are this devastatingly gorgeous in a still photograph, imagine what it's like set in motion!
Model: Breanna Bayba; photo and lighting: Jeremy Tavan.
Here's an exclusive look at something not many people will have seen before: Lynn's very first historical costume! She based this set of doll clothes on a 1908 Lettie Lane paper doll outfit. We think Lynn did an incredible job of transforming this two-dimensional design into an actual three-dimensional ensemble.
Lynn is always adding articles and patterns to her website, so if you're getting into historical costuming, be sure to bookmark it! She dives into a variety of fascinating topics, from 15th- and 16th-century slashing to the art of crafting your own frog closures and buttons.
Her website and blog is OutofaPortrait.com. When Lynn first started doing Renaissance costumes, she fell in love with the notion that modern people, appropriately costumed, might look like they just stepped out of a painted portrait from centuries ago. Thus, the official name of her line of historical costuming millinery patterns was born: "...Out of a Portrait Patterns." We carry them in our Books and Patterns Department, and many of our customers (and staff) have relied on them to turn out some fantastic historical hats!
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!
Hinge Gate Purse
with Lynn McMasters
Saturday, September 24, 2022 — 10:00 PM to 5:30 PM
$45 + $10 kit fee (payable to instructor)
In this class, you will learn how to create a hinge gate purse that should be able to contain all your modern trappings (cell phone, etc) in one delightful vintage-style package.
The hinge gate purse frame first came into vogue during the 1880s. Constructed of a metal folding gate collar and round flip top, the frame expanded when open. The body was usually made of silk, velvet or tapestry. To close the bag, the metal gate is pushed back together and the flip top snapped back into place. Cloth or chain handles were attached for hand carrying.
Sunburst Cockade
with Patrice Krems
Saturday, October 1, 2022 — 12:30 PM to 5:00 PM
$55 + $20 kit fee (payable to instructor)
You will be most familiar with the Sunburst Rosette Cockades on military tricorne hats in the Revolutionary War and cloche hats and dresses in the 1920s. The Sunburst Rosette Cockade is a vintage style favorite that can be modified in countless different ways and give you every opportunity to display or wear your ingenuity.
Among the techniques you will learn is how to make beaded stamens. This vintage-style cockade can also be transformed into delightful dangling flowers twirling like whimsical ballerinas from the ends of the gimp stems.
The cockade flowers look best made out of French wired ombré ribbon, while the Sunburst Rosette Cockade is traditionally made out of grosgrain ribbon. The sample in the picture is also made from French wired ombré ribbon.
Two-Session Mid-Victorian Dress Workshop
with Catherine Scholar
Saturday, Oct. 8 & Oct. 22 — 10:00 PM to 5:00 PM
$175 fee (Optional Lab Class on Sunday, Oct. 23 for an additional $85)
Come make a mid-Victorian gown from 1830 to 1865 to wear to Victorian balls, Civil War reenactments, Victorian Holiday Fairs, or any occasion you desire. You will start with a Truly Victorian bodice pattern of your choice and augment it with authentic 19th-century dressmaking techniques to make a custom gown just for you! This class will cover measurements, pattern adjustments, fitting, making a skirt without a pattern, period sewing techniques, trimming, boning, hand finishing, and much more.
In the first session, you will cover a brief overview of the styles worn in the era. You will take measurements, trace off the correct pattern pieces, and then make and fit mockups. You will then move on to cutting and constructing your bodice and finish the day by adding boning.
In the second session, you will concentrate on closures and facings and then make and attach the skirts.
This year we will offer an Optional Lab session (10/23). In this session, you will work under the guidance of the instructor to apply the finishing touches on your garment.
Prerequisites: Students must know how to use a sewing machine.
Beginning Tatting
with Kevin Baum
Saturday, October 10, 2022 — 12:30 PM to 4 PM
$45
Have you admired tatting and wondered if you could be able to tat? Only a few
stitches need to be mastered in order to create beautiful tatted works of art. This beginner
class will get you on track for shuttle tatting by teaching you the tools and techniques.
You will concentrate on learning the double stitch, which all shuttle tatting is based
on. Once the double stitch has been mastered, will learn to make rings and picots. The goal
of these classes is to create, with practice, a simple edging of connected rings and picots.
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 favorite makes a spectacular gift for a loved one or a stunning ornament for your Christmas tree!
Beginning Tatting
with Kevin Baum
 Queer Ecologies: Stitching to a New Sparkle is a collaborative dance and textile-based public art project. The performance, created by Mending Collective co-founder Liz Harvey & Kim Ip, starts at 6:30, begins at Lincoln Square Park, wends a circuitous route to the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, and then heads back to the park.  Lincoln Summer Nights |
 The Gatsby Summer Afternoon is the Art Deco Society of California's annual 1920s/30s garden party and picnic! Travel back in time and enjoy an afternoon of snacking and sipping al fresco, music and dancing, and friendship. And don't forget, the Lacis Museum shop carries Battenberg lace parasols, crochet lace gloves, and all manner of vintage linens—indispensable necessities for vintage-style summertime picnicking. |
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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
The Museum focuses on objects of the past. Objects that don't stand isolated but reflect the time and place of their provenance. What are the objects of lace and costume created today and the silhouette of style that we want to preserve.
We have here moved into Alice's Wonderland where reality and fantasy are without clarity and upsetting in a world where communication was once taken for granted and we knew the meaning of words. We try to adjust to the new pronouns for identity, where the terms woman and man are abstract terms, where equality can mean inequality, where destruction can be peaceful protest, where down is up where bad is good and the borders that protect us are only a state of mind. Can we imagine leaving this Wonderland or are we destined to accept this fantasy as reality.
—Jules Kliot, Director
The Lacis Museum of Lace & Textiles
2982 Adeline St.
Berkeley, CA 94703
