Contents in This Month's Issue
The official unveiling of Day's End: Personal Glamour Exposed, was nothing less than exhilarating! We are thrilled to finally share our new exhibit with the world.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who honored us by attending the opening. It was such a pleasure to see you all, and so beautifully attired...! We cannot overstate how deeply moving it was to witness so many members of this textile arts community show up to see the fruits of our labor, and share in our joy, wonder and curiosity, and relish the treasures unearthed (and restored) from our very special collection. It is your generous support and passion that makes Lacis Museum the unique place that it is—a treasure in and of itself.
LEFT Our beautiful new Day's End window display by Peggy Johnston, naturally, shines best at night
RIGHT Amy Jenkins, expert sewist and costumer, showed up in a fabulous hat, for which we applaud her
LEFT A Lacis friend appreciatively takes in our display of 1920s pajama sets
RIGHT Artist Molly Getz and herbalist Kate Falcone revelled in the nightgowns, especially rejoicing in one embroidered with tiny cupids, which you can see in Peggy's beautiful vignette!
LEFT Costume enthusiasts Kathy Fitz-Smith and Patricia Steadman make plans with Lacis Museum Manager Kij Greenwood to return to the exhibit for a guided tour—which you should, too!
RIGHT Much to our gratification, scientist/biochemist and embroidery instructor extraordinaire Laura Tandeske was in attendance. She studied our crazy quilts carefully, with an eye toward potentially exploring the methods of crazy quilting herself, for future classes! We're quite excited for her upcoming Lace Mandala workshop, which you should definitely continue to read about below!
Many of you have walked into Lacis Museum recently and admired Laura Tandeske's incredible Army surplus Journal Jacket we have on display—very much like the one she's wearing in the photo above right.
For those of you longing to master some of the surface embroidery techniques you saw there, Laura's leading an amazing workshop with us this month: the Flower Mandala. It'll be a rewarding and intimate course perfect for both the first-time embroiderer and the experienced embroiderer alike.
This is a wonderful opportunity for a small group to stitch meditatively together. Discover the joys of the Woven Wheel; practice your fiddly French Knots. Work those Buttonhole, Lazy Daisy, and Chain stitches, all under Laura's wise and patient guidance.
This past month, we received a beautiful donation of assorted lace pieces from the Baer family. We were especially stunned by these symmetrical pieces of lace with the detailed double-crane motifs, shown above. It all came from the collection of Phyl Baer and possibly her mother-in-law, Hortense Baer. Phyl was born in 1929 and passed away in December of last year. Thank you to Emily Sachs, who made this donation on the family's behalf. They're exquisite textiles and are sure to stir many more hearts with their beauty for generations to come.
Our curator and Museum Director, Jules Kliot, declared that these have been memorable final tours of The Bird in the Textile Arts. He warmly thanks everyone who has taken the opportunity to see his birds before they fly the coop!
Patrons included, from left to right, Andrea Garcia of BBJ La Tavola, a specialty linens company that elevates your events — if you're looking to do some entertaining this spring, we love their blog for inspiration — and Theodora "Teddy" Elston, renowned fiber jewelry artist with deep roots in the East Bay Area — who studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts in the '60s and makes the most incredible micro-macrame pieces, like this moth brooch, which we find especially magical. Just left of center is Jules Kliot, of course, our curator and Museum Director — while at the center is Emily Marks, who originally booked this tour for her and Teddy to enjoy. Beside her in the persimmon-orange sweater and navy scarf is dear Lacis Museum friend Karen Mallinen, who often shares with us pieces from her personal collection of world textiles, gathered during her travels, which always take our breath away — and, finally, standing on the right are Parker and Geoff, who were very glad to tag along.
A few weeks later, Robin Trick booked a tour for herself and a friend — a tour that another visitor, Julia Hankin, was serendipitously able to join. It too proved to be a most fruitful visit.
As it turns out, Julia is graduate student in public health, and is participating in a special community project called Quilt of Shame (the Art of Public Health Final Show). She's currently taking a unique class composed of graduate and undergraduate students from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, the School of Education, the Information School, the School of Social Work, and the College of Letters & Science — some of whom are newcomers to world of needle arts. Led by Professors Jaspal Sandhu, PhD and Somalee Banerjee, MD, the students-turned-textile-artists are putting together a very special quilt aimed at addressing and alleviating the stigma of shame in public health matters. Julia was excited to discover and share Lacis Museum as a resource for her cohort to draw materials and inspiration from in the future!
We are so glad you all were able to enjoy Jules's special exhibition. To us, a museum should provide a constructive venue for making human connections through art and history. As we have the honor of inspiring awe and wonder with our collection, we are equally enriched by those of you who come and share your worlds with us. Thank you so much for visiting Lacis Museum!
Lacis Museum visitor Michelle came with a group of costume enthusiast friends to see The Bird in the Textile Arts. And we're so glad she did, because before she left, she had something surprising and wonderful to show us in our book Everyday Fashions of the 20th Century by Avril Lansdell... herself!
A picture of Michelle wearing a skirt and petticoat in 1977 while on holiday at Skipton Castle, Yorkshire appears on page 108 (see below right). "A year later," writes Avril Lansdell, "the sixteen-year-old Michelle had changed her image to be in fashion"—see this photograph in which she wears "close-fitting scarlet leggings and an oversized tee-shirt tied in a knot on her right hip."
Clearly, Michelle never lost her passion for fashion—we loved the head-to-toe coordinated palette she visited us in, which extended from her pink hair on down to her fuchsia-red-orange and tie-dyed ensemble. We love to see it. Thank you so much for sharing this sweet—and personal!—tidbit of fashion history with us, Michelle!
Customer Projects
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.
Perhaps some of you remember Diana Pickworth, whose lovely needlepoint we featured way back in August of 2021? When she was about ten years old, she completed (with a little bit of help from her mother) this charming piece of needlework commemorating the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Check it out!
Now, to celebrate the Coronation of the new King Charles III, which will take place on Saturday, May 6th, Diana is embarking on a new bit of memorabilia, sourcing the appropriate linen fabric and embroidery floss from Lacis Museum so that it will pair well with the work from her childhood. We were delighted by the project and honored to help. Always such a pleasure to see you, Diana, and to revel in your ambitious textile art enterprises.
Lately, frequent Lacis Museum customer Gitty Duncan has been making these gorgeous leather boots and using our Gold Star grommeting presses to install the eyelet hardware. While she's done a lot of millinery projects using vintage wooden hat blocks rented from Lacis Museum in the past, we have been BEYOND amazed and delighted to see that she is moving on to making shoes. This sure doesn't look like a craft for newbies: Gitty took a number of shoemaking workshops, including in NYC, before reaching this point herself. Talk about an accomplished craftswoman...!
Gitty's boots always have this splendid embroidered design on them, and the mini-eyelets she often uses are a beautiful coppery, rose gold color.
Check out this pair in progress, for example. Before Gitty began her shoemaking journey, we'd never seen shoes before the soles were put on them... it's an absolutely fascinating process. And we know that once these shoes get thoroughly broken-in and develop the distinctive patina of well-loved leather boots, well, then they're going to be even more beautiful. Thanks for taking us on this journey with you, Gitty. We can't wait to see the next pair!
Shoes, shoes, shoes! But this is a very special, minature shoe, made entirely of gold thread, faux pearls, and embellished with a ribbon rose. Emily Marks, from the tour group mentioned in our letter above, made it in the 1990s. Although it's crochet, she notes that she "was inspired by lace learned in Berkeley—Kaethe taught me bobbin lace many years ago."
You can read Emily's article about Lacis from the Berkeley Insider from back in the day, which she kindly forwarded to us after her recent visit!
Dynamic duo Ruby Vixen and Leigh Crow visited us this past month and revealed what they do with the copper stampings Lacis carries from Jennifer Osner's collection of vintage deadstock—they make the most INCREDIBLE resin bolo ties.
In fact, they make so much good stuff under the moniker Dandy & Vixen. Smoking jackets. Sensual lounging robes. Fringed rodeo jackets. They've designed the most delightful range of garments and jewelry and accessories. Their entire line took our breath away. It's the perfect marriage of Western wear and glamour! We absolutely love their aesthetic and find their creative partnership so inspiring.
PS: Playgoers, drag enthusiasts, and drama geeks, do NOT miss The Confession of Lily Dare—it'll be at the New Conservatory Theater until June and Vixen is making costumes for the show. We're here to tell ya, it's eye candy for days.
Our newest exhibit, Day's End: Personal Glamour Exposed, allows us to peek into the closets of history to reveal our most intimate items of clothing: the things never worn around strangers or out of the house. It is a joyful exploration of the gorgeous, often sensuous attire worn in private, like nightgowns, robes, and pajamas from the 1860s to the 1930s.
Such garments represented the shedding of one's public life to transition into a personal world of comfort and glamour. These historical clothes were worn for the wearer's pleasure and sometimes included intricate details that only one's closest loved ones ever saw. An elegant nightgown, an essential part of a bride's trousseau, would have only been seen by her new husband.
Nighttime apparel often featured inserts of the finest machine lace, hand embroidery, ribbons, shirring, pin tucks, ruffles—and sometimes the ultimate stamp of luxury, a custom monogram. And although these garments were available through catalogs and stores, many pieces were lovingly handmade at home, further confirming their cherished nature.
Stroll through this dreamscape of our past... before sweatpants, yoga pants, and workplace pajamas... and into a world of sumptuous personal glamour—exposed.
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.
This Robert Four tapestry reproduces a segment of "The Stag at Bay" from the Netherlands.
The original dates back to the late 15th century, and it now resides at the Met Museum.
This copy, however, you can see at Lacis Museum, hanging above our shop floor!
The Aubusson tapestry-weaving tradition has continued almost unbroken since the 1300s, when its small weaving industry was first established. There was a hiatus in the 1700 and 1800s, but its 20th-century revival peaked in about 1911.
The piece you'll see here at Lacis Museum dates from after the 1950s, but the methods used in its manufacture are extremely close to those of the artisans centuries ago. In fact, in 2019, Aubusson tapestries were declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
Shown here is the entirety of "The Stag at Bay" at the Met Museum. It's part of a series — southern Netherlandish in origin — called "Incidents in a Stag Hunt".
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While the sequence includes Following the Stag's Trail, Rewarding the Hounds, A Hunting Party Leaving the Castle, Preparing to Undo the Stag in the Field, and A Hunter Returning to the Castle, all these pieces are much smaller. "Stag at Bay" seems to be not only the height of the drama, but the decorative focal point.
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We sent one of our all-time favorite items, this incredible 19th-century silk muff, to an appreciative customer in St. Louis, Missouri, complete with its original box from Woodward & Lothrop's flagship department store in Washington DC.
Naturally, it was a beautiful box, and quite full of history—Woodward and Lothrop happened to be DC's very first department store, established in 1887. It was referred to, back then, as "Woodies", and you could find it all along the Mid-Atlantic coast in its heyday.
And we shipped off this rather beautiful 16-piece set of brass military buttons to New York. They're WWII-era, made by J.R. Gaunt & Son Ltd. of England.
Take a gander at this adorable 1990s handmade brooch signed by artist Kathleen Keith! We love a good mixed media decoupage piece (roses! rhinestones! pearls! gold rope!) and the Edwardian lady is totally swoon-worthy.
Mrs. Pott's Patented Cold Handle Sad Iron
Believe it or not, clothes-pressing irons is a subject that REALLY gets us fired up! They're aesthetically beautiful, the iron always has a gorgeous patina of rust, and there exist such an infinite variety of styles, makes and models, and you find them burning the most breathtaking range of fuels imaginable (kerosene! gasoline! ethanol! natural gas and carbide gas! whale oil! proprietary cakes of some kind of fuel or other!). Some were built as vessels into which you could simply place hot coals. Though modern ironing technology has rendered them obsolete, they have a durable afterlife: they still make attractive bookends and doorstops.
But since May is the month of Mother's Day, we're going to focus on the mother figure that looms largest in the history of the iron (at least in our hearts...): Mary Florence Potts.
Mrs. Potts (born 1850) ingeniously developed her own line of clothes irons with detachable wooden handles. She filed for her first patent at age 19! These kinds of irons were "sad irons" so-called because in archaic English, "sad" meant dense and heavy — they didn't have containers for coal or fuel, but rather, you just left them in the fire or on a stove until it was hot enough to use.
Her special rounded handle could just as easily go in one direction as another, being perfectly symmetrical. And it would be sold with several heavy iron bottoms, as a set: while one was in use, the others would be left on the fire or stove so that they were hot and ready when the other cooled off.
She was a mother of two, and her husband had medical issues, making him a limited breadwinner, though later they ran a pharmacy together. 17 years her senior, he passed away when she was 51 years old; industrious Mrs. Potts carried on working, and her son joined her as a co-owner of their family business (the Potts Manufacturing Company).
She was a great "inventress" of the Victorian age — tireless innovator, brilliant entrepreneur, and she fought countless legal battles to protect her business and rightful intellectual property. She traveled widely on a lecture circuit — well-dressed, articulate and well-spoken — busily promoting her irons.
Mrs. Potts was successful enough to exhibit them at the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition World's Fair and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. (See the "trade card" at the very end of this article.) They kept making her sad irons until the 1950s, and the mechanism that allows the handle to attach and detach from the iron was later adopted by Gillette, for their disposable razor blades.
Meanwhile, in China, where the maintenance of silk garments for the nobility was a matter of great importance, they long ago developed the pan iron. This is a device that reminds us of the bed warmers used by the Ingalls family in "The Little House on the Prairie" books. This ancient Chinese iron was similar in that it had a long handle and a heavy metal pan for holding hot coals or heated sand, the bottom of which would smooth out wrinkles on contact (we hope they used a press-cloth!) with the fine silk material.
In the US, the first electric iron was actually patented back in 1882 (see left), but as you can imagine, it was unsafe.
The Lacis Museum's permanent collection features quite a few old irons. Note the 90-degree tubelike devices coming off the top of some of them — those are the irons that contained actively burning coals, and that tube is a little chimney, for smoke exhaust. Dirty work, for perfecting clean laundry...!
Mrs. Potts, we applaud you. You brought up your children in the face of adversity; you were an intrepid and unstoppable businesswoman in a time when women did not have the rights they enjoy today. You made the trials of "women's work" safer, easier, better — single-handedly bringing it to the attention of thousands of people with your entertaining and illuminating lectures.
It has been one hundred and one years since your passing, but your beautiful, elegant irons live on.
Reader, if your regular haunts include antiques markets, you've undoubtedly seen many of Mrs. Pott's iconic sad irons, the quiet but heavy heralds of a bygone era; and if they weren't on your radar then, they will be now.
PS:
There's a delightful historical reenactor, Elizabeth "Ellie" Carlson, who dresses and embodies the persona of Mrs Potts—and you can hear an entertaining podcast interview with her, too! (It's the Moraine Valley Community College Library Podcast, "A Visit with Mrs. Potts," from November 10, 2009.)
Don't forget, Lacis Museum Members receive 20% off of books purchased in our Museum shop
Our friend Jill Zerkle of Z-Twist Books makes these sweet pocket-sized Thread Conditioners. Take that extra time to treat your threads before you stitch! The natural, pure beeswax has near-magical properties: smoothing, waterproofing... Rubbing your thread through a bit of beeswax endows it with a subtle sheen, a little memory. If you've never introduced your sewing thread to beeswax before, this is your sign to try it. Find Jill's little roses and honeybee-emblazoned beeswaxes at the front register — and if you want to go all-out, opt for the style that includes a ribbon, and hang it from your chatelaine.
TF77 $22
"From colorful statement necklaces and bracelets to anklets and cuffs adorned with beautiful beads and stones, the 20 stunning pieces in Bohemian Macramé may look complicated—but they actually have a surprisingly simple construction. Full-color step-by-step images and comprehensive instructions ensure that even first-time crafters of macramé jewelry will achieve impressive, attention-grabbing results."
These scissors are the cat's pajamas. Measuring just three and a half inches long, they're small and sharp, the perfect proportions for embroidery and your general thread-snipping needs. And they have these elegantly stylized tabby cats on them. Need we say more? As unapologetic cat lovers, we think not.
DG67 $10
This 12" x 6" polyfoam roller bobbin lace pillow is super lightweight and comes with a hardwood stand. A pressed board platform below allows for easy management of your bobbins! You can get additional pillows and easily change out the various lace projects you might be working on simultaneously.
LJ49 $76
We hold Teresa Reynolds to be one of our dearest Lacis Museum friends. Her kindness and friendly personality are second to none: she treats everyone she encounters with the greatest compassion and positivity. Her enthusiasm lights up a room. We love this about her.
Something you should know about Teresa is that she has always had challenges with her hearing. She had, for much of her life, 10% hearing in one ear, but around the time of the pandemic, she experienced total hearing loss. This was especially unfortunate as everyone's faces were covered in masks at the time! Her lip-reading abilities were stymied, making that already difficult period an even more isolating, alienating one for her. Now she relies on both her hearing aids and lip-reading abilities, but it hasn't held her back, and she's an outspoken advocate for late adult deafness. Furthermore, her extraordinary contributions to the visual arts speak volumes for themselves!
Teresa's a fantastic and innovative fiber artist specializing in crochet and fashion, though her abilities and interests span everything from photography and cosmetology to healing and spirituality. She teaches therapeutic visual art practices on the beach in Alameda, for example, for those in recovery and in need of a community of support and the gentle healing that only the arts can offer.
Teresa is currently based in Oakland, though she originally hails from Arkansas. She did her undergrad degree there, studying liberal arts, but later in life, she further pursued her dreams and studied fashion at Academy of Art of San Francisco.
Fashion and beauty are her primary creative outlets: while Teresa has been a model herself, she's worked extensively on the creative side of shoots, too, doing everything from photography, makeup, styling... Fun fact: Teresa served as Paul and Linda McCartney's makeup artist in 1992, while they were on tour. She says they're as nice as can be!
But what we really adore about Teresa's art are her explosively colorful and freeform-crochet gowns, made of hundreds of unique crocheted flowers, all blooming hugely. We find these exuberantly flowing organic shapes to simply be a physical manifestation of Teresa's irrepressible creative spirit. When it comes to passion and an instinct for aesthetics, her cup runneth over.
In fact, fashion is a mode of expression that runs in the family. You may recall seeing her daughter Mary Rosenberger in our December newsletter last year, with her painted trench coat... This enviable mother-daughter team often collaborates on projects together. If you explore Teresa's fashion design work, you'll find Mary modeling a number of her creations quite magnificently.
Right now Teresa's been devoting herself to building a portfolio of electrifying surface print designs and freeform couture crochet fashions, and in August, her dresses will be seen on the runway of the Crochet Fashion Week in New York. Congratulations, Teresa, and we wish you the very best! Your devotion to the textile arts community and the warm, generous energy you bring to our gatherings is a gift we can't thank you for enough!
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!
Do you have a passion for...
Preserving your cultural textile arts heritage?
For cultivating and educating the textile arts community?
For spreading the love of needle, bobbin and thread?
Do you happen to 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 arts workshop that would complement these fields.
If this sounds like you, we'd love to hear about it. Fill out an Prospective Instructor form and email it back to us at info@lacismuseum.org!
A Flower Mandala: A Surface Embroidery Class
with Laura Tandeske
Saturday, May 6 — 12:30 to 4 PM
$45 + $5 kit fee (payable to instructor)
This will be a fun and interactive surface embroidery course that is perfect for both the first-time embroiderer or the experienced embroiderer looking for a refresher. We will learn the Woven Wheel, French Knot, Buttonhole, Lazy Daisy, and the Chain stitches. You will learn techniques and tips that you just can't get from books!
A Millinery Class: The Gilded Age Tall Straw Hat
with Lynn McMasters — SOLD OUT — JOIN THE WAITLIST!
Saturday, May 13 — 12:00 to 5 PM
$60 + $20 kit fee (payable to instructor)
This workshop will allow you to create a millinery confection for your stylish Gilded Age outfit! We will start with a short lecture on what is possible with plaited straw hats and reshaping them. Students will choose the hat shape they want and make a rough sketch of their hat. You will then create hat blocks out of heavy cardboard, use the hat block to shape the hat, size/stiffen the hat and allow to dry. After the lunch break, students will explore how to decorate their hat. This could include covering the under brim with fabric, as well as creating a hatband and tacking on decorations—flowers, feathers, etc. There will also be a demo how to line the hats or how to add wide petersham sweatband inside the hat.
A Sampler Class: Mindful Mending
with Julie Ann Brown
Saturday, May 20 — 12:00 to 5 PM
$55 + $20 kit fee (payable to instructor)
Dare to repair your own clothes and never throw them out again! In this class, you will make a mending sampler to take home featuring a variety of stitches to fix tears, holes and other damage. You will gain the confidence to tackle your own mending pile by mixing and matching these stitches to your heart's content. The only rule in mending is to make the garment last as long as possible.
A Ribbon Class: The Sunburst Cockade
with Patrice Krems
Saturday, June 24 — 12:30 to 5 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 be 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.
A Ribbon Class: Delightful Daffodils
with Patrice Krems
Saturday, July 15, 2023 — 12:30 to 5 PM
$55 + $20 kit fee (payable to instructor)
Spring will be in the air as you make a delightful pleated daffodil out of French wired ribbon!
You will learn how to transform flat ribbons into a three-dimensional ruffled confection. If there is time, you will learn how to make a beaded tassel cascading from the end of the calyx.
Depending on whether you decide to make the Small or Large Daffodil, this versatile flower pattern can be finished to turn your daffodil into a brooch, pin cushion, a hat decoration or even a drip catcher sitting jauntily on the spout of a teapot!
Beginning Tatting
with Kevin Baum
Clones Irish Crochet: A 4-Day Workshop
with Máire Treanor
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Beetlemania! The Art of Beetle Wing Embroidery
with Catherine Scholar
The African American Museum & Library at Oakland presents
Hollywood Walk Of Dolls
hosted by the American Black Beauty Doll Association, Inc. on Saturday, May 6, 2023 (11AM - 5PM).
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 Textile Arts Council |
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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
With the focus on the bird in the textile arts, a most unusual donation was received in April from Emily Sachs of San Francisco who assigned provenance from the collection of Phyl Baer (1929-2022) and possibly her mother-in-law, Hortense Baer. Identification and assigning technique proved to be a challenge as such a fine piece with repeats would assumed to be made by machine in an era when machine lace reached its height in mimicking true hand lace.
It was the repeats in the design that invited a much closer look. The repeats were not identical and the needle stitches matched those of fine needlework. The joining of the motifs could then be observed to be connected by sewing. The large areas of net were obviously added later to maintain stability of the composition. Welcoming any challenge the pieces have been assigned as an assemblage of hand made needlelace elements.
—Jules Kliot, Director
Newsletter written and edited by Christine Krause.
Please email any comments or corrections you may have to: info@lacismuseum.org.
The Lacis Museum of Lace & Textiles
2982 Adeline St.
Berkeley, CA 94703
