Book on Spanish Hinojosa tape lace soon to be published

Portada del libro de Mariña Regueiro

Very soon we will be able to have in our hands Mariña Regueiro's new book. Mariña is a well known bobbin lace teacher, and also an investigator of almost forgotten techniques and promoter of Spanish laces abroad.

Her last book is the result of the investigation of a tape lace made in a small part of the region of Extremadura (west of Spain), in Hinojosa del Valle, with the aim of reconstructing its history and systematize its technique.

The Spanish Hinojosa tape laces are a real jewel  in the history of Spanish lace. They constitute a new gender directly related  to the laces brought from Flanders into Cádiz in the 18th century and they reflect the European tendencies of end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th.

All this makes this book an essential guide for the new generations of lace makers. It is written in 4 languages: Spanish, French, English and German and is aimed at the international community of lace researchers.

As soon as it is on the market, I will give you more information about its price and the way to buy it. Until then... lets wait. The book will soon be here.

Lace stocking fronts

Stocking fronts The piece of lace shown in this article belongs to the private collection of Tess Parrish, who has kindly shared it with us. The first thing that surprises us when looking at this lace is its pointed oval shape. Afterwards, we ask ourselves the question "What is this?". Well, they are pieces of lace that were inserted in the front part of stockings and were fashionable as far back as in the days of Elizabeth I. (Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603). The lace was inserted starting from the top of the shoe up to below the knee. Detail: notice remains of silk stocking at edges But the laces in this  picture are not as old as that. They were probably made toward the end of the 19th century, when decorated stocking fronts were very much in fashion.  Tess explains: "It is white Chantilly. [The pieces] are boat shaped and are quite fine. The white silk stockings to which they were attached are gone, but they were obviously cut away because there are remnants of the silk knitting still evident".   If anyone is interested in seeing more of these decorated stockings, there are a lot of them in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Go to the museum collection database (http://www.metmuseum.org), then the Costume Institute, and then type in "stockings."   Thank you very much to Tess Parrish for letting me publish the picture of her lace and in my blog.

Russian lace of Vologda

Panel de encaje de B. Beselova, 1967

I've been interested in Russian bobbin lace for many years. The fact that there is so little information about it in my country, makes it even more attactive to me. It is a challenge trying to make it correctly and finding interesting patterns.

Quite briefly, what we usually call "Russian bobbin lace" is a continuous tape lace (that is, we start and end at the same place) and normally a fixed number of bobbins are needed. The tapes make curves forming flowers or other motifs to fill the space. When one tape touches another, it is joined with a crochet hook.

Scarf made by Nieves García

After having got in touch with a few Russian bobbin lacers and after having read quite a few books on Russian lace, I think I know fairly well its characteristics. So, it's time to start working. Some colleagues from "Mi Pequeño Taller" and me decided to make a scarf. We like to use the lace we make and not keep it in a drawer. So, a scarf seemed the ideal piece: neither too big, nor too small, and wearable. 

But we needed a pattern. Finding it was complicated... but we finally  got the inspiration from a panel made in 1967 by the Russian lacer B. Beselova, and adapted it to our necessities, reducing the number of repeats and making a long row of them.

And this is the result, a few months later.

Scarf made by Antje González, still on the pillow