Les Dentelles aux Fuseaux

Trying to sort through stuff a bit at a time, today I pondered on this – a lace making cushion plus all the bobbins, pins and patterns used in making lace. This all belonged to my great aunt, who made the most wonderful lace. She gave it all to me and eventually I taught myself how to make lace. You have lots of bobbins holding threads, which you weave and hold down with pins over a pattern. I think I managed to produce some lace, but it is tedious work and I probably soon tired of it. When we were in Bruges a few years ago I watched some ladies making lace in this traditional way – fascinating. 

Dentelles is the French for lace and dentelles aux fuseaux is bobbin lace. There is, as a few Blippers know very well, a range of mountains in Provence called the Dentelles de Montmiral because the dramatically jagged shape of their peaks, created by erosion, resembles lace.


Now, tempting as it is, I will not be trying lace making again – one needs better eyesight than I now have and a lot of time. So, I sewed up a nice bag to put it all in and it will go away until I decide what to do with it.