Old Lace & Linens

This is a great book for anyone interested in old lace and linens. Lots of photos and explanations of what the various pieces were used for. Also explains the different types of lace. I have quite a few old pieces picked up at yard sales, thrift shops, and church fairs over the years and this book has helped me identify some of them. And the price was right!!

Speaking of the needlework produced in the 1930's Dolan remarks, "Poetic justice perhaps that those women struggling against financial difficulty and lack of much social life, produced so much that is whimsical. It is a tribute to fortitude and courage of high order." (page 10 @1989 Books Americana) That a woman may express her courage and high hopes in her needlework is not much considered today when so many contemporary needleworkers are viewed quizzically by friends and questioned "Why don't you just buy it?" Most descriptions in identification guides tell us the facts but never adequately acknowledge the heart that the crafter poured into the piece. Refreshingly Dolan speaks like a crafter as she describes the emotional and spiritual side of both the crafter and the viewer of the craft. Using lace as an example she writes, "The reason we cherish hand made lace, aside from it (sic) fairy like quality, is the fact that skilled hands, most of them in their own cottages, made very inch of it with love and care. Nothing made my machine can ever evoke the feeling present when a collector holds something made by a specific person in the past." (page 23) As a contemporary needle crafter much of Dolan's perspective resonated with my experience. We needleworkers know firsthand the initial excitement of choosing a pattern and color, the repetitive stitching that evokes a reflective calm, and finally the quiet pride of completion. We know that somehow this piece is inextricably ours even if we gift it to another. Seeing this volume at a used book store, I was attracted to the many photos depicting the whimsical examples of needlework made by women like my great aunties who inspired me to take up needle crafts. Pleased to see the emphasis on work from the early 20th century I also appreciated Dolan's tone that mimics the attitudes of the needlewomen themselves who forsook the reverent tone often adopted by their inheritors, and instead displayed a great love of craft alongside the lightheartedness that now so attracts us when we see whimsical subjects or cottage flowers simply outlined in bright playful colors upon plain backgrounds of white. Along with Dolan, I miss these ladies and remember them and their handiwork with great love. Unlike the true collectors, as a practitioner I feel that this work has much to offer as a springboard for ideas and for a look at what everyday crafters like ourselves created in the past. If you are a collector you may be disappointed by the black and white photography and I too found the valuations inflated for the period in which the book was written. However the value of this book is not in the valuations which are out of date anyway in 2009. Instead this work stands as a heartfelt overview of various kinds of popular needlework that the current crafter may feel inspired to resurrect.