Wednesday, September 14, 2011

A Lost Art

Isn't it sad that so many of the crafts that were once made by hand, are being lost to this generation. When I traveled to Europe a year ago with my sweet hubby, we visited a shop that still had hand made lace.

The lady in the shop gave us a little demonstration on how the lace is made.

She told us that it takes eight years to learn how to make fine lace.

She also told us the younger generation is not interested in making lace, so many of the shops sell imports.

Some of the lace was very beautiful.

This shop was closed, so we could only see what was displayed in the window.

Maybe one day there will be a resurgence of interest in making fine handmade lace.

Have a beautiful week :-)

11 comments:

Stray Stitches (Linda G) said...

If it's not digital, a great deal of the younger generation is not interested. It's rather sad that some of the crafts are fading away because of this.

FABBY'S LIVING said...

Yes it's a shame they're fast fading away! I remember when I went to Europe, I saw shops where they did fine hand lace in Belgium and Spain, they were so stunning and expensive! I love lace and crochet, like my mother is a good kneated, all styles, and so was my grandmother, her mother, whereas me, I never learned, I didn't like it, now it's to late! Thanks for sharing. Hugs, FABBY

regan said...

When I lived in CA, I joined a lace making guild, and learned to do bobbin lace (like the woman in the pic)....I loved it.....but I haven't touched it in 15 years! I have the books still, and all the bobbins, so I could probably pic right up where I left off, but these dang quilts keep screaming at me to make them, and the lace is so much more quiet! LOL

NanaNor's said...

Hi there, When I was young I tried to learn Tatting but it was so hard-I needed someone to show me how. Glad you visited the shop and saw how it was done. The younger generation is going back to hand made goods so maybe someone will start a revival in this. Have a great day.

{oc cottage} said...

Gorgeous! Can you even imagine!

m ^..^

Anonymous said...

You know, someone recently gave me a beautiful book on the history of lace - and I have been seeing more and more on the making of lace here and there. I've toyed with the idea of getting a little lace making kit I saw in Victorian Trading Company - just to try my hand at the bobbin lace thing. So true - we must not lose the beauty of our past generations. So much quality is dying out and being replaced by commercial inferior mass. How treasured ought to be the works of our hands.

Joy!
Miss Kathy

Unknown said...

I think there is an island in the Carribean called Saba where lace making is part of their culture. Not sure if that is correct, except in my memories. And we wonder why lace is expensive...to be sure. I also, as a blogger before me stated tried to do tatting....it was very hard to remember where the bobin would go after each movement. too hard for my fingers too.

Joy said...

Just beautiful! What a wonderful experience for you to have!

The lace is exquisite!

Gypsy Quilter said...

Bobbin lace is still being taught at the John C. Campbell Folk School. You can read more about it here:

https://www.folkschool.org/index.php?section=class_detail&class_id=5651

Cyndi said...

You are so right...it is very sad that the younger generation is not interested in learning these age old crafts. I do hope that someone will want to continue it, though. It would be such a pity if all of those wonderful traditions were lost forever!

XOXO,

Cyndi

Dora, the Quilter said...

I'd love to see a resurgence of hand-made lace. Sadly, it is a dying art--mostly because of how long it takes to make it. I've wanted to learn how to make bobbin lace but have not had the opportunity. I did learn to make tatted lace and have taught scores of other women to make it too.
(When Princess Diana was getting married, they wanted hand-made lace for her wedding dress but had to settle for machine-made lace.)