Wednesday 21st September: Lace and Linen

Southport Craft and Book Group held a meeting on Wednesday 21st September on the subject of lace and linen. Our speaker was Janet Carlson who has spent thirty-five years collecting rare samples of lace and linen from around the world.

Janet gave a very interesting talk which involved the different histories of lace and linen from very early times. It was fascinating to discover how valuable lace was in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries and how it was smuggled into the country by many devious means. We learned how linen-making began in Neolithic times when it was observed that strands from the flax plant could be woven into cloth. Janet also touched on the history of silk-making.

Many samples of silk, linen and lace were available to handle and some small items were on sale.

We all agreed that the afternoon was very memorable and are grateful to Janet for teaching our craft group so much about the materials we can use in our creative work.

– Sheila