Friday, September 04, 2009

Can you identify this needlework method?





So these are a pair of little baby booties made for my mother-in-law's mother by her mother and they're just gorgeous. However I can't figure out just how it was made. It doesn't look quite like either crochet or knitting and it's not macrame. I know that DH's great-grandmother was skilled in embroidery and tatting and DMIL has stories of her knitting things she'd seen without a pattern in the space of a few evenings so that doesn't narrow the options too much. Still, it's gorgeous workmanship and it was a priviledge getting to pour over some of the items she made.

More of her work -

Baby bonnet also made for DH's grandmother - look at how tiny the work is!



The edge of a lingere piece. She made a set of three lingere items all from the same pattern and not a single machine stitch on them. I'll show off the full set in a future post but for now a taste of how she creatively used embroidery as a utility stitch to hold on the lace. Gorgeous, gorgeous work.

4 comments:

Lisa @ The Hem Line said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lisa @ The Hem Line said...

I believe the top piece is crocheted using a very large hook. The hat is tatted . . . the most time consuming needlecraft ever! Amazing keepsakes!

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Unknown said...

Don't know about the booties, but the bonnet and the lacy edge are called "tatting". They were done with a small shuttle that had a bobbin inside. Tatting involves intricate knotwork. Pretty!

Angelia said...

WOW just beautiful! I'm very into crochet but would love to learn to do tatting... no one around here teaches it though... those are great heirlooms!