Did you ever have a small project that you think you can make it or fix it in a just a couple hours? Yeah, that.
Because I realized I didn’t have time to make a new skirt in
the four days before I was attending an afternoon tea with friends in costume,
dressed in the early 1900s, I went to Plan B and pulled items from my closet
that I could wear instead. I picked a black and white pin dot skirt; with a
white cotton voile shirtwaist I had sewn lace appliques on the front. I
remembered an antique Edwardian black tape lace jacket that was gifted to me last
year by a friend in the Port Townsend (WA) Heritage Association who was
clearing out her collection. (I’m calling this tape lace but it may not be the
correct term. If anyone knows, please let me know.)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsyVLDc8mAAR1WCNhhyphenhyphenaiK1dHyglakzXs_2NjL9PeoQDvMnl2qAKQPC2j9gBIJYwrnRXHgMe-GxWUyaF1xWVVGUrIqmfZwQihgktfa1j4iHDSW6LgmYnPdZ3oD3GH4a9i65LLw01-lIIwxstZsdDvnF9lWXKKezt8cduxzyL1oviI9ldjLBWzCio73Ibk/s320/white%20blouse%202.jpg)
I started yesterday afternoon tying a double thread of heavy-duty thread between the separated pieces. There were a lot of loose threads hanging from it and I thought maybe someone before me had tried to do the same thing but didn’t clip those loose ends. And then there were single threads just barely holding some parts together with the thread stretched across in open air. What the heck? Ok, maybe it was a way to keep the lace front separating? There were some areas that looked like it had braided thread between the lace.
After spending four hours slowly going over and over the jacket, I had to take a break because black thread on black lace is an eye strain. So I started up again today and I’m almost done after four more hours of repairing. But after handling this so much, I now think those single loose threads were originally that braided thread that held the lace together and came unraveled, and those loose threads are broken dried up ones. So there’s going to be more work continuing later.
This is a photo of a similar jacket dated 1908-1914.
Dear Val,
ReplyDeleteThat's a beautiful vest and it fits with your outfit perfectly!
It *looks* like some sort of tape lace, but not a kind I've seen before because it's in relief. Is that perhaps soutache in place of flat tapes, or are my eyes misreading the images?
It's a job and a half repairing lace: bravo for doing it. The best would soon be in the past tense, otherwise.
Very best,
Natalie in KY
Thank you Natalie. There is going to be a lot more work on the vest needed. Some more threads broke. So I'm going to start stitching the entire thing by hand. I thought maybe I could do it by machine, but the edges butt up against each other so it can't be overlapped, nor do I want a bunch of zigzag stitches on this lovely vest. It will be a work of love over time, especially since I love hand work.
Delete~Val