Antique of the Week--Pat's Mothering Sunday Collar

From Pat, "The collar was given to me on our mothering Sunday in 2011 by my No 3 son, Patrick. He got it, with his father's help, from ebay. I took it to Clones with me for last year's summer school and, with Maire's help, mended a few small holes.  I am 99 percent sure it is silk.  I hope to wear it on a green velour dress."

The curling overlays really mimic the Venetian Gros Pointe lace.

An unusual large floral motif.  Any ideas as to what this is?

I love all the grapes on this collar.  More of the curling overlay here, reminiscent of grape vines.

Antique of the Week--Doily No.3

Here is the third of Pat's friend's doilies--Enjoy!!

Full doily.  Many of the motifs used around the outside are more uncommon.  The trellis motifs in the center have been modified from a square shape, so when they are combined they make an oval instead of a rectangle.

One of the flowers on the end of the oval.  Bullion "Clones" Knots in the center and fat bullion stitches on the outer part of the center.  I've not seen this motif before. I'm hoping someone can identify it in the comments!

Fern motif with huge cylindrical bullions in the center.

Thanks again to Pat for sharing these pieces with us!!!

Antique of the Week--Doily No.2

This week's gorgeous antique is the second of the Doilies from Pat (see last week's post).  

Full view

a US quarter and a 2 pence coin to show the tiny scale of the inner lace of the doily

Flower and Grape motifs

Three dimensional flower motif.  Here also is a good view of the Clones Knots on the filling.

Wheel with shamrock spray.   Look at the Clones Knots in the spray, creating tiny shamrocks!

Challenge--Valentino Blue Lace Dress

Have you seen it?  Cameron Diaz is wearing it on the cover of this month's InStyle magazine.  Valentino describes this as a silk macrame lace dress, and it will run you over $5,000.  We've been chatting about it over on Ravelry, and some have come to the conclusion that the lace must be machine made.  Some of us think it's reminiscent of the heavy lace look of Irish Crochet.

I think this is the perfect inspiration piece for a Challenge.  Each month, we will post a Challenge, and anyone can participate.  The only rule is: be inspired!  (oh and send pictures!!!)  Interpret this beautiful Valentino dress into your own Irish Crochet creation. It can be a single motif, a series, or a repeating pattern.  It can be big or small, out of no. 10 thread or 100.  It can be using the color or not, the entire piece, or just part of it.  HAVE FUN!  Send Kim your photos by June 15th and I'll post a collage of them here on the blog.

Thanks to Eileen for the great idea of Modern Interpretation!

Here are some more shots of the dress and the fabric.  

Antique of the Week--Doily

Pat, a member of the Irish Crochet Lovers group on Ravelry shared some exquisite examples of IC a couple of months ago.  Over the next few weeks we will share all of the pieces on this blog.  Pat says, 

"A friend of mine had a bag of IC lace which she gathered up when clearing out her Aunt’s house in Roslea, County Fermanagh back in the late 80's. We got talking one day and the result is that I have now washed and blocked all these pieces for her.  It is not at all impossible that there were many made to the same design in the area. My friend’s older sister remembers, when she was a young girl, ladies from all over coming to the house for an evening working to make up designs from their individual motifs.  My friend’s sisters remember evenings of work and music when groups of local ladies would gather together to make their motifs up into finished articles, both secular and religious. Sadly the older generation of her family are all long gone now."   

17 inches in diameter

Detail of motif

If you have any antiques that you would like to share, please send photos to Kim at irishcrochettogether@gmail.com