Antique of the Week--Gorgeous Gown

I love Pinterest!  I found this gorgeous gown there, and traced back to the original website:  antiquedress.com .  I'll definitely be back on that site for an extended visit!  The gown is dated at 1910, and, according to the site, has been sold.  I'm guessing it's made of cotton.  It is nice how they showed it with white underneath, and also with black, so we can really see the pattern.  The more I look at this gown, the more I am amazed!  There are so many great design details in this one dress.

Front and back views

This bodice is what first drew me to the dress.  I love symmetry, which is not always a feature of Irish Crochet.  I also was really intrigued by the use of the square motifs down the front of the bodice.  These are usually seen sewn together in a row and used as a long piece of lace along a hem or perhaps put together for a collar or cuffs.  I've not seen them integrated into a garment in this way.  I love it!  The long leaf stems that extend down both sides of the bodice would be quite slimming, and are a lovely detail, speaking to my need for balance.

Bodice detail

The neckline on the dress has small flowers with dangling beads hanging from the center of each flower.  Beautiful!  And no need for a necklace.

Neckline detail

The skirt of the gown is equally as beautiful as the bodice.  It features an overall lace pattern, divided by the long leaf stems that come down from the shoulders.  There are some large flowers at the center of the skirt, below where the square motifs end.

Bottom of skirt

Hem detail

More skirt detail.  There are three-dimensional motifs throughout the dress.

Detail on skirt

I keep seeing more and more elements of IC that I would like to use in future projects.  How about a modern-day sweater with the beaded flower neckline?  Or a t-shirt style top in IC with the square motifs set down the center?   Needless to say, I love this gown!
~Kim
direct link to more photos of this gown

Antique of the Week-Photos from 1913

So...not our usual Antique of the Week, but I think this qualifies.  Antoilian.blogspot.ie  has posted some amazing photos from Ireland, taken in 1913.  And they are in color!  So go take a look and if you are from Ireland, maybe you will recognize some of the locations.

Antique of the Week--English Garden Collar

Hi everyone!  This week, Jennifer from Starched and Crumpled is sharing a collar with a sweet variety of floral motifs and filled with a tiny picot ground.  The motifs include Iris, Fuchsia, Lily of the Valley, and Irish Rose, and the collar has a traditional scallop edge.

An overal view of the collar.

Collar as it would have been worn

Central Iris motif with Clones Knot accent, and a good view of the filling ground

Bouquet of Irish Rose

Lily of the Valley over the shoulder

Antique of the Week--Clones Collar with Symmetrical Design

This week we have a gorgeous collar from eBay-er adtjmd.  The collar is cream, made of fine thread, and is twelve inches from the neckline to the central point.  The ground is entirely a Clones Knot ground, and the collar is edged with a lovely scallop border.  I am impressed by many aspects of this piece, including the perfect little Clones Knots and the symmetry of the design.  I enjoy Irish Crochet where there is an overall pattern, but reflected designs like the one on this collar are my favorite.

The edging and a couple of the motifs can be found in the Priscilla Irish Crochet books.  The border is Figure 60 in Book 1.  The solid circle with the five little "leaflets" is unusual to me, as is the central three-dimensional flower.

Lower center point.  The wheel motif is Figure 23 from Priscilla Irish Crochet Book 1.

I love the winged leaves used throughout.  These look to be modified portions of the grape leaves in the Priscilla books.  Those leaves are part solid and part mesh.  For the leaves in this collar, I would say begin with a long stem over PC (at least 50-60 sc US), then turn and work back maybe 20 stitches.  Turn at the stem, connecting to it with an sc (US) and work all the way back up the 20, turning to work back down towards the stem when you get to the top.  You can create the arch in the stem by adding a stitch or two each time you connect to the stem, before you go back up the frond.  Repeat this for 7 fronds and on the 7th, continue all the way down the stem.

This is a great close-up of the central flower and the construction of the ground.  The individual knots are so consistent in their tension!

And can we talk about those Knots????  Wow!  The ground is worked like a picot ground, but with (about) 6 chains, Clones Knot, 6 chains on each arch.  You attach each arch to the row below, in the middle of the arch, just near the Knot.  A single crochet stitch (UK=DC) connects near a Knot but not AROUND the knot, as Maire Treanor teaches.  Her method allows the Knots to stand up at attention and keeps them tight at each intersection of the grid of the ground.  These Knots float a little off to the side. The knots themselves look like miniature bullion-style Clones Knots.

Grape motif from Priscilla Irish Crochet Book 2.  I haven't seen these leaves before.  I love them!

This collar is quite inspiring, and I'm so happy that adtjmd shared it with us!  Remember, if you have an antique that you would like to share, send it in!

Reminder to those participating in the Seashell Challenge:  email a photo to me, I will be posting Challenge pictures this weekend.

~~Kim

Antique of the Week--Full Length Dress

Firefly1052, an eBay seller, was showing this dress a while ago and was kind enough to share it with us here on the Irish Together Blog.  It is a French Victorian dress made of white net and elaborately detailed Irish Crochet work.

Front

Detail of bodice.  I love the change in texture that is achieved with the different types of background joining. 

Bodice net and collar detail.  The collar is 2.5 inches tall.

Detail of the waist decoration.  This looks like a much heavier thread was used here than on the other Irish Crochet areas.  I wonder if it was added later...?

Back view.  The strip of Irish Crochet near the bottom of the skirt is 4.5 inches wide.

Side view

Close up of large flower on sleeve.  I see possible Clones Knots on the petals!

Do you have an antique you would like to share?  Send an email to Kim at irishcrochettogether@gmail.com.

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!

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

Antique of the Week--Look into the Past!

From Jennifer at starchedandcrumpled.com:  "Dating to around 1910, this is an unfinished Irish crochet lace collar, still stitched to the blue fabric and paper with hand drawn pencil guidelines. The large motifs have been completed, and the joining lace tracery has just been begun.  The inner collar measurement is approximately 44cm, and the outer edge is 88cm. It is 10cm deep." 

Here is a full view of the collar.  As Jennifer noted above, the motifs are stitched to a fabric collar shape, and then basted to a paper backing.  Do you think that the fabric shape was a "pattern piece"?  One that they saved and re-used for other collars?  Note how she laid out the motifs in a symmetrical pattern, with the pomegranates thistles at both ends, then working inwards, the daisies, the swirling shamrock, the next swirling flower (what is that?) and centered with the elaborate, three dimensional Irish rose.  Two types of wheels would frame the face. 

Here is a great view of joining in progress!  Can you tell if she started on the outer cord, and worked her way towards the motif, or the opposite?  You can see that the motif is right-side-up.  We had questions about motif placement after watching the Russian style of Irish Crochet.  Do you join your work with the motifs face down or face up?  The Russians usually do it face down.  Maire Treanor does it face up, as she wants the Clones Knots to be on top of the work.  This person worked face up as well.

I wonder why this was never finished?

You can see the pencil tracing on the paper here on the outer edge of the collar, where the maker was going to put the edging.  See the little triple arcs along the upper left and lower left edges?

You also get a great view of the cord that was basted to the paper, outlining the collar and giving her something to anchor the joining ground to.  -posted by Kim


UPDATE!

From Eileen:  "I have observed that most of the motifs are contained in Vol 1 of the Hardouin series-all except the small wheel and 
flower. 


Le Chardon-Thistle-no.20 Les trois Spirales no 13 
La Marguerite no 18 
L’Helice no 1(The Propellor) 


Forgot to check on the rose but was common to have 10 or more petals with more than 3 layers of petals.

It is interesting to note the use of cord to form the outline of the collar.  I know that the lace made at Oriveto (Italy) uses the outline method from the needlepoint laces and the maker crochets over it to form the motifs.

In the background of the photos the invoice has a French Address.

It seems to me the maker of this was drawing upon techniques she was familiar with.

The direction of the small area of ground worked in the double picoted loop begins on the short edge and is worked towards the centre.  Not a direction I would have chosen for me it would have been more pleasing to the eye to begin at the base line and proceed towards the neckline, (like the centre outwards of a circle-have said this one lots before.)

No hard and fast rules have been written for these things in the end they are personal choice."

Antique of the Week--Large Edwardian Collar

This beautiful collar is from Ebay seller adtjmd.  The seller has kindly shared these pictures with us!  The collar is an "antique hand made Edwardian Irish crochet lace collar in a rich cream...  Features an ornate dimensional floral motif showcasing a variety of multi-petaled flowers, some of which are 5-tiered, and finished off with a scalloped edge all around with dimensional florets scattered along the edge of the entire front panel...  Spans ~19in wideX20in long, with the front measuring ~16in vertically, neckline measuring ~14in, and finished all around."  Double click on pictures to enlarge.

Detail of front flower

Lower front of collar.  Note the added detail of the vine making a figure-eight as it winds down to the large rose.

Neck front

Side view.  I love the roses climbing up the side of the neck!

 Back--it's as elaborate as the front!

 Detail of back

Antique of the Week

Here is another piece shared by Myra W.  She purchased these cuffs the same time as the collar from last week.

This next photo shows how TINY the stitches are!  The pin is on one of the shamrock motifs.  Thank you Myra for the great pictures!

Remember, if you have any antiques you would like to share, send them to us at irishcrochettogether@gmail.com