Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1911 — LACE MAKING MADE EASY [ARTICLE]

LACE MAKING MADE EASY

Really No More of an Art Than the Fine Embroidery Work Most Women Do. While most women seem to think lace mending beyond them, It Is really no more of an art than the fine embroidery work they do, and requires only patience and care. Cluny lace Is strong, but threads will break occasionally, and when small places are found needing repairs the work should be done before the laundering, for should they break in the water or catch in the iron the rent would probably be beyond repair. A simple darning to and fro with a fine needle and ordinary sewing cotton will be £ good reinforcement for the thin places. When there is much of a hole dampen the lace and baste the worn part on a foundation. With the thumb and the first finger the frayed edges are drawn out and then the needle should be drawn through loops of thread in the good part and the hole gradually filled In with a darning stitch that will not show when the lace Is washed and pressed. No. 60 cotton thread will repair Irish lace, but for fine laces 100 or 150 Is not too fine. The lace is basted on a foundation {several thicknesses of paper will do) and the torn portion caught firmly. Then the hanging thread is caught and the crochet stitch is worked to and fro until the fine piece of Irish is once more whole.