22 July, 2010

Rat Catcher’s Day: Pied Piper Tam

2010-07-22T17:19:00-05:00Everything Else|2 Comments

Did you know that July 22 is Rat Catcher’s Day?  Today is the day to celebrate the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin and rat catchers everywhere.  (It’s true, my friend Melisa heard about it at MPR!  Thanks Melisa for the heads up!)  It seemed absolutely perfect that I give you the pattern for my Pied Piper Tam today in honor of the occasion.  A photo of this hat appears in “1000 Fabulous Knit Hats”.  The basic hat is based on Three Tams by Angela Sixian Wu at Knitty.com Winter 2007.  If you would like the Pied Piper Tam chart, then please help yourself by downloading it here: PiedPiper.

20 July, 2010

Jane’s Sampler

2010-07-20T18:20:10-05:00Embroidery, Everything Else|5 Comments

From the textile collection at the V&A.  The label on the piece reads:

Linen embroidered with colored silks, metal thread, seed pearls and black beads in back, satin, chain, ladder, buttonhole, detached buttonhole, cross, arrowhead, interlacing, pattern couching, coral and two sided Italian cross stitches with speckling and bullion and French knots.  The sampler is inscribed Jane Bostocke 1598 and below;- Alice Lee was borne the 23 of November being Tuesday in the after noone 1596.  This is the earliest dated English Sampler so far recorded.

13 July, 2010

Tapestries, Tatting and Textiles

2010-07-13T20:20:11-05:00Everything Else|6 Comments

A few of the stops on our trip I couldn’t take pictures of, so you will have to use your imagination a little bit.  The first stop after we said our “adieus” to the family was to go to Bayeux, France.  To all my beloved textile geeks, please find a map and add this to the places you have to go visit someday.

The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered piece that is about 20 inches by 230 feet made in about 1070.  The tour guide described it as the “world’s oldest comic strip” because it is made up of 50+ scenes, telling the story of William the Conqueror with captions to help you follow along.  The tapestry is displayed in a cabinet at about eye level and you can get within about 10 inches of it (behind glass) so us geeks can study the stitches up close.  We carried along a walkie-talkie type device that gave you a story of each section and the things you should notice about it.  It’s in beautiful condition and the colors are vibrant.  The stitch that it used for the large blocks of color is called the “bayeux stitch” and you know that I am already working on a project so I can learn it.

On our way back to where we parked the car, we saw signs for the “Musee des Dentelles” or Museum of Lace.  We walked in the tiny building and I was completely in awe of the amazing bobbin lace.  There were 4 ladies working on lace pieces as we watched.  I have seen a lot of bobbin lace and this was like nothing I have seen before.  I couldn’t take pictures of their pieces, but this one from the V&A textile collection will give you the idea.

None of the lace makers spoke english and my textile vocabulary in French is a bit thin.  I managed to tell them that I worked at a “textile museum and school” and they wanted to know what kind of lace I made.  With a little pantomime and a drawing on paper, I told them that I could do tatting.  I bought two pretty bobbins and a vintage postcard from their shop, so if I learn bobbin lace someday I will have those as a good luck charm.  With the help of Google Translate, I wrote them a letter today in French to see if they will send me some photos so I can do a lesson about Bayeux as part of a kids class someday.

I could easily dedicate several posts to the V&A textile collection and other stops along the way.  In fact I think I will.  Here’s a teaser of what’s to come.

8 July, 2010

Seeing the sights

2010-07-08T06:47:24-05:00Everything Else|Comments Off on Seeing the sights

From the top:

Shops in Deauville

The view at Villa Strassburger, where we had dinner one night

Walking in Trouville-sur-mer (next 3 images)

La Beauconniere B&B in Lamberville, France

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