Queen Mary
was an avid collector of art and artefacts and her lace collection was the
subject of an article in The Connoisseur magazine of June 1928. Pride of
place in the collection went to the court train of Irish needlepoint lace that was
made for her to wear at the Coronation Durbar in Delhi in 1911. The train was
commissioned by a group of influential ladies from Belfast, including the lady
mayoress, who set up a committee and raised funds for the work. There was
little time between the King’s accession and the Durbar so the train had to be
made in 6 months. The Presentation Convent of Youghal in County Cork was given
the task, and it is reported that 60 skilled lacemakers work in relays through
the day and night to make the lace on time. It was estimated that one lacemaker
would have taken about 30 years to complete the task alone.
The pattern includes scrolls and flowers, including the may flower as a reference to the Queen who was known as Princess May before her coronation. The lace is made with a needle and thread and the work is basically made up of blanket stitches and their various combinations to form intricate patterns.
This type of needlelace
is suited to collaborative work because the individual motifs are made
separately by the lacemakers and then assembled and joined together with more fine
needlelace. Each worker has her own specialism, such a drawing out the
patterns, laying down the outlining cord, working the stitches or assembling
the motifs and joining them with net stitches. It is a huge achievement to have
completed a work of such intricacy, accuracy and beauty in 6 months and we
should marvel at the skill of the Irish lacemakers involved in the task.