Net curtain research

I’ve had a good few days this week getting on with my research into net curtains. I haven’t been anywhere exciting, just collating some of the information I’ve already gleaned and putting it all into some sort of order. Not as easy as it sounds! I started by dividing my research on different curtains styles into decades, but realised that fashions in interiors don’t necessarily conform to ten year cycles, so I’m now using early, mid and late parts of the different centuries. In her very useful book ‘Curtains and drapes’ Jenny Gibbs uses different style periods to differentiate fashions, such as Neoclassicism, but uses ‘Battle of the styles’ to describe the late 19 century, which appears to be an accurate description! I have lots of pictorial sources which I’m organising by date, but doing that has made me realise that perhaps I should be putting styles together instead, and then seeing when, swags, for example, were popular. It is only by actually sorting out the information that you hit upon the best way of doing it. At least describing the changes in machine lace production is proving easier!

Exhibition for the LQ&N Peterborough Fair

 

Although the Peterborough Fair doesn’t take place until May, the publicity material is being printed so I’ve had to decide what I’m going to display for my exhibition there and decide on a title. I’m calling the exhibition ‘lace works’ both to distinguish the work from the other exhibitions of embroidery and quilting, and to suggest the idea that lace ‘works’ as a valid textile art form. I’ll show a mixture of old and new work, so I’ve decided to use the broad theme of landscapes, both physical landscapes, such as maps, tracks and stones, as well as landscapes of the mind, memory and the imagination. There will be a variety of lace types and artefacts including curtains, panels, bags and hangings. Do come and have a look and say hello!