In Defense

So, it was looking like I might have do More Defense of my proposed History of Magic OWL - turns out I didn't, but I found some cool stuff, which I now share with you.

Dearest Examiners: as the pattern I am using does not qualify as "antique" under the US Customs definition (100+ years in age), I believe my proposed pattern counts as an heirloom piece, based on the construction of the design, the design motifs, and its intented use once completed. First, relating to the construction of the design, I would like to direct you to the Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles Imagery in Lace Exhibit. The exhibit notes: "It was not till the early 16th century, that lace, as a conscious art form is recognized. The earliest designs were of a charted nature, where holes in a uniform grid could be left open or filled to create stylized images...

Lion - Romanian Lace:


Horse - Romanian Lace:


...Recorded in the earliest pattern books from the early 16th c. these patterns have persisted till modern times where the relatively new technique of crochet became the popular vehicle for representing these designs." The fillet-style of designing has been around for at least four centuries, thus is a traditional design framework.

Peacock motifs are traditional in both fillet crochet and Romanian lace:




Decorative lace accents (antimaccasars, tablecloths, curtains, etc.) flourished in the late ninteenth century In the almost-antique-give-it-five-years category, commercial crocheted fillet peacock patterns existed in the early twentieth century. (Filet crochet, to be precise, evolved from filet netting. The same netting that fishermen used was worked in a smaller scale then darned and embroidered, was extremely popular in the US in the 19th Century. It is common to discover filet crochet tablecloths in antique stores today! (See, it's *like* antique things!) This is from a vintage crochet lesson book from 1917:


A finished piece, dating from the same decade:

And, just because they were cool and I found them whilst looking for the above stuff, I share other pretty examples of early lace motifs used as table ornaments, which can be found here: Lace, 1558; Lace d'oyley design by Lydia C Hammett, produced in 1899; Lace centrepiece design by Leipheimer, produced in 1904.

I'm going to be spending some time going through all the museum slideshows, myself!!