The Secrets of Real Lace: Is It Handmade or Machine

Rating:
Summary: A classic introduction to lace and lacemaking.
Review: This is a must book for folks, who want to learn about lace, because they inherited lace, found lace at a garage sale, stumbled across a lace web-site, saw a lacemaking demonstration, or attended a lace guild meeting, asking what do I do now?

This book, with its beautiful and clear illustrations, introduces these "tourists", as well as experienced lacemakers, to the subject of real lace, covering basic bobbin, needle and crochet lace lore, and how machines make lace. Kurella points out some of the limitations of machines as lacemakers.

Kurella provides clear written descriptions and photographs comparing hand and machine versions of bobbin lace, needlelace, and Irish crochet lace. Battenberg lace, a curious combination of machine produced tape and hand work, is also discussed.

A short bibliography includes some classic books on hand and machine lace for those who want to learn more about the subject. This five-star book will help you look at lace in a new light. (The "How old are you section" doesn't work" I am not 12 years old, I am 68 years old.)