Monday 25 January 2010

Romanian lace crochet

We've had a few posts about workshops and other such excitement so now it's back to crochet techniques. This is one that I certainly recognise but didn't realise it's name or that it is very much a skill strongly linked to a country, Romania. Lace making is obviously a completely different technique to crochet but this does incorporate the making of crochet cord. The cord forms the basis for the design of the piece being made and then needleweaving is used to fill the remaining space. It's a skill that is mainly 20th century in origin and is hugely popular in Romania.
It's used for decorative work as in this baby's cap and as an embellishment to linen as you can see in the pictures.
The Lacis museum gives a clear rundown on it's history and a slide show of examples and, if you're so minded, you could try your hand at producing your own Romanian cord with Sunshine Creations' own pocket guide with video.
If you're an upholsterer as well you'll soon recognise the cords from your trimming work and now you can make your own!! I think the needleweaving may be for another day!

3 comments:

Izabela said...

that is so pretty, I love the look of this lace... thanks for sharing!

Erika said...

My grandma worked as a crocheter all her life. She made some (thousands probably) amazing pieces for sure. Yes yes! :) We are not Romanian, but we live here. Funny coincidence to have found your blog. Thanks for sharing!
Erika

wendy harbaugh said...

that doesn't look like it is being added as an embellishment to the linen that looks more like it is still attached to the pattern before all the basting threads are removed