The Ladies’ Complete Guide to Needle-work and Embroidery by Miss Lambert

In 1859, Miss Lambert published another needlework book, The Ladies’ Complete Guide to Needle-work and Embroidery.  While items 1-28 listed below appear in her earlier books, items 29- 41 are not included in either of her other books.

1. Netting (page 15)
2. Plain Netted Gentleman's Purse (page 228)
3. A Lady's Purse (page 229)
4. A Gentleman's Purse with Ends of Different Colours (page 229)
5. A Lady's Purse with Points (page 229)
6. A Pretty Purse with Chine Silk (page 230)
7. Netting With Beads (page 230)
8. A Plain Netted Purse with a Bead Mouth (page 230)
9. A Pretty Seme purse with steel or gold beads (page 231)
10. An Elegant Netted Purse with Steel Beads (page 231)
11. Plain Netted Mittens (page 232)
12. A Knitter's Bag with Ring (page 232)
13. A Checked or Dice Pattern Purse (page 233)
14. Grecian Netting, or Filet Rose (with illustration) (page 233)
15. A Purse in Grecian Netting (page 234)
16. Mittens in Grecian Netting (page 234)
17. Netted Fringe (page 235)
18. Single Diamond Netting (with illustration) (page 235)
19. Treble Diamond Netting (page 236)
20. Diamond Netting of Five Stitches (with illustration) (page 236)
21. Seme Purse, Diamond Pattern (page 238)
22. Plain Open Netting, or Filet a Baguette (page 239)
23. Fond de Berlin (in French) (page 239)
24. Filet Rose (in French) (page 240)
25. Filet a Baton Rompu (in French) (page 240)
26. Filet Rond (in French) (page 241)
27. Netted Mittens with Silk and Wool (page 241)
28. Netted Cuff with Silk and Wool (page 242)
29. Long Net Purse for a Lady (page 301)
30. Long Net Purse for a Lady (different pattern) (page 301)
31. Round Netting for a Gentleman's Long Purse (page 302)
32. Honeycomb Netting for Veil (page 303)
33. Very Pretty Long Grecian Net Purse for a Lady (page 304)
34. Grecian Net for a Veil (page 305)
35. Single Diamond Netting (page 306)
36. Diamond of Five Stitches for a Long Purse (page 306)
37. Dotted Net (page 308)
38. French Ground Net (page 309)
39. Scollop for Borders of Veils, Collars, Caps, Etc. (page 310)
40. Another Scallop for Border (page 310)
41. Scollop (page 310)

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Since I  have only one of my grandmother's patterns left to make, and that one is over 38 inches in diameter, I decided to make some smaller doilies for a few weeks.  There are still many doilies I designed that need to be made again so I can photograph the entire doily instead of photocopy just a rectangular portion.

I started this one, Double Star, during the afternoon I was demonstrating at the Connecticut Sheep, Wool, and Fiber Festival.  

This doily was originally the result of two questions:

1. How would a 5-pointed star look in the center of a doily? 
2. Can I make a doily with only 5 points for its edge?

Many of my grandmother's doilies had centers with multiple points.  Those centers all had more than 5 points.  She had also made several doilies with multiple points along the edge, but none with only 5 points.  The answer was this 13 inch doily.

The Handbook of Needlework (5th edition) by Miss Lambert

Several weeks ago I listed the netting patterns that were in The Handbook of Needlework by Miss Lambert.  This week I decided to list the netting information found in The Handbook of Needlework (5th edition).  The digitized copy of the 5th edition of Miss Lambert's book was published in 1846.

Many of the patterns listed in the two editions appear to be the same, since the name is the same, but that is not necessarily true.  In looking closer at such patterns, I noticed a difference in the number of starting loops between the patterns in the two editions, the mesh stick size, or the number of rows.  These small changes are easy to miss and may make a difference in the way the final product looks.

There is one new pattern - #21 - Chain Pattern Netting for a Purse.

1. Netting (page 431)
2. Plain Netted Gentleman's Purse (page 435)
3. A Lady's Purse (page 436)
4. Gentleman's Purse with Ends of Different Colours (page 436)
5. A Lady's Purse with Points (page 436)
6. A Pretty Purse with Chine Silk (page 437)
7. Netting with Beads (page 437)
8. A Plain Netted Purse with a Bead Mouth (page 437)
9. A Seme purse with steel or gold beads (page 438)
10. An Elegant Netted Purse with Steel Beads (page 438)
11. Plain Netted Mittens (page 439)
12. A Knitter's Bag with Ring (page 440)
13. Grecian Netting (page 440)
14. A Checked or Dice Pattern Purse (page 441)
15. A Purse in Grecian Netting (page 442)
16. Mittens in Grecian Netting (page 442)
17. A Fringe (page 443)
18. Single Diamond Netting (page 443)
19. Treble Diamond Netting (page 443)
20. Diamond Netting, with Five Stitches (page 444)
21. Chain Pattern Netting for a Purse (page 446)
22. Seme Purse, Diamond Pattern (page 447)
23. Open Plain Netting, or Filet a Bagaette (page 448)
24. Fond de Berlin (page 448)
25. Filet Rose (page 449)
26. Filet a Baton rompu (page 450)
27. Netted Mittens with Silk and Wool (page 450)
28. Netted Cuff with Silk and Wool (page 451)

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I am gradually going back through my net doily patterns and remaking the ones that have only a partial picture - such as this one.

Here is how it looked when I finished it this week.  

I designed the pattern back in the 1980's and named it Friendship in honor of the wonderful friend to whom I gave it.  When I made it, I knew how to make only spiral netting.  In looking at the directions I discovered I needed to either increase or decrease the number of loops in the center by 16 to make the pattern work.  Since I no longer have the doily, I have no idea how I got the numbers to work the first time.  I chose to decrease the number of loops, since in my opinion it was already too full and did not show the stitches to their best advantage.

The Handbook of Needlework by Miss Lambert

Published in 1842, Miss Lambert's book The Handbook of Needlework can be found online in two different places.  Click here to see it at one location and here to find it at the other location.  She includes information on the tools used in netting, some information on the history of netting, a description of how to tie the netting knot, some stitches (with illustrations of the finished stitch), and some patterns.  Four of the instructions are in French, and, since I don't read French, I can't say what she is describing in those four portions.

1. Implements: Netting Needles and Meshes (page 92)
2. Antiquity of the Art (page 224)
3. Plain Netted Gentleman's Purse (page 228)
4. A Lady's Purse (page 229)
5. Gentleman's Purse with Ends of Different Colours (page 229)
6. A Lady's Purse with Points (page 229)
7. A Pretty Purse with Chinè Silk (page 230)
8. Netting with Beads (page 230)
9. A Plain Netted Purse with a Bead Mouth (page 230)
10. A Pretty Sème Purse with Steel or Gold Beads (page 231)
11. An Elegant Netted Purse with Steel Beads (page 231)
12. Plain Netted Mittens (page 232)
13. A Knitter's Bag with Ring (page 232)
14. A Checked or Dice Pattern Purse (page 233)
15. Grecian Netting or Filet Rose (page 233)
16. A Purse in Grecian Netting (page 234)
17. Mittens in Grecian Netting (page 234)
18. Netted Fringe (page 235)
19. Single Diamond Netting (page 235)
20. Treble Diamond Netting (page 236)
21. Diamond Netting, with Five Stitches (page 236)
22. Sème Purse, Diamond Pattern (page 238)
23. Open Plain Netting, or Filet a Bagaette (page 239)
24. Fond de Berlin (page 239, written in French only)
25. Filet Rose (page 240, written in French only)
26. Filet a Baton Rompu (page 240, written in French only)
27. Filet Rond (page 241, written in French only)
28. Netted Mittens with Silk and Wool (page 241)
29. Netted Cuff with Silk and Wool (page 242)

I have been asked to teach a beginning netting class for Novice Schola this coming Saturday.  I have been trying to come up with a pattern that teaches the basic skills, uses the sizes of the inexpensive mesh sticks I got, can be finished within 2-3 hours, and is something that might have been used several centuries ago.  I decided on a net bag.

In trying to create a pattern that would fit my needs I felt a bit like Goldilocks.



The first bag had way too many knots - 618.

The second bag was better, but still had too many knots - 558.

Finally, the third bag looked just right - 360 knots.

I can finish it in under an hour.  I hope the students can get close to being done within two to three.