Saturday, December 22, 2012

The Lady's Album of Fancy Work



This week I've chosen to list the netting patterns found in The Lady's Album of Fancy Work.  This book has no author listed.  It was published in 1849.  Another digitized copy of this book with a publication date of 1850 is available through Project Gutenberg.  This book also includes a sketch for each of the netting patterns.

The netting patterns include:


  1. Cover for Music Stool (page 10, item 9)
  2. Net for the Hair (page 15, item 16)
  3. Lady's Silk Mitten (page 24, item 28)
  4. Opera Hood (page 25, item 31)
  5. Cover for Fruit-Dish (page 30, item 37)



A few weeks ago I was asked about making a net laundry bag.  I've made a few over the years, but not recently.  I had used medium weight household string for the one I made for my oldest son when he went to college.  That was back in the days before I had a digital camera, so I did not have a photo of that pattern.

I needed to make another one so I could get a photo of that pattern.  I tried to find some 1/16" cord.  At a local hardware store I located some Twisted Polypropylene Rope that was the right diameter. The only color they had was pink. The cord was even "specially treated to knot securely." I guess the sheet bend does not qualify as a knot since, after the netting sat for a few minutes, the sheet bends would start to slide apart.

I finally took the suggestion of a friend and ironed the knots, after pulling them tight one more time. The heat from the iron melted the knots just enough to hold them in place.

net laundry bag with grommet at the bottom of the bag






The bag was made using circular netting.  The photo on the left shows the grommet at the bottom of the bag.

The photo on the right shows the top of the bag, which is fastened with a black cord lock.  I used  brown type I parachute cord to go through the final round of loops and attach to the cord lock.









2 comments:

Tony said...

I like the color of the laundry bag Rita. That style also very handy as a beach bag.
If you are looking for a nice soft twine that holds knots very well try spun nylon. It is available from commercial fishermen suppliers such as
http://www.nylonnet.com/
and
http://www.brunsonnet.com/ Tony

Rita said...

Thank you for the links, Tony. I'll have to try the spun nylon. I'm thinking of using either a #15 or #21.