A Second Net Spiral Bag

This week I finished the second net bag for the double baby shower.

It is also done as a spiral from the top, so it does look similar to the bag I finished last week.














However, since I have a hard time repeating the same pattern over and over unless I have a good reason, there are some differences.

First, the handles.  They look different because of where the increases are placed.

Beginning about half way down the handle, the pink bag, made last week, has increases placed along the edges of the handle.  This creates a triangular shaped as the handle nears the bag.



The blue bag has a straight handle.  The increases are all added in the same row, just after the size of the mesh stick changes. 










Another way the bags differ is in how the decreases that form the bottom of the bag are placed and the number of loops that are pulled together for the decreases.

The pink bag pulls the loops together in groups of three on one row.  The grommet is formed in the next row.   The blue bag decrease only 5 times on one row and then decreases directly below those decreases on two more rows.  After those three decrease rows a grommet in the following row.  This formed a five-sided shape on the bottom of the blue bag.

Both bags were filled with my favorite baby bibs and the net handles were tied into a bow.

Spiral Net Gift Bag

Next Saturday I have a double baby shower to attend.  This week I was able to finish the bag for the expected girl.  The photos show the bag both with and without the bibs that will accompany it.

This bag is made from the top down.  The handle is made in two pieces.  After each piece is made they are joined together on one end to form the circular mouth of the bag.  The other ends of the handle sections are tied together in a square knot.  Once the mouth of the bag is created, I just net around and around the circle until it is as long as I want it to be. Then I formed a grommet at the bottom of the bag.

Net Gift Bag

Several years ago I decided to net a small gift bag to hold the bibs I was giving as a baby shower gift.  The bag could be used to hold the bibs or whatever the mother wanted to put in it.

This month I have three baby showers to attend.  So I net this Small Rectangular Bag for the one tonight.

Once the bag was done, I added the bibs.

This will be the last Small Rectangular Net Bag I will make for a while.  I need to make some circular and spiral ones so I can have some photos for those classes.

A Netting Riddle

What do these two pictures have in common?

Post your answers in the comments section below.

To see my answer, click here.

New Netting Tools

Recently I acquired some new netting toys tools from Marie-Jo at FILET LACE BY THE SEA.  I have enjoyed looking at them and playing with using them.

They feel so smooth I could just keep rubbing them all day.  I have not yet tried the two smaller ones, but I have used the largest.  It's narrower than my white plastic one, but since it is thicker, it produces the same size meshes.

Along with the mesh sticks came the needle on the left.

I got the needle on the right after Marie-Jo showed me some photos of a few handmade netting needles she had.  I am so glad I ordered one.  It is so much sturdier than the other needles I have seen (like the one next to it in the photo).  So, if you are looking for small netting needles for fine netting, contact her.

How does your garden grow? With diamond-mesh and square-mesh trellis

It's been just over a month since I "planted" the last of my trellises. I was out weeding today and decided to show you that the trellises are no longer empty.

The beans have completely taken over this trellis.  In a couple of cases the vines reached the top, went over, and started growing down the other side.



















While not all the vine plants are taking over the trellis at the rate the beans are, they are attaching and climbing up.















And it does not seem to matter whether the mesh is square or diamond shaped.

I call it Netting - others call it Modano Lace?

This week I received an email from a friend on the other side of the country.  She sent me a link to an article written many years ago by her mother.  The article, about 9 pages into the May 1980 issue of International Old Lacers (page 92 in the actual paper copy), was titled Modano Lace and was by Bertha Cragun of Washington. Judging by the drawings that accompany her description of how to start the center of a doily as well as the text of her explanation, I would say she is talking about the type of netting my grandmother taught me. She also tells how to create a tool holder for needles, mesh sticks, and other tools.

I had never heard of Modano Lace.  So I did what any internet user would do - I Googled the phrase.  Once I got rid of the dinnerware and the hockey players, I found another issue of the International Old Lacers, this time from January 1980.   About 12 pages into the file, or page 52 in the paper copy, I found another article about Modano Lace written by Bertha Cragun of Washington.  This article, titled "Circle It," contained "...things you can do with a circle --- of Modano Lace, ..."  These things include "a charming skirt for a Shirley Temple collector doll," a pillowcase decoration, a "Lacy Shawl," a "Garden Hat," and a 6-pointed star.  There are photos of all these items and basic instructions.  It certainly looks like my kind of netting.

Both issues of International Old Lacers were located on a section of the University of Arizona's website.  When I searched that section for Modano, I found the following tidbits of information:

On page 12 of A Guide to Old and New Lace in Italy:

"Modano, a very ancient net lace that is made without any embroidery is quite artistic in effect.  The meshes of Modano may be large or small, round, square or shell-shaped, according to the size and form of the stick which is held in the left hand and the number of meshes taken or skipped in knotting into the row above.  This netting can be varied indefinitely; it is often very pretty and to the untrained eye, it greatly resembles some of the varieties of pillow lace."  (Brazzà, Cora A. A Guide to Old and New Lace in Italy, Exhibited at Chicago in 1893. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1893.)

And, in the Old Lace Manual

"Lacis: -- See Punto a maglia, Sfilatura, Modano, Filet, Netzarbeir.  The ground net work is usually of linen thread, sometimes in colored silk, green, brown, and yellow a favorite combination.  Square meshes, darned in with patterns, crossing and interlacing threads.  Made from the beginning of the XV century, till the present time.  The earliest designs, conventional diapers, religious emblems, two birds divided by the sacred tree, etc."

"Modano: --See Lacis.  The early was not generally embroidered, but had knotted meshes in different shapes.  Italian square meshed knotted lace, in white linen thread and colored silks, the design darned in.  made in all countries, and in each century, after XIV."  (Kohlsaat, Amy Milton. Old Lace Manual. New York: Privately Printed, 1910.)

So, do any of you know more about Modano Lace and how it relates to netting?  Does anyone know how Modano Lace relates to Mezza Mandolina?  If you know, please comment, so the rest of us can learn.