A touch of antiquity

Last week I had a phone call from someone I’ve known for 25 years or more. She’s a new grandmother and her first grandchild will be christened next month. The reason for her call: the family heirloom christening gown that her father-in-law, husband and two children {amongst others} have worn, was in distress.  Ha! My name came up, as it so often does, on the subject of christening gowns needing this or that.  It most likely goes back to my days of being a smocking and fine needle arts shop owner.  I have both made and repaired a fair number of gowns in my day.

Over the phone I agreed to take a look at the “tiny broken crochet” that she spoke of needing repair, pleading that I may not be able to mend it.  She brought the gown by.  One look told me that it's not crochet in need of repair but a Swiss insertion lace, called entredeau, which has disintegrated.  About 3 inches of the yoke was detached from the skirt. I told her this may be something that I could repair, but I doubted it would look anything like the original, and it would definitely be different in that area.  My friend agreed that would be just fine.  She was happy to just have the 2 parts sewn together in any form, so it will be wearable for the next generation.

I brought it home and I have pondered the 3” hole for days on end now.  I knew I would not be able to match the entredeau because, one it’s a double row, and two, it’s so tiny.  Over the course of the week, I’ve been going through my lace boxes and each time not coming up with a solution.  Today, I contemplated the entredeaux that I do have – a yard here, and two yards there, some white, some ivory – but none seemed suitable and I was wondering if I should try and {heaven forbid} make some, somehow.  All the time I was looking, I was disregarding wider laces, when all of a sudden I spied a decorative Swiss edging lace that, if cut up, might be just the ticket.  And it was!  You can see in the photo that I cut it apart, and used the center mesh part, where the “holes” are offset just like the entredeau in the gown. I did all the stitching by hand, of course, with heirloom denier thread.  However...there is a little “bulk” behind where I sewed, because I didn’t want to trim the lace down too much, lest it fray and fall apart in the course of time.  As it is now, I think it will outlast the dress.

 It is always such a treat to work on someone’s heirloom.  I love thinking about who made the gown – this one, apparently 95 plus years ago – and think back to her life and what the world was like then.  Her stitches are impeccable, every stitch done seemingly effortlessly by hand.  I wonder how many cups of tea she drank while she was stitching?  I had a couple in her memory today.