Bobbin Lace

When you take groups of women to France who all collect the same thing - old trim, buttons, textiles and paper - you have to have a strategy for looking for your own stash. Logic tells me that I want to be the first one in the brocante, quickly survey the layout and then head straight to the armoire where there are piles of old textiles. But I've learned to take the slow approach. Now, I am usually the last one in and I head in the opposite direction of where everyone else has gathered. This lace sample book is a perfect example. When we all walked into our favorite antique shop in Montauban this past summer, everyone immediately spread out and started looking for gold. I hung back a bit, talked to the old owner, Guy, and told him about our escapades at the hat factory. He then pointed to a box on the floor in front of his desk and said "There's something in there you might like." That was my clue. I dug through the box full of old papers, scraps of tickets, maps and eventually pulled out this amazing sample book. Set up like a paper accordion, the pages all pull out - 25 in total - to reveal a bit of handmade bobbin lace. Each page has a selection of four inch lace samples tacked down - mostly in white, but a handful in black - for the mourning period. I tucked the book under my arm and thanked my lucky stars for finding the needle in the haystack.