500 Years of Lace History ft. Elena Kanagy-Loux

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I find it fascinating that lacemaking was spread through books, since it implies a fairly high level of female literacy among the working class.

Oh what a tangled weave we weave when first we weave lace

Elena seems like a person who could talk about what she loves for hours, and I could listen to her for said hours. It's fascinating that needle lace evolved from embroidery, as a resource saving technique. I absolutely loved this video, as much as I love wearing lace ❤

I'm surprised that knitted lace was not covered. Shetland lace is beautiful and struggling to be passed on to younger generations. Queen Victoria started the interest in it originally.

I find it heartbreaking as a Flemish spinner and crafter that we had such highstanding textile industry, both our lace industry and wool industry, that also produced super luxurious cloth sold all over the world, and now it is practically non-existent. Lace is made as a tourist trap in Brussels and Bruges mostly now...

As somebody who used to live down the street from the lace museum. I cannot recommend enough that people make that pilgrimage and go visit it in person and support them and buy stuff from them. Because it is the willy wonka's factory of lace and you will never see anything so beautiful in your life lace related

I do NOT need another hobby! I do NOT need another hobby! I do NOT need another hobby!

Her enthusiasm is contagious!

I did not think I'd spend an hour learning about lace, but this was really cool

as a belgian who had most of his ancestors being weavers and spinners around the kortrijk's region and even a set of great great grandmothers who were lacemakers from antwerp, and as a hobbyist who's become obsessed in linen goods and historical textiles (the movement and drape of most historical textiles was exquisite and it's probably why most reenactors' dress tend to look bland imo) it saddens me to realise that the skills i really want to learn about would have be common less than 200 years ago. I guess i wouldn't want their lives and the price to pay for this knowledge would have been being forced into this trade at a time when it would be not a secure one, but i guess i found what subject i could focus on in my craft and research going forwards. Sucks that i couldn't make those super transluscent flemish linen veils seen in 16th century portraiture

Usually I have videos like this on in the background while I'm doing something else, but there was so much incredible information that I had to give it my full attention! I love Elena's work and it was incredible to hear her speak in so much detail

As someone who's been making lace regularly since at least 2001, I'm so sorry that she had difficulty finding the various websites that shared techniques and patterns back then. I know when I first tried to learn tatting (around 1998-ish), it was very difficult to find anything online at first (and all I had to learn were some.... rather poor illustrations). Within a couple of years, I had found several forums and email lists of tatters and other lace-makers who helped me figure out what I was doing wrong. And LOTS of videos, which were invaluable! By 2004, at least, websites with patterns were starting to pick up and be found by search engines even if you weren't a member of the forums. I still need to find a few extra hours/weeks/years to learn ALL THE TECHNIQUES! lol - 'Til then, I'll just have to enjoy my tatting, knitting, & occasional crochet.

I have longed for this Lace History Lesson for 40 years. I will be watching this again and sending it to the ladies in my Antiques Club. ❤😂🎉. She speaks so well! 👏🏻🤍

I love Elena!!!! So glad you interviewed her.

Awesome educational video! Thank you. I'm one of those weird people who likes knitting lace more than pretty much any other kind of knitting. I love using size 0, 00, or 000 needles and crochet thread to create elaborate lace doilies. One of my grandmothers used to crochet doilies. Not many people use them these days. I love seeing how people use lace in clothing, though. 😊

Fascinating. There are certain crafts/livelihoods that have a level of commitment and intricacy that deserve more recognition, lace making, dry stone walling, miniature painting to name but a few. Tying my own laces is a mental stretch for me some mornings 🤔

Sorry I'm late for the party, youtube failed to notify me and I was off on my weeks. However I did get a lot out of this video! Elena is such a wealth of knowledge. My danish great grandmother used to do some amazing needle lace. After this video it makes so much more sense now about the story that her family sold lace to pay for their passage to America right around the time she was born in the late 1890's. She taught her daughter and tried to teach her granddaughters as well, but they never had any desire to do anything with it. There were other things that are now considered crafts that she tried to teach them they they had no intrest in either. By that time, the world had changed and didn't appreciate things like lace as it did back in my great grandmother's day. She used to knit and crochet too but today we only have a few throw blankets that she made that survive. At the time they were customers made knock offs of what was popular at the time that she could still make with her arthritic hands. Sadly she didn't live long enough to teach me anything. She tried to teach my mom to knit and crochet but my mom never had any intrest. It saddens me to think of all that was lost to history not only with the passing of my great grandmother but all the unnamed women throughout history who had this unique skill that was such a big part of history at one time. However, it's also good to see that people are striving to bring the quality handmade items back. I guess you could say that it's sort of a renaissance of these skills if you will. Than you so much for having these 500 years videos. They have been so informative!

I am a bobbin lace maker from Denmark and we have a lot of history with it

I love that Elena shared quotes from a disabled nun. Being disabled myself, I knew a bit about this myself but I loved hearing someone who was abled to talk the practice of aristocrats sending disabled women to convents and this was cruel; it was much kinder than some of the alternatives, but it was still a cruel practice. Before I was born, my mom had the opportunity in Germany to watch some Bamberg (where I was born) tatters tatt some lace. She never saw hands move so fast! My great-aunts could tatt and bobbin lace; I'm sad this wasn't passed down to any of us girls.