CARRICKMACROSS

Carrickmacross is an Irish embroidered net lace.

CHARACTERISTICS

It has two forms – applique and guipure.
Applique is organdie, muslin or cambric applied to net: the design is outlined with couched or buttonholed thread, sections of the organdie are cut away and the net decorated with filling stitches.
In guipure, both net and organdie are cut away and spaces filled with bars/brides.
Designs are usually floral, sometimes derived from Brussels lace patterns or from Italian whitework.

Distinctive features are:
POPS - small buttonholed circles.
THORNS - buttonhole bars known as brides.
TWIRLS - circles of thread couched to the outer edge.

HISTORY

In the vicarage of Donaghmoyne near Carrickmacross in Ireland, Ann Steadman, employed as sewing maid for Mrs Grey Porter, the rector’s wife, was encouraged by Ann to copy examples of Italian appliqué lace she had collected in Italy in 1816. The lace on which they worked was to become known as Carrickmacross.

Around 1820, Mrs Porter saw this as a way to provide much needed employment for young women in rural Ireland. The time was opportune with the introduction of machine made net. Schools were set up and production commenced. Articles included wedding veils, collars, cuffs, handkerchiefs and table linen.

After the famine in 1846, the women from poor families were encouraged to supplement their income by producing lace. This production began to decline in the 1860s. Slowly, as the nineteenth century approached its closing decades, interest in Carrickmacross was revived due to the nuns at the St Louis Convent at Carrickmacross who taught the young in schools. A great era of lace making ended with the Great War in 1914.

The nuns of the convent no longer teach this needlelace. However, (when I visited 1996) in the main street of Carrickmacross in Ireland, there is display centre where one can view and buy the beautiful pieces worked by members of the Carrickmacross
Co-operative run by Martha Hughes. Theresa Kelly is making lovely 3 D pieces.

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© Valerie Cavill