Large amounts of beautiful lace in the Irish crochet style were produced in Europe in the early 1900s.

The Austrian government took advantage of the popularity of lace in that era to foster lacemaking in poor mountain villages and so provide an income for the women.

At about the same time, coastal villages along the northwest coast of France faced a financial crisis when the sardines failed to appear as usual. The French women also began to make Irish crochet lace.

Irish techniques and motifs brought in by teachers from Ireland were used at first.

Later, much of the work developed along different lines. The collars and other accessories were often dramatic with intricate three-dimensional motifs and pendants as shown on the upper left. These motifs were set in large areas of different backgrounds as seen in all the illustrations.

The 25 laces which have not shown before are from my personal collection, the Cavalcade of History and Fashion (http://thecavalcade.org) and the Carisbrook Museum (http://carisbrookhouse.com/). They all have features of the European laces in the literature.

Few people realize that a considerable amount of the ‘Irish crochet’ shown in books and exhibitions was produced in Europe and that the very popular American Priscilla pattern books of the early 1900s and the recent Japanese publications are largely of this different form.

This book is the only comprehensive account of these remarkable European designs in the English language.