Customer Reviews

Masterpieces of Irish Crochet Lace: Techniques, Patterns, Instructions (Dover Knitting, Crochet, Tatting, Lace)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a history of Irish Crochet Lacemaking. It is easy to follow and has the finiest patterns I have seen for advanced projects. It is a very good learning tool. Highly recommended!!!!!

This book is different from anything you will buy in a craft store. I loved it. There are techniques that are lost in the piles and piles of doileys and afghans that are seen everywhere today. If you like to work with small thread, you will love this book.

It also holds a lot of history in it, in that anyone who had a poor Irish Grandmother who made lace for the "rich neighbors", will see the reason "rich neighbors" wanted to buy if from her. The quality and beauty of the designs is a testiment to the talent and ingenuity of a people who only had something if they could make it out of nothing.

You will love this book even if you never use any of the designs.

Although this book has very few pages I find it to be very informing about Irish crochet. And at a good price. The instructions might be confusing for a beginner as another reviewer has mentioned but with some effort and patience you can get results.

I am a huge collector of the older patterns and this happens to be one of them. Buy this one to use and make some of your own heirlooms that can be passed down from generation to generation, the pictures and instructions are excellent.

Definately different! I just finished my first motif, the fourth floweret. I love thread crochet, and have recently done several modern renditions of "Irish Crochet", so I bought this book to add to my collection. I have worked from other material that was written using British terms, which takes a little getting used to, and I find myself easily adapting to the terminology. The terminology used here is similarly different, but not the same as british, however there is a "stitch conversion chart" and I found it easy to adjust.

A major difference that I found was the "style" in which it was written. Modern patterns tell you what to do with the next stitch, then the next. You follow the direction, then you finally catch on what they are trying to do ex: (2 ch, 1 sc in the next loop) 4 times. Where as this text tells you what needs to be accomplished, ex: make four times: 2 chain and 1 plain on the loop beneath. (US sc = plain). It takes some getting used to, and when I first started I thought that I would need to re-write the instructions in "modern terms", but before I could finish the first motif, I began to actually prefer this method of instruction! Wow! Also, the design flows together much easier than the modern renditions that I have tried. (Which almost scared me away from Irish Crochet.)

Also different is the cord foundation. I had never used a cord foundation before. Man, that took some getting used to! When I finally got the hang of it, I think it is genuis! The use of the foundation cord allows you to make sc stitches without working over a chain foundation all of the time. It also provides a wonderful contrast in thickness, which provides considerable depth the the motifs. Sort of like an outline. Which makes me realize that these motifs are expertly designed. The beginning instructions do a good job of explaining the use of the cord foundation. The only question I have unanswered is since the cord foundation is so thick, what is the best way to tie it off and work in the ends???

Several different weights of threads need to be used to accomplish the desired results. The original weights of thread specified are not readily available, and I am using No. 5 for a cord foundation as suggested in the adaptations in the foreword. I used No. 10 for the motif, and No. 30 for the ground (background) as I have it available to me. However this produces designs far larger than the templates in the back of the book. This is just fine for me, as No. 30 is really as small as I have the tools (and patience) to work with :) Next time I might switch to a No. 3 for the cord foundation???

If you have good thread crochet skills and some patience to get started, I think you should be very pleased with this booklet!

This is a very old book, so the instructions are in 'victorian' format - just text - but they are very detailed and informative. There are no complete patterns for artifacts here, just excellent building blocks for our own designs. Photography is very good, so whatever might look intimidating in the instructions becomes very clear in the picture. Also the introduction is excellent, providing a lot of facts and no gossipy dribble, so common in this type of literature.
This book is fully sufficient to learn design of crocheted lace, I will definitely use it for many projects.

This is a great book, it has easy to follow instructions and is put together in such a way that by the end of the book you can put together some wonderful works.

I have to confess, I love crocheting, but altho the items in this booklet are beautiful the directions are time consuming and a bit more complicated than I like. I crochet for pleasure, im not a pro, so Im just not up to these patterns!

It is a very interesting book for advanced knitters, very detailed explanations.
Pictures are not that great, but you get some ideas. As for me it was a great deal.

I have crocheted a long time and have done some Irish crochet. This book would be difficult for the average crocheter. I don't think the instructions are easy to understand, the photos are in black and white, very grainy and hard to see. An experienced crocheter would manage but there are better books out there. I do not recommend this.