A friend of mine passed on a box of vintage buttons and trimmings to me hoping I could find a good use for them.
Included in the box, was a long piece of lace that was in reasonable shape and could take being beaded. I used wire and ribbon to support the lace, beads and buttons. This was complicated.... hard trying to figure out the how to pull lace, ribbon, & wire together to finish the closing and focal piece. I was threading lace, wire and ribbon through EVERY bead I added!!! I took it apart a couple of times before I finally finished. I should have planned this out better, but I really do my best problem-solving tactically using the materials causing the problem to solve the problem. I am truly a hands-on learner.
Thank You Sally Epley for these treasures!!
Vintage lace update: In my latest rummage sale vintage lace find was a piece of this very delicate lace...I tried beading a small piece, but the lace was too delicate and tore. I have been looking at large hole beads but nothing has excited me yet and pretty pricey as well. There was a local gem fair, and my friend took me in tow to show me around the exhibits. We went on the hunt for big hole beads. My friend saw these MOP rings strung like beads and wondered if they would work. The rings had the potential to "bead" my brittle lace. I've worked on this piece most of the day. I reworked it 4 times..lots of ribbon and wire work to support lace. Still needle work to finish and wire cleanup...I'm not sure I like how this turned out, but I did figure out another way to solve the lace-to- chain connection dilemma! (I ran wire through the lace for support, threaded on a pearl and wrapped the pearl and wire around the wire stringing the "doughnut"connecting ring together. Finished by weaving ribbon around the lace to cover wires ..not wearable with wires poking out) Sounds complicated? IT WAS!!!
