Victorian Lace Today
Jane Sowerby (XRX Books)
AUD $47.95/ISBN 1-933064-07-2
If you came across an original Victorian lace knitting pattern, you would probably scratch the back of your head and wonder what it all meant. The current system of terms and abbreviations didn't come into use until the early 1900s, so any pattern produced before then needs some serious translating. Add to that the fact that different designers each used their own terms for stitches, and you have a veritable quagmire to wade through, even before you pick up your needles.
Thank you, Jane Sowerby, for doing all the hard work for us. She presents a book full of Victorian lace scarves, capes and shawls that today's knitter can knit with ease. Six Victorian-era designers are featured with photographs of their books, their histories, and edited versions of their patterns. Thirteen patterns from Weldon's Practical Knitter are featured, along with a large chapter on wide lace borders.
The instructions in the patterns are clear and the lace patterns are clearly charted. At the end of the book there is a chapter giving instructions and encouragement to design your own piece of Victorian-style lace.
Some of the designs are perhaps a little too sweet and demure but most are stylish and elegant by today's standards and will easily work with today's yarns. Photographs are clear so that you can decide confidently which shawl or scarf you would like to make. (I'd like to make several.) This book would be worth the money even for a lace novice, but for an aficionado it'll be worth its weight in gold.
—Sarah Golder