Thistle &c Bookmarks

Jean Leader

Lacemaker and Textile Enthusiast

Thistles, roses, daffodils and shamrocks

I wrote this book because people kept asking me if the patterns for the bookmarks were available and I felt that the patterns needed some instructions to go with them. I designed the thistle bookmark first (see Tale of a Sugar Shaker) and was persuaded to send a picture of it to the Lace Guild after an appeal for lace that could be used for publicity purposes appeared in Lace. Then at the 1990 Lace Guild AGM in Bristol, I met Executive Committee member Barbara Philo who said “We all liked your thistle bookmark — have you thought about making matching ones for England, Wales and Northern Ireland?” I hadn’t, but decided it would be interesting to try and set myself the deadline of having them ready for the Lace Guild’s fifteenth anniversary exhibition in 1991.

I found ideas for suitable flowers and leaves in Designs and Patterns for Embroiderers and Craftsmen edited by Marion Nichols and published by Dover and eventually came up with three more designs that I was happy with. The daffodil (for Wales) was the most difficult because it’s a rather stiff flower and I needed to make it flow (I decided that the alternative, a leek, would be even more difficult). The three new bookmarks were finished in time for all four of them to be displayed together at the exhibition — the daffodil was placed upside down but I think I was the only person who noticed!

Book details

Thistles, roses, daffodils and shamrocks:
4 bookmarks using Bedfordshire lace techniques
Jean Leader
20 pp, A4 size
UK Price: £10.50 incl. P&P
Sample pages can be downloaded in pdf format (web quality).

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