Discovering Medallion Braid Crochet

     There's a problem with this months post. I want to write about something that really doesn't exist any more, so, I may have to take some liberties! We are still investigating mignardise braid and this is the post where we sweep up all the oddities that don't fit anywhere else and try to hang them altogether under a very loose premise!

    Last month I showed you an image of English braid. You might not have spotted how different this detail was. These mignardise medallions are no longer made. This is the problem! First of all, I must discover a way to make various medallions which can then be inserted into a crochet design in the manner it was done in the past. For my own sanity I am trying to avoid Irish Crochet which is a whole other story!

        In keeping with the other posts in this series, I have to ask myself what is it that crochet is either trying to replicate or taking it's inspiration from. I don't think the answer is straightforward. My first thought was Pulled Thread work. This is a kind of embroidery made on linen, where some of the threads of linen are removed. But I also see elements of the Richelieu and Guipure net work that we've already looked at (in May), as well as Reticella lace and even appliqué. I am sure that our Victorian crochet designers were surrounded by so much surface pattern and decoration that even they would have been hard pressed to make the connections themselves!

     In order to replicate the English Braid Medallions I have ended up drawing on some Irish Lace motifs. I found a Dillmont Irish Lace pattern which I used as a starting point. The original pattern was for a pair of leaves. By adding in a third leaf I was able to work up a simplified version of a Dillmont medallion braid design.

     After no end of frustration I was able to work a row of these motifs. I started with a length of chain and then worked back along the chain working each 'leaf' in turn, very much in the same manner that continuous  crochet motifs are made. I found a number of 'blueprints' for crochet designs from N.Alexandre & Cie, Paris, from about 1860; Manuel de Dessins pour Crochet. These designs have no instructions and you have to guess at the size of the stitches used but they make a great jumping off point for your own ideas. The other problem, of course, is that Victorian patterns give no gauge information or even suggest a hook size. So the designs I am showing you are mere approximations of the patterns that I found!

    A version of the next design was in both the Manuel de Dessins and T.E.Parker's Fancy Braid book from 1885. This is my version using two chains of the Irish Lace leaf motifs in place of the original medallions.

The second source had minimal instructions and suggested you make the joining row first, but I have to admit, those instructions defeated me. In the end I made that row last and I actually sewed the centre of those 'X' shapes before sewing the central row of chains with a slip stitch over the join.

   Contemporary with the English Braid medallions is a pattern which uses slip-stitches to create a medallion design.

These Medallions are made by working Back-Loop-only slip stitches into a ring of chain stitches. From the second row onwards, two increases are placed at the top and also at the bottom of the motif. Interestingly the pattern gives no information how to do this, so do we assume this knowledge is well known by our Victorian crocheters? Increases using slip stitches is done slightly differently to other stitches, we looked at it in this post. Working the stitches in this way gives the notif a slightly three dimensional shape, like a doughnut.

    This idea of making motifs separately and then joining them into a design will not come as a surprise to you. But I thought it was worth spending a moment to consider other motifs we might use to create a similar type of work.

   In the Ladies' Home Journal, September 1892 I found a pattern for Queen Lace.  This leaf shape will, no doubt, be familiar to you. I have seen it used in various lace designs and edgings. These instructions defeated me, so I looked to Irish lace for a solution. If you manage to decode it, please explain it to me!

The leaves begin in the centre and are worked outwards in Back Loop only Dc (Sc-US). A number of stitches are left unused at the end of each row to create the shape. The example used in the pattern (far right) uses slip stitches on the first few stitches of the returning row which helps to make the leaf look more symmetrical. I have found a modern example (far left), The Tole Tulip, in Suzann Thompson's Crochet Garden. Suzann's design uses larger stitches and has clever little picots on the row ends.

    Common to both Guipure and Reticella Lace is the use of solid blocks within the designs. I find this surprising as it doesn't fit with my personal definition of 'lace'. Is lace a light weight airy fabric or is it a collection of elements laced together to form a fabric?

This design is a simplified version of another Alexandre & Cie blueprint image. I made the row of squares first, then the picot edging and finally added the header.

    Triangles, in one way or another, feature frequently in Guipure styled crochet. The design is made from the top down in rows. Like the squares, the triangles begin with chain stitches which are worked back into with longer stitches. This design makes a good bridge to my final offering!

    Those original woven braid motifs give an effect reminiscent of Pulled Thread work. So let's shoe horn that idea in here as well! I've worked this square up from another Therese De Dillmont design.

I hope you will agree that this design fits naturally here as an extension of these ideas. The central petals of this motif are worked in Tunisian plain stitch, while the outer triangles are worked in double crochet, (Sc-US). The design is Fig.481 in the Dillmont encyclopedia, for once the instructions are usable. If you fancy taking up the challenge I have left more details on my Ravelry page.

At the time the pattern was written, crocheters would have had long straight hooks which made the Tunisian stitches achievable. I had to use a Prym Tatting hook for this part of the work.  Mme Dillmont claims this design is taken from 'an old collection by Sibmacher.' While I could not find the original inspiration for this design I was able to track down a book of designs by Johann Siebmacher from 1597.

 

If you would like more details for any of the designs here, please let me know.

Fastening off...