Needle Lace Talk

Make, learn and talk about needle lace.

Youghal and Kenmare needle laces

Information

Youghal and Kenmare are both Irish needlelaces.

Members: 38
Latest Activity: Sep 7, 2016

Resources: Books and Online

BOOKS:
Irma Osterman YOUGHAL: A CHARMING IRISH NEEDLELACE
Pat Earnshaw YOUGHAL LACE - THE CRAFT AND THE CREAM (covers techniques and history)

Pat Earnshaw YOUGHAL AND OTHER IRISH LACES

Veronica Stuart THE REVIVAL OF YOUGHAL NEEDLEPOINT LACE

Elizabeth Kurella IRISH NEEDLE LACE FOR CONNOISSEURS AND LACE MAKERS, 2014. Available from The Lace Merchant.

WEBSITES WITH BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS:
http://lace.lacefairy.com/Lace/ID/YoughalID.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youghal_lace

http://www.embroiderersguildwa.org.au/Types%20of%20Embroidery/YOUGHAL.htm

WEBSITES WITH INFO:

http://www.kenmarelace.ie/ Has background info and a kit.

http://www.kenmare.eu/kenmarelace/index.html Has a video by Nora Finnegan, not the same one as on her website.

PHOTOS:

Competition pieces from the Kenmare Lace Festival 2015 -

http://kenmarelacefestival.ie/2015-competition-winners/ ;

Discussion Forum

Kenmare Lace 1 Reply

Hi Judith,Nice to hear from you again.The thread may look heavy because the photo is much enlarged to show the stitches clearly.Although Kenmare is a generally a flat needlepoint lace, some Rose…Continue

Started by Nora Finnegan. Last reply by Judith Connors Jun 27, 2012.

Is this Youghal? 2 Replies

I just saw some lace posted on eBay - Item number:220722897920 - listed as Youghal. What do you folks think? What features say "Youghal" to you? Continue

Started by Carolyn Wetzel. Last reply by Elizabeth Ligeti. Jan 12, 2011.

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Comment by Elizabeth Ligeti. on December 10, 2011 at 6:14pm: This is one lace still on my "to do" list, - but I keep balking at getting started sue to that very issue - no cordonette to tidy up everything!! I am just not neat enough, I fear! My cordonettes hide a multitude of sins!!!

Comment by Lorelei Halley on December 9, 2011 at 6:38pm: Judith

Have you made an Youghal? Show us pictures? Even practice samples will tell us more than we know now.

Comment by Lorelei Halley on May 30, 2011 at 1:09am: The Embroiderer's Guild of Western Australia (??) has a brief description of Youghal characteristics. See http://www.embroiderersguildwa.org.au/Types%20of%20Embroidery/YOUGH...

Comment by Lorelei Halley on May 29, 2011 at 11:42pm: Carolyn

You have just told me 200% more than I knew (which was only the names). Everybody adds a little bit, and pretty soon, we have something!

Comment by Carolyn Wetzel on May 29, 2011 at 8:29pm: Lorelei,

Thanks for making the name change - the more I learn about the laces, the more connections I see. They were both started about the same time (in response to the Famine in Ireland) in towns not too far apart, by two different orders of Nuns. Going out on a limb (meaning I have not seen enough actual lace to determine this for myself, just read about it) Youghal lacemakers excelled in technique while Kenmare lacemakers excelled in design. They had similar patronage and competed in the same exhibitions. An Irish lace expert like Nora Finnegan can tell the laces apart easily, but I still rely on labels and hope the person who did the ID was correct!

Comment by Lorelei Halley on May 29, 2011 at 5:08pm: Carolyn

I'm so glad you started this form. Most of us aren't ready to try something like this, but you are one of our experts. Nora is a member.

Comment by Lorelei Halley on May 29, 2011 at 5:00pm: I changed the title of this group to "Youghal and Kenmare needle laces"? I hope that is OK. What are the differences between the two? Are they primarily stylistic differences?

Comment by Carolyn Wetzel on May 29, 2011 at 12:27pm: Hello Y'all (I couldn't resist using the pun that everyone else has been too polite to try GRIN). For those of you out of the USA, "Y'all" is a regional colloquialism for "you all" used in the Southeastern and Southern States, and sounds exactly like the way Youghal is pronounced.

Linguistic lesson aside, I've embarked on learning Kenmare and Youghal lace.... starting with cotton thread but hoping to move to linen once I find some fine enough (anyone have an old stash they'd like to sell part of?). I just posted 2 photos of my initial efforts. They are very beginning in quality but I think I was starting to get the hang of it toward the end of my flower. I definitely like the smoother Finca 3-ply thread over the softer and fuzzier 60/2 Egyptian cotton but that might be because I'm aiming toward the crisp linen look of the older lace.

I've started out using Nora Finnegan's Kenmare lace kit that she sells off her website, augmented with my needle lace book library that includes the Ostermann and Earnshaw (..."craft and cream") books listed above plus "The Revival of Youghal Needlepoint Lace" by Veronica Stuart and "Youghal and other Irish Laces" by Pat Earnshaw. I'm using a bolster pillow so both hands are free to manipulate the threads, which is quite a change from working in the hand as I've always done. I have sample of Youghal lace to study as I go, but no Kenmare lace except pictures.

Any comments or advice are welcome! I'm finding it particularly difficult to keep the edges of each section neat enough to show in the final lace, because there is no cordonnet to cover them, and in keeping my filling stitches consistent all the way to the edges of each section without gaps or bunches.

Comment by Lorelei Halley on February 11, 2011 at 1:06am: Does anybody know how different Youghal and Kennmare lace are?

Comment by Maureen Bromley on October 27, 2010 at 2:57am: Again another lace I want to try, just need time, more time.