424 THE MODERN IRISH LACE INDUSTRY. 



I set them, for about a month, to make working drawings from photos, of 

 old lace, restoring the good drawing, and studying the construction of the 

 pattern. At the expiration of that time, I gave them a space o' two inches 

 wide between two horizontal lines, and told them to make a design for a 

 border for needle-point lace, using any arrangement they pleased. One 

 sister had a very good design made in a few hours ; the other sat, day after 

 day, over the paper for nearly a month without producing anything. At 

 the end of that time, she told me she thought it would be well for her to 

 give up the idea of designing — a conclusion in which I thoroughly concurred. 

 But if you cannot make designers to order, there is no doubt the practice of 

 drawing will improve anyone who has to use head and hand. As an illus- 

 tration of the truth of this, in the Convent at Kinsale there is a large indus- 

 trial school for girls ; when they commenced to make the description of 

 lace, which is known as Limerick lace, but which, as I have said, is 

 really an embroidery on net, a teacher was engaged who had made lace in 

 the Convent some thirty years before, but who had, on the decline of the 

 industry, married and settled in Kinsale. The little girls who were selected 

 to learn lace-making had been taught to draw, and it was pointed out to the 

 lace teacher that this, no doubt, would help them, but she rather ridiculed 

 the idea. She said that when she was taught lace-making, there was no 

 drawing taught, and she could not see the necessity for it ; she said the 

 workers were compelled to " stab," as she expressed it, for about three 

 months, a needle through a piece of calico on which a pattern had been 

 traced, and she proposed to commence this course with the children. It 

 was explained to her that this had been necessary for the reason that the 

 workers had not been taught to draw, and that she would discover that the 

 girls who were to commence lace-making with her would have no difficulty 

 in following a pattern. Reluctantly and unbelievingly she consented ; and, 

 to her astonishment, found that it was perfectly true. She discovered that 

 the children could follow a pattern rather better than she could, and that 

 she need only teach them how to form the different fillings. She sent her 

 daughter at once to the class to learn drawing, and had the pleasure of 

 seeing her become one of the best designers in the class, where she still 

 remains. Visitors to the Horse Show, Dublin, have had the opportunity of 

 seeing work designed by this girl, and produced in the Convent, which has 

 more than once carried off the highest prize awarded there. 



I now propose to point to some of the varieties of lace which have been 

 made in Ireland since the establishment of these Art Classes, contrasting 

 them, in one or two instances, with specimens of an earlier date. Needle- 

 point lace of the flat description is made at the Convent of Poor Clares, 

 Kenmare ; the Presentation Convent, Youghal ; and at the Convent of 

 Mercy, New Ross. 



Fig. 7. — Here is a specimen of old, flat needle-point from Youghal. I 



consider this a most instructive example, because it 



V dli 1 r shows clearly how much depends upon good construc- 



° * tion and good drawing in a lace design. You can see 



plainly that there is no idea of construction in this 



design, each portion is independent, there is no growth in the pattern ; 



observe, on the left hand, how a stem appears to come out of the side of a 



four-sided form, which may have been intended to represent a flower. On 



the right-hand .side, where there was a difficulty in forming the edge, 



leaves have been inserted which do not grow from any stem, and 



