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SCRAPS.
IRISH LACE.
The Irish lace ! How many kinds there
are, and how beautiful aud varied! The
best known, says the Queen, is perhaps
the Garriclcmacross, called par excellence
Irish point, which consists of fine muslin
la'd on net, but not always on net, with
the design outlined m thc finest cord,
worked over, and the edges cut away. !
Thc design is connected by small bars.
Then next comes Limerick lace, with its
pattern worked in tambour stitch on a net
ground. This lace is not so' much made
as formerly, for, with modern machinery,
an imitation of it has been so well pro»
duced, that it baa considerably spoilt the
market for the real. The Wexford lace
is totally different from others, and is in
the style of the coarse old Italian " reti
cella," or drawn work of centuries ago,
which is so often confused with, and taken
for, Greek lace. The material is coarse
linen, and the pattern is produced by the
the threads being drawn away, and then
worked over by the same threads, in
strong overcast stitch. Aprons, consist
ing of insertions and plain linen, have
been fashionable in this lace, and altar
cloths are also frequently made of it. The
most beautif ni productions of all hail from
Cappoquin, Youghal, and the district of
Lough Erne (the latter being called In
nismacsaintlace, and being faithful copies
of the costly old raised Spanish, Venetian,
and Florentine lace.) These are entirely
wrought with the needle, on parchment
designs, worked with the finest thread
and needles, with the exquisite stitches
and the connecting bars, called brides
picotées, which have rendered the foreign
lace so celebrated. It is most trying to
the eyes to produce, and, owing to the ex
treme fineness of the stitches, is slow and
costly work. A fan of point lace, from
the hands of the Cappoquin lace workers,
was given to Princess Beatrice, as a wed-
ding gift, subscribed for by seventy ladies
from county Waterford. Irish crochet
is a great industry, though not so much
se as formerly, and great effects, rich ap-
pearance, and handsome dress ornamen-
tation come from the crochet hook of
many a cabin denizen, as well as school
and convent inmate.
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