Lacy patterns: people

The sash that George Washington received from his commanding officer, General Edward Braddock, features several motifs. One of them is a set of ten people. I've gotten to the place where I'm creating that motif, starting at the top of the heads and working down.

The motif is worked in a lace pattern. The people are "filled in" stitches, set apart by an openwork design. For those familiar with sprang lace stitches, the openwork is what I call "doubles grid". One row is worked "pick up 2, put 2 down" and the next row is worked in all plain stitches.

Another sprang expert, Sylva Cekalova, told me about another approach to sprang lace: work the plait row in single stitches all the way across, and then on the overplait row, reach up to un-do the stitches you need to create the holes. In this manner you are more likely to keep the threads properly separated.  Here's a video clip of me working to create the faces, using that approach.

The motifs on the Washington-Braddock sash are indeed impressive. Against a background of other sashes of the time, they are, however, less remarkable. 
Back in 2012 I had the honor of meeting Dutch sprang artist Coby Reijndeers-Baas. She spoke to me of her work restoring sprang sashes, and also about an exhibit of such sashes, the exhibit happening in the 1990s. She gave me the catalogue to that exhibit. The catalogue contains photos of some 47 sashes, most dating to the 1700s.
When COVID hit, and my calendar was erased, and I found myself sitting at my kitchen table, wondering what I would do to fill my time .... I decided to address a project that wanted time. Seeing as how time was what I now had ... I pulled out the catalogue that Coby had given me. I went through the images, examining each of the sashes closely, counting holes, and making charts, written patterns for each.

You can download a copy of that original catalogue from my website. I've received permission to allow you to do so for free, but if you use the book and publish something about this, the Sint-Jorisgild wants a copy for their historical archive.

​Have a look to see designs in other sashes from the same time period. Some of the motifs are geometric. Also included are animals, fish, birds, deer. There are boats and flowers and, yes, people, men and women, soldiers and hunters, mermaids and angels. Have a look for yourself.

Catalogue

If so inspired, you, too can concoct your own charts ... or download my book of patterns based on this collection.

Dutch Sash Patterns