A&S Class – Medieval Macrame

April 27, 2009 at 9:33 pm | Posted in Barony of Smoking Rocks, Fiber Arts | 2 Comments

On the fourth Monday of every month our Barony holds an A&S class. Topics range widely – from lectures on horology or medieval medicine to practical classes on embroidery or leather tooling. Tonight’s topic was macrame, taught by Johannes von Huegel.

Yes, macrame is period. Despite inevitable associations with hippies during the 60’s and 70’s, macrame has actually been around for centuries. Johannes said that it dated to at least the fifteenth century, and the Internet informs me that it was originally Arabic. Nest mentioned that she had seen period European examples, specifically with the macrame as an edging on a sampler that included reticella. My feeble Google searches indicate that macrame may be a form of punto a groppo, made in Genoa in the sixteenth century.

This is my end product from the class. Johannes taught us two stitches, but it took me awhile to figure out the directions, so I never progressed past the first stitch, which was the square knot.

Updated to add that Nest has informed me that the sampler she was thinking of was picture 121 in Old Italian Lace by Mrs. J. Hungerford Pollen.