Carrickmacross lace

A thick outlining thread is stitched down along the lines of the pattern, sewing net and fabric together.

Occasionally bars of buttonhole stitches are worked over fabric and net before both are cut away.

[1] Carrickmacross lace was introduced into Ireland in about 1820 by Mrs Grey Porter of Donaghmoyne, who taught it to local women so that they could earn some extra money.

[2] The scheme was initially of limited success, and it was only after the Great Famine in 1846, when a lace school was set up by the managers of the Bath and Shirley estates at Carrickmacross as a means of helping their starving tenants, that the lace became known and found sales.

[3] The wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer featured a square of Carrickmacross lace that had belonged to Queen Mary sewn to the front.