For Margaret Rowe of Catalina, bobbin lacework isn’t just a hobby, it is keeping a centuries-old tradition alive.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
“When the industrial revolution came, lacework as it had been was virtually gone, so this is keeping the art alive,” she said.
It is an art form that hit its peak a few centuries ago, but had been practised long before that.
“Lacework has been found in tombs in Egypt,” she said.
Mrs Rowe fell in love with bobbin lacework at a craft fair in Wagga Wagga 17 years ago.
“The whole thing fascinated me; I felt drawn to it,” she said.
“It was possibly something in my genes.”
She was so determined to master the complicated art that she would stay up working on it to 3 o’clock in the morning.
When Mrs Rowe and husband Roger moved to the Eurobodalla, she didn’t expect to find fellow lacework enthusiasts here, but was pleasantly surprised.
“I asked in one of the fabric shops and found out there was a group,” she said.
“Our small group meets here once a month.
“We pass on knowledge, enthusiasm, patterns and new ideas.”
There is no competitiveness that would lead to the keeping of secrets from each other.
“The knowledge has to be passed on, or the art will be lost,” she said.
She partakes in her hobby most days.
“I’ll plan to do lace for 10 minutes, and then look up at the clock three hours later and I’m still doing it,” she said.
It is the journey, rather than the destination, that appeals to Mrs Rowe.
“I like working up complexity in the design rather than the finished product,” she said.
“When I finish it I put it away, forget about it and think about what’s next.”
Lacework is not the easiest of pastimes.
“They say a logical mind helps,” Mrs Rowe said.
“They say patience helps, but I think it is more stubbornness.
“You have to be determined that it is not going to beat you.
“It can be maddening.
“There is an old painting depicting a boy throwing a lace pillow into a duck pond, and it is not hard to relate to this.”
Mrs Rowe said her husband is happy with her hobby.
“It keeps me out of the shops,” she said
The Bay Post/Moruya Examiner profiles the hobbies of people in our community each week in the feature, ‘Get on your hobbyhorse’. Do you have an interesting hobby? Email journalist Josh Gidney at josh.gidney@fairfaxmedia.com.au or phone him at 4472 6577.