History

Nun’s Lace

Shepherd’s Knitting

“Crochet in the Air”

v     Tambouring

v     Origin of the word “crochet”

Nun’s Lace

Nun’s Lace or Nun’s Work is supposedly dated back to the 1500’s.  In Italy this needlecraft was worked by nuns to be used as church textiles.  The nuns took their knowledge with them and spread it to Spain.  There it became commonly used by the late 1700’s.  Crochet then spread to the rest of Europe. 

Many creative trimmings were used by the Church for various purposes.  Many were used for vestments, altar cloths, and clothes for covering chalices.  Most of these were not crochet pieces however.  Most were trimmings of needlepoint lace and bobbin lace.  Few pieces of actual crochet have been found and most of these cannot be dated earlier than the late 1800’s.  During the 1600’s efforts were made to find a cheaper way to make the elaborate lace than the existing methods.  The forms they created were not crochet however and were still based on the traditional methods of making lace.  Many examples of this form were preserved and can be seen today, but no evidence of crochet pieces from the same time exist to confirm it was in use.

Shepherd’s Knitting

Shepard’s knitting first developed in the poorer countries of Europe with cold, bleak winters.  The first written record of its use dates to 1812.  The first known use of this form was in Scotland by shepherds, and this is where the name stems from.  Other places known to have used this technique were northern Scandinavia and the mountainous areas of southeast Europe.  Most shepherd’s crochet items were made of home-spun wool.  The items were meant to be warm and durable.  The most often found surviving old pieces of shepherd’s crochet are mittens.  The mittens were often used for work on land and at sea, and they were used by blacksmiths for protection from the heat of their forge.  Other items often made with shepherd’s crochet included practical items such as stockings, caps, capes, and long johns.  Other materials besides wool, such as cotton and flax, were sometimes used in this technique to make different items, some for formal wear.

The hooks that were used in this technique were usually handmade tools.  The old tools usually had a thin hook at one end, and then they widened out into a flat handle.  They were made from fishbone, wood, animal bone, or a variety of other hard items that could be found and formed into the desired shape.

 “Crochet in the Air”

Tambouring was a form of needlework that originated in Asia.  It was a very ancient from of oriental embroidery known in Turkey, Persia, and India.  It reached Europe in the 1700’s.  This was practiced in Europe mostly in the more wealthy western countries.  It was usually used to make very delicate items like fine purses.  In tambouring a background fabric was stretched over a frame.  Interlocking stitches were then made using a hooked tool.  The tool used in tambouring became known as a “crochet” from croc, or croche, the Middle French word for hook.  “Crochet” also became the French word for the kind of interlocking stitches formed in tambouring. 

Around 1800AD the French discarded the background fabric and started working the stitches on their own.  The new technique came to be called “crochet in the air” because the stitches were done “in the air” without the background fabric.

K. Dickerson

Last revised: 11/05/03