On 14 October 2021, DCCI celebrated 50 years since its foundation and a special celebration was held in Dublin Castle.

Following on from the success with the local flax growing scheme in 2020, we decided to broaden participation in the project. With a grant from Pobal through Tidy Towns, Ester suggested that we put out a call both locally and nationally for volunteers to grow flax. The response was encouraging, with interest from Dublin to Mayo to Headford.

A collaboration between Portumna Pen Pushers and Headford Lace Project. In 2019, seeds were sown for this collaboration during a series of workshops ‘Agents of Change’ facilitated by Sharon O’Grady, Arts Officer, Galway County Council.

For August Craft Month, we decided to put together a little video presentation all about our online lace archive, which launched in 2020. Hear committee member Ella Hassett talk about the archive itself, the digitisation project and much more!

On 4 August 2021, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media Catherine Martin announced that Headford Lacemaking had been accepted to the National Inventory for Intangible Cultural Heritage.

I mí Mheitheamh 2021, fuair mé teachtaireacht ó Mharcus Mac Conghail agus é ag obair ar sraith nua raidió darb ainm Aistí ón Aer ar Raidió na Gaeltachta. Bhí suim aige sa scéal HLP agus d’fhiafraigh sé díom píosa a scríobh faoi.

'Tells’ were rhymes used by lacemakers. They helped to pass the time and gave an escape from the tedious nature of lacemaking work.

Mary Goff set out from Ballina Workhouse to sail to Australia on the Inchinnan in 1849, mapping out her own new directions, her own dreaming.

Easter is synonymous with bonnets and I have decided to write about three bonnets in our archive.

The official state emblems of Ireland are the harp and the shamrock. In reviewing the archive, the shamrock was a popular motif in lacemaking patterns and I discovered many examples of its use. 

Today, we think of all the women in our lives who have nurtured, encouraged, supported, inspired and shared their innate wisdom with us and all the women who continue to do so. The focus of this blog is about the lives of the women in our local area who were involved in the lace industry lest they be forgotten.

Dhá scéal ghrá nasctha le séipéal na hOllscoile i mBaile Átha Cliath ...

“Gabhaigí ar bhur nglúine, osclaígí bhur súile agus ligigí isteach Bríd.”  (Paidir, Carey Family, Doolough, Geesala, Co.Mayo).

“Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

“Happiness is in the comfortable companionship of friends.”  Pam Brown, 1928.

Sr. Madeleine Cleverly, an Irish-American nun who spent time with the Benedictine Order at Kylemore Abbey and became part of Headford Lace Project, donated to Headford church a lace-trimmed pall based on an adaptation of the original piece of Headford Lace.

St Catherine, patron saint of lacemakers, celebrates her Feast Day on November 25.

In October, The International Organization of Lace Inc. (IOLI) invited HLP to do a virtual presentation.

In May 2020, HLP was granted funding from Tidy Towns to grow flax in a central location in our town. However Covid-19 hit and we had to make an alternative plan for growing the flax.

Fuaireamar seans a bheith ar Nuacht RTÉ agus Nuacht TG4 i rith an tIdirspás (The Space Between). Tháinig foireann go hÁth Cinn chun agallamh a thaifead linn. 

Fiona Harrington was selected to be part of an exhibition in the National Gallery of Ireland in the summer of 2020. Curated by Sinéad K. Rice, the exhibition ‘Lace, Paint Hair’ celebrated “the inexorable art of making and the makers of art in Ireland today”. Fiona’s pieces included some ‘masterful needlework’ adding fine lace to delicate eggshells and also an in-progress piece of Headford Lace made by Fiona for use as a hand fastening for her wedding.

From a dubious start, it was such a delight to see the first flax flower bloom.

After our planned lace weekends were cancelled due to Covid-19, the suggestion was made to me that we should create some short bobbin lacemaking video tutorials for the HLP website.

In August, Brazilian committee member Giulliana utilised Instagram Live to participate in an online lace event with a global twist! She organized an exchange with the Brazilian Bobbin lacemakers group Rendeiras da Vila, who are located on the east coast of Brazil.

As we are all confined to home and our local area during lockdown it is a great opportunity to embark on a new project with Headford’s unique heritage in mind.

A collaboration between Headford Lace Project and Kylemore Abbey.

A presentation of commemorative bonnets was made to Mrs. Sabina Higgins by Headford Lace Project and Dr. Christina Henri.

Headford Lace Project are excited to be collaborating with photographer Aengus McMahon Photography, with generous support from the Design & Crafts Council Ireland, to digitise our archive of lace and hand-crafted items.

Headford Lace Project visit to Ballina with Dr. Christina Henri.

Headford Lace Project collaborated with Dr. Christina Henri's 'Irish Roses, Bride ship Lasses' project to honour the memory of Irish girls and young women who left Ireland for Australia and Tasmania under the Assisted Migration Scheme in the nineteenth century.

Veronica Rowe is the grand-daughter of Florence Vere O'Brien, who established the Limerick Lace School in 1889. Veronica has recently loaned her grandmother's fine lace collection to the Hunt Museum in Limerick. Lacemakers have been flocking to the museum to view the temporary exhibition of this collection, which runs at the museum until Friday, 5th July.

Anne attended ‘Creative Livelihoods’ in Collins Barracks, Dublin on Tuesday, June 11th. It was hosted by the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland. It focused on the value of craft in communities.

“Making together allows people to connect” at Foxford Woollen Mills

Ella recounts her visit to the Kantcentrum lace museum while on a long weekend in Bruges.

Headford Lace Project facilitate “ Looking out to Sea” bonnet workshop on International Women’s Day, Friday March 8th 2019.

Committee member Ella discusses her involvement with the project while living in London.

Anne O’Hara Quinn and Ger Henry Hassett represent Headford Lace Project at the unveiling of a statue commemorating Mayo’s Forgotten Famine Girls.

Visit to The Lace Gallery, Carrigslaney, Kilbride, Co. Carlow - Discovering Borris Lace and the work of Mary O'Neill.

Visit to a National Library of Ireland Exhibition, Seamus Heaney, ‘Listen now and Again’ running at the new Bank of Ireland Cultural and Heritage Centre, College Green.

During Heritage Week I visited the Irish Workhouse Centre in Portumna, Co. Galway. I needed to learn about the history of the workhouses and get an understanding of the work being done at the Irish Workhouse Centre and the possible overlap with the Headford Lace project.

During Heritage Week I had occasion to visit New Ross and view the Ros Tapestry. There I met Ann Fogarty and Susan Synnott who explained how this community based enterprise began in 1998.

Headford Lace Project members Norma Owens and Jackie Magnin created pieces of Headford Lace which were included in the Guild of Irish Lacemakers' presentation at the World Lace Congress in Zaandam, The Netherlands.

I was inspired to do this monogram for Joshua at his christening. When I saw him wearing the bonnet made by Ester Kiely and trimmed with Jackie Magnin’s Headford Lace, I decided I had to make something special to remember this occasion. Joshua is our ‘Headford Lace baby’ and has been part of the project even in-utero.

Video memories of our wonderful weekend in Cork. Our thanks to Galway Rural Development for the funding, and to our friends in Cork: the Traditional Lacemakers of Ireland, West Cork Regional Museum, and Rathbarry Tidy Towns.

I attended the Introduction to Goldwork day class on July 7th. It was run by the RSN and took place over the Constant Knitter in Francis Street Dublin.

Sybil is a Hunt Museum Exhibition highlighting the design career of Sybil Connolly, a Dublin-based fashion designer who was renowned internationally for creating haute couture from Irish textiles. Last Saturday, the Headford Lace Project was invited by Dr. Matthew Potter of Limerick Museum to attend a special Friends of Lace event at the exhibition.

The Headford Lace Project began in September 2016 with the aim of researching and reviving Headford’s lacemaking heritage. Since then, we have translated these aims into a series of activities with a focus on community engagement. Our five Headford Lace Weekends have trained keen apprentices in the skills of bobbin lacemaking and bobbin making, we have participated in a number of external events, members of our committee have undertaken a multitude of training initiatives to expand our collective knowledge and skills, and we have grown our network of lace contacts internationally through our social media channels.

The Fashion Museum Bath showcased 50 exquisite pieces which demonstrated how lace has been used from the 1500s to the present day.

I was introduced to Mountmellick Work by Veronica Stuart during the lace weekend in Headford on 22/10/2017.  As I have a keen interest in embroidery, I was fascinated by this white on white work. I visited the Mountmellick Embroidery Museum, Co. Laois on 10/11/2017.

The beautifully-restored Sprigging School in Rathbarry once housed a lace school established by Lady Carbery in 1825. Last week, as part of our Culture Night activities, a very special piece of lace associated with that school came to visit us here in Headford.

This museum is located in the village of Bellanaleck, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.