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. I met Dolores Dempsey, the embroidery teacher there, and viewed a short dvd on its history and learned about Johanna Carter the lady who introduced the technique to the town in 1825. She set up a lace school and taught young girls this skill and it provided them with a means of earning a living. Dolores showed me beautiful examples of this work and explained the various stitches to me. The embroidery is worked on a heavy white cotton satin called jean. The motifs used are inspired by nature and the stitches chosen give a realistic look. The museum houses an extraordinary collection of this work.
Anne O’Hara Quinn also suggested we acquire a book entitled The Identification of Lace by Pat Earnshaw from the Fashion Museum shop. As education officer Anne felt that this book would be a useful addition to the Headford Lace Library. It will be a valuable reference and will help us in learning how to identify different types of lace.