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Reports from the Deutscher Klöppelverband’s annual gatherings have long been tantalising, so Denise Watts and I missed the Royal Wedding and took my new book to their 2011 Congress at Bad Pyrmont at the end of April.
We managed to catch up with The Dress and the Rear of the Year at the end of three busy days during which we did a roaring trade – thanks to the help and advice of my knowledgeable companion (whose eco shop www.wattstrading.co.uk still keeps the recession at bay in Cornwall, due to her good taste and unstinting effort).
We also managed to take in the focal point of these events, the wonderful displays of lace. These feature not only completed exhibition pieces but also work inspired by the DK’s nationwide programme of classes during the year. It is worth going just to see these.
The main exhibition, at the museum in the moated castle, was of Milanese lace old and new, an enthralling collaboration by DK members. There is a beautiful book devoted to this, ‘Mailänder Spitze auf neuen Wegen’. Another book launched at the same event is highly recommended, if you are as interested as I am in the technical intricacies of the often-overlooked edgings on old lace, which are still so useful: ‘Spitzenrand – oft verkannt’. Both are available through the DK website www.deutscher-kloeppelverband.de.
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