Last week, I was in Brussels where I visited the Jubelparkmuseum/Musee du Cinquantenaire

They have a lovely piece of 14^th century whitework on display:

Images from Kikirpa.be

You can find these images and more in the Kikirpa database, searching for object nr 20016337

While I was browsing this database, I also found this supercute 14^th century mermaid pouch. It's in the same museum, but not on display (too bad!!) (clichenr A50420):

Image from kikirpa.be

13th century lace embroidery

Images from Seven centuries of Lace, here and here

It's such a nice surprise to see something you haven't seen before (at least, in the embroidery department :-) I found these images of 13th century lace/embroidery while I was browsing through the book Seven centuries of lace by Maria Margaret Pollen (1908). You can download or browse the book for free here. The site allows you to zoom really well, so it's better to view these images from the site itself.

For those of you who are interested in smocking: the armpits in the Alb attributed to st Francis(third picture) appear to be have been smocked in a way similar to those of the Alb of St Hugo. Chris Laning, thanks for uploading this picture, and the picture of your wonderful reproduction. ! Additional note: Chris just pointed out that the reproduction was made by her friend and that it's not smocking as such but a technique called ""Italian shirring."

This type of ecclesiastical clothing always makes me wonder: Would this type of embroidery have been used in secular clothing, and if so, how, when..? I would love to know more about this!