The women who lived and worked on the waterways during the 19th century eagerly took up the new fashion for crochet lace edgings and used them to decorate every possible part of their cabin home, their clothes and traditional boatwomen's bonnets. Even the horse which pulled the boat would benefit from their skill as they would make a fringed and tasselled headdress which covered its' ears and shielded its' eyes from annoying insects in summer. The crochet work could be easily carried in their pocket and worked on whenever they had a moment to spare and being made of cotton they would withstand the frequent washing which was necessary after trips carrying a dirty or dusty cargo. Women would make small samples of favourite patterns (like the ones below) which they would then trade with each other; in this way they learned new designs and collections of these swatches would often be passed on through the generations. These designs are now being brought into use again by both narrowboat owners and house owners alike; as well as being the traditional narrowboat window decoration they are equally beautiful as edgings for shelves, curtains, table linen, towels, etc. All items on this page are hand made to order and therefore may take some weeks for me to create for you. This process takes some weeks If you have a specific time frame that needs to be met please e-mail me.
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