Vintage Thingies Thursday: Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles - Part One

I spent last week in Northern California (hence the blog silence) and had the opportunity to visit the incredible Lacis Museum of Lace of Textiles located in Berkeley.  It's not your usual museum! Think of it as part-museum of antique and vintage lace and other textiles, and part massive store that carries in-house, domestic, and imported products to support all aspects of textile crafts such as lace-making (of course), sewing, embroidery, beading, weaving, crocheting, and knitting.  I cannot express how much I wish I lived nearby so I could be a regular visitor or even a volunteer, as it is truly a "haven for the textile community" as the founders, Kaethe and Jules Kliot, intended.

I'd like to show you some of my personal photos of some of the current exhibit,  Night and Day, The World of the 1920s.   You can follow the previous link to the slideshow of the exhibit on the Lacis site, but I took my own photos as I love the unique design of vintage costume and it's not easy to see some of the handmade lace and hand-sewn bead embellishments.  I took so many photos that I'll still have lots to show you next week!  Feel free to click on each of the photos to see the lace and beading in more detail. 

By the way, the mannequins are period-correct (dating from the late 1870s to the 1930s) and are made of wax, right down to their teeth.  Their hair is actually human hair!  You can read more about them here.

First, some lovely daywear.  I was stunned at how lovely the crocheted lace is on the bottom dress; it is handmade, of course.  I wonder how many hours were spent in lacemaking before the dress was made (it is handsewn as well):

The embroidery on this dress was also handmade:

Handmade tatted lace adorns the adorable pink handbag in the mannequin's hand:

The men wore fabulous suits:

Lightweight summer jackets and vests:

And they looked very dapper in the evening:

A woman's evening dress in lace and handmade silk ribbon embroidery:

My favorite evening dress in the display:

Amazing black net lace evening gown:

I hope that you enjoyed this edition of Vintage Thingies Thursday.  Don't miss next week for more vintage costume and accessories!