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An Ocean of Lace Exhibit

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Artist Jennifer Ewing created g a unique in-person exhibit for The Lace Museum that opened in February 2026. You may view many of Jennifer’s previous installations on her website: https://www.jenniferewing.com/

“Lace is new to me as an art material to use in my work. I am fascinated and inspired by all the handwork and dedication to the design and making of lace, to the application of lace to a great variety of uses and the emotional resonance that lace carries with it.  When I was first asked to create installation art with lace by The Lace Museum, I did not have a firm idea of what that might look like.

“With the lace that I was gifted, my challenge was to integrate those pieces into a meaningful presentation to build curiosity and new ways for a viewer to imagine and engage with lace. This project was exciting for me as an offshoot to my Venice Project and my long time Spirit Boat body of work. My work first caught the eye of The lace Museum because I had started using a Gondola of Lace in my own art. For me, a combination of a gondola as a spirit vessel with delicate lace becomes a potent carrier of a new message in the world.  If a gondola was made of lace, it would not be real and could transcend the norm and elevate both the gondola and lace to new potential. 

“I enjoyed introducing this symbol to Venetians, to art curators and in my latest exhibits. As an installation artist, this project is one I feel is beautiful and timely. The lace is reinvented to expand its beauty and design qualities. I feel it is a good time to show a new face of lace in the world to build respect and a vibrant future for this delicate art form.“

» More images and video

Free Lecture: January 3 with Elizabeth Kurella

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Our first virtual class of 2026 – Saturday, January 3rd – is a free lecture by Elizabeth Kurella, lace collector, dealer, and storyteller extraordinaire. “My favorite things in old lace are the ones that have stories to tell, that lead us to new ideas for lacemaking today, and that pose mysteries that require us to search out more information about who was making what lace where and when.

Come join us for this view into curious pieces of lace past and what they portend for lace collecting and lace making today.” You can find the registration link at  https://thelacemuseum.org/virtual-education/

In-Person Exhibit: Beyond the Veil

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Come see our new seasonal exhibit “Beyond the Veil: an exploration of 19th century mourning and spiritual fascinations.”  

Multiple vignettes of Victorian life that examine the period’s relationship with death are intertwined with playfully spooky elements to create a unique lace showcase that celebrates the spirit of autumn. Stop by the Museum the last two weekends in October and select Sundays in November from 12:30 to 4 pm to indulge in the Victorian aesthetics featuring mourning apparel, hairwork momentos, and many black veils!

Please check our Calendar for a complete list of museum open hours and our Plan a Visit web page for directions.

The Lace Marathon

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Thank you to all the people who attended the Lace Marathon live! We know that some people did manage to attend all 10 classes! We’re uploading the class videos as quickly as we can over the next couple of days, but it takes a while to upload and process them.

» Details

The Lace Marathon – Links, Supplies & Patterns

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If you registered for the Marathon before June 18th you should have recently received an email from VirtualWorkshops@thelacemuseum.org with the subject “Lace Marathon – Links, Supplies, Patterns.” It includes the Zoom links and access to folders where all the recordings and other materials will be. If you didn’t get this email and it’s not in your Spam folder, please contact VirtualWorkshops@thelacemuseum.org.  If you register in the next few days, you will receive a confirmation email from Shopify and also the “Lace Marathon – Links, Supplies, Patterns” email soon after that.

» Details and Registration Link

The Lace Marathon registration is LIVE!

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The schedule, basic information, class photos and descriptions, and the Registration link are all here. You will need to Register with a form and also Purchase the event through Shopify. (The form has a link to Shopify and Shopify has a link to the form.)

If you’re reading this, your virus-checker hasn’t blocked our webpage, but if your friends are trying to get in and can’t, could you let them know that a few virus-checkers seem to be upset about our increased traffic and are blocking us? Two security sites (Sucuri and Safeweb) have checked numerous times and our site is fine, no malware, but it is taking some time for Sucuri to convince Norton, Avast, CRDF and AVG that we’re okay. If they can’t get to the website, all the same information is in the Shopify description and a linked PDF file. Feel free to share the registration link with them.

If you have any questions, please email marathon@thelacemuseum.org.

Welcome! We hope you enjoy the lace marathon.

» Details and Registration Link

Update: Night and Day: A Lace Marathon

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Celebrate the longest (or shortest) day of the year – June 21, 2025 – by lacing all through the night, and day, and night…

The schedule and some details are posted here.

Photos of the projects are coming in late March, and registration should open in mid April. Running a bit late, but stay tuned.

» More info

Night and Day: A Lace Marathon

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Celebrate the longest (or shortest) day of the year – June 21, 2025 – by lacing all through the night, and day, and night…

10 classes … 30 straight hours … $60

Details available in late February. Registration open from late March through June 19.

Join as many virtual classes as you can live, but don’t worry, they will all be recorded. Registrants will have access to all the recordings for 1 full year.

» More info

In Memoriam: Ele Schwartz – Leader, Teacher and Creator

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Eleanor Schwartz, affectionately know as Ele, passed away on July 3, 2023. She was an exemplary leader for The Lace Museum, an extraordinary teacher of lace techniques, and an energetic creator in various lace methods.

Ele was an integral part of our museum’s day to day operations. She encouraged so many students and intrigued countless visitors with her vast knowledge and dedication. Ele will be sorely missed, but fondly remembered in all that she created around her.

There will be a memorial service for Ele on Friday, July 28 at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, 15885 Los Gatos Almaden Rd., Los Gatos, California 95032. The memorial service will take place at 10:30 AM in the sanctuary followed by a luncheon in the Fireside Room. All who knew Ele are welcome.

In lieu of flowers, Ele’s family welcomes donations either to Holy Cross Lutheran Church or The Lace Museum. Donations made be by check or online. Details can be found here: Holy Cross Lutheran Church or The Lace Museum.

Please visit our memorial page for Ele for an in-depth view of her contributions to The Lace Museum and her students.

Book Launch: Clones Lace: The Story and Patterns of an Irish Crochet 3rd ed

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Màire Treanor’s new edition of Clones Lace: The Story and Patterns of an Irish Crochet (3rd edition) is available at the IOLI convention booth and on our Shopify site.

The book details the story of Irish Crochet and its unique interpretation by the Clones lacemakers. The secrets unfold through detailed instructions, traditional motifs and patterns with the temptation to be challenged by the creative aspects of this Irish lace.

This edition is in full color and all motifs have been diagrammed. The history of Clones has been updated with new discoveries and plenty of new photos. 200 pages (previous edition 125 pages)

For related items, please visit our Irish Lace Collection on Shopify.

Re-Opening & Vintage Sale May 13 and 14!

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We are excited that the museum has successfully moved and is settled in our new location. There is some contract work scheduled to be completed prior to our re-opening. The first exhibit in our fresh, new space will be titled “New Beginnings”.

Our re-opening event will be both days of Mother’s Day weekend, May 13th and 14, from 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm. We are also holding a Vintage Sale full of one of a kind items! The Museum’s new location is 200 Brown Rd., Suite 300, Fremont, CA 94539. Driving directions, public transit information and a hotel recommendation are here.

After the re-opening weekend, regular Museum hours will be from 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month.

Just in the Nick of Time…

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It took a while, but we have three new tea blends for people who have been waiting for tatting and some decaf options. You might recognize the tatting photo from a Museum Monday post a few months ago. Adagio stops making the custom tins from “a couple of days before Thanksgiving” until shortly after Christmas, so if you would like some for gifting or for yourself, you’ll want to get your order in by Monday or Tuesday – just a few days from now. Then check back in January; there are a few twists on the horizon.

The small tins are about 2 x 3 x .75 inches and hold about five portions of tea. They’re sold by Adagio.com and The Lace Museum receives 5% of the sale price for each tin sold. The whole Lace Museum set is here: https://www.adagio.com/signature_blend/group.html?group=22649.

Lace Inspired Teas

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Are you a tea-drinking lace aficionado? Adagio Teas has a program where fans can design tea blends with a theme, and The Lace Museum has just debuted nine tea blends celebrating antique laces. The loose teas are available in pretty little tins, and if a blend catches your fancy, also in larger pouches and even larger tins. Adagio sells the teas as part of their vast offerings, and The Lace Museum, as a non-profit organization, will receive 5% of the sales of the lace teas. This is the link to the Lace Museum’s signature blends: www.adagio.com/signature_blend/group.html?group=22649. If you have any questions, feel free to contact tea@thelacemuseum.org.

Most of the teas in the first set are black teas, with one green, but we do have more greens, herbals and decafs in the works already. Go ahead, treat yourself or your friends to some interesting blends and keep the lacy tin, because what lacemaker can’t fill a tin with supplies?  One caveat, Adagio stops producing the custom tins in early November each year and resumes in early January. So if this sounds like a good holiday gift, you’ll want to order them before November. We hope you enjoy them!

Exciting News for The Lace Museum

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Here in Silicon Valley there was a brisk change in business and traffic patterns in the decade leading up to 2020.  We have been planning some changes to keep our business relevant and our mission strong. The pandemic accelerated some of those changes as we created a robust online presence with our web shops,  virtual workshops, virtual exhibits,  social media and even virtual volunteers.  We are very proud that The Lace Museum has thrived as we supported and connected the global community of lace makers.  We happily announce a new location for the museum at 200 Brown Road, Fremont, CA.

Making this move is a great opportunity, putting us in a position to begin implementing other plans that the pandemic had forced us to pause.

  • Putting our collection online. Since 2010 we have catalogued our entire collection of lace into a database with the goal of putting it online.  We will now focus on producing high quality images of each piece as the next step to prepare for the online database. The scope of this endeavor will make it a multi-year project.
  • Moving to a nicer facility. Our new headquarters will allow us to support all of our volunteers, as well as continue the conservation of our collection, run in person classes and workshops, house a permanent display, and provide a meeting place for local makers. The new location will have dedicated space to facilitate photographing the collection.
  • Introducing new member benefits. In 2024, we plan to provide members with personal viewings of pieces from our collection and the ability to use our research archive.

We will continue to be open in our current location through October 1st, 2022.

We will re-open in Spring 2023 at 200 Brown Road, Fremont, CA. At our new location, we will be open the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month, as well as by appointment.

As a teaching museum, we will continue our in-person workshops and classes as regularly scheduled throughout the transition.

Street Parking Restriction

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construction work icon

City of Sunnyvale – Citywide Waterline Replace Project

There will be no street parking and intermittent water shut offs beginning August 22, 2022. The driveway to the parking lot in front of the museum will remain open during the construction.

For more information, read the notice from the construction contractors here.



Dove of Peace in Milanese Technique

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Exquisite “dove of peace” design available from Martina Wolter-Kampmann, an instructor at UnCon 2.0. You can purchase the step-by-step instructions with 3 bobbin lace letters (12 pages) as a download. The price is 14 Euro (approximately $15 USD). Martina is donating 5 Euro of the purchase price to current war victims. Click below to go to Martina’s website.

https://shop.wolter-kampmann.de/products/dove-of-peace-in-milanese-technique

The Vintage Sale Is Back!

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New Location, Same High Quality Items

The Lace Museum will have a Vintage Sale in TRACY, CA, on

  • Friday, March 25: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
  • Saturday, March 26: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
  • Sunday, March 27: 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Location is at the beautiful Tracy’s Nursery and Gardens, 29181 S Lehman Road, Tracy, CA.

The vintage inventory will be spread out on tables outdoors and in a large barn – socially distanced for your safety as you look at tablecloths, napkins, household linens, costumer and collector laces, clothing, accessories, insertions and trims and much more!

Sale items include:

  • Tablecloths, Napkins and Household Linens
  • Costumer and Collector Laces
  • Clothing, Accessories, Insertions and Trims
  • And much more!

Cash, check and credit cards accepted. All sales are final.

Hope to see you there!