The Lace Museum in Detroit

There is a new museum located in Northville, Michigan (my dad grew up there!) - located about 15 min from the airport.  Run by Mary Gen Salmon, it opened this last year and is based around her collection of European and American laces.  If you happen to be in the area, you should go see it!  The website has a lot to look at and there isn't ever much on view in the midwest so this is exciting.  I will be in Michigan sometime this spring and plan to go visit.

I even suspect that Mary was the vendor of amazing old laces at the Ann Arbor-Saline antiques market that I used to frequent when I was a graduate student.  An amazing market, there was a concentration of great textiles and amazing samplers.  One particular set I cried looking at - amazing color, provenance, by sisters, and stitches.  They were revolutionary war - Massachusetts and they cost a few months of my graduate school salary and I stood there mooning over them while a museum bought them.  But if Mary was the vendor of the laces - then she sold me the most beautiful christening gown with overlaid lace.  She taught me that many old christening gowns were made from the lace of the veils and this one was no different.  We pulled one string and the veil emerged.  I wore it and then threaded the string back on for my boys to wear the gown to be christened.  Love that thing!  Hope it was her and I look forward to my visit this spring.

Tricia