How to make buckram for 18th century costuming with gum arabica, and a comparison of arabica, tragacanth and xathan gum for buckram making.

I love lace insertion.  There are so many ways to do it, depending on the type of lace you’re working with, and the effect you want to achieve. When I made the Ettie Petticoat pattern I wanted to include instructions on doing them all.  But a 70 page pattern is not practical! So I restrained myself to three techniques that are suitable for all types of fabric, most types of lace, and allow you to insert lace by hand or machine. The one type of lace the pattern doesn’t cover is insertion lace with raw edges. Embroidered and cutwork lace with raw edges was widely used in the Edwardian era. Here’s what it looks like in View C of the Ettie Petticoat: I knew there wasn’t space to include working with raw-edged lace in the Ettie Petticoat pattern, but I can give you a tutorial on how to work with it. Here’s how to add your own raw-edged insertion lace The most common machine method for inserting raw-edged lace in the Edwardian era (at least …