They were either sent to me or were on facebook posts.   I contacted the writers and I have obtained permission to publish them here. Some have been included in red on other pages of this website.

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• Leslie Tarrago - France

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  Encouraging,  instructive ,  creative , inspiring , fun ... that's making lace on one of Jan's courses .. You think you can't ? Well ,wrong!  With Jan you can!  She has the  (rare) gift of being a good teacher as well as an inspirational artistic lace maker . Her book is a continuation of this and shows her talent for understanding how people learn , giving us clear, easy to follow instructions and diagrams .  I've thoroughly enjoyed every course I've been on and  living far away ,continue to enjoy making lace through Jan's book.

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May 2020

 

• Gill - UK

  A returning , lapsed lace maker!

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 It was a great weekend and as you say, we were really lucky with the timing. It was good to meet the rest of the group and they were so friendly and helpful.

Thank you for your support. I really feel i'm back into the swing of it. I've finished my sampler and I'm now trying to learn the honeycomb stitch which I haven't done before. I'm using your wonderful book to keep me on track.

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March 2020 - just before the lockdown!

 

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• Carol Bennett   Utah USA

Facebook Bobbin Lacemaking group
 

I highly recommend Jan Tregidgo's "Torchon Lacemaking". This would be another great book for your personal library.  However, it is a hardback book and is a bit more expensive than the Gillian Dye book. It also has great step by step instructions, photos and patterns.It has samples of color and white lace so you can chose what works best for you. I don't think you would regret buying it. I lost my original copy and felt strongly that I couldnt be without it...so of course I replaced it ! And of course I then found the original copy a year or so later...I took it to UPS store that also binds books...they were able to put a soft cover with spiral binding on it. This is the copy I use to make copies of prickings since the spiral bound pages lay flat and give me more accurate copies without any distortion- and without damaging my hardcover binding!

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• Gia Behrens   Concord California  USA  

    from the Bobbin Lace making group on Facebook.

 

 

Jan Tregidgo

I specifically chose your book because it showed the work in plain white thread as well as colored thread. The pictures made it so clear and easy to follow the path of the bobbins and see how they move through a whole piece. The way you laid out the book really helped me understand how to read the information behind the pattern and visualize how many bobbins to hang and how to break it up into bite sized pieces as well. You did this is such an intuitive way that I didn't realize how much I was picking up and retaining from one sampler to the next. I didn't find myself having to back track to look for step by step directions from previous pieces because my mind made the connections at the "why" level. I come from a custom dressmaking background and the flow of your book just worked really, really well for me ! Thank you for all the hard work and passion that you poured into your pages .

 

Jan Tregidgo

you have my enthusiastic permission to use my words .

 

June 2020

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• Charles Owens  - Washington DC USA

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Hello Ms Tregidgo, 

 

My name is Charlie and I'm a Fine Arts director and teacher at a school in Washington D.C. WOW am I excited that I actually found a way to contact you online.  I hope you get this and that you can offer some suggestions to my question. So I first saw your book in Italy when I was there this summer.  I was actually in Slovenia working on Idrija tape lace, thought I started on Torchon a few years back and really enjoy it...just don't do it as much as I should cause I'm busy with teaching my music classes of 11-15 year olds, but whenever I go to Germany to visit family I make my way to Bruge to Kantcentrum to buy books and supplies. 

 

Anyway I saw your book at this amazing lace shop in this tiny village on the coast of Italy and took a picture because it was just to big to bring back with all the other stuff I bought in this shop.  The shop is called Tombolo & Designi.  It's a lacemakers wonderland. 

 

Got back to the USA and ordered the book and it really really is the first book I've seen that has such well done step by step pictures, I can actually figure it out without a teacher.  I read it at night sometimes before bed to get familiar with things before trying to do them (yep I'm a lace nerd). I'm even going to get pricking paper from the UK and do my own prickings.  Sooooo here is my big questions/concern. 

 

In order to use the patterns to prick I have to copy them and some of them are really hard to get to without ending up damaging the binding of the book. I guess I'll just have to do it since isn't a spiral bound type that can easily go into a copier. I was wondering, when you do the next printing, is it possible to do a packet that is tucked inside the book with all the patterns you use in the book so that they are easier to copy?  It would also be great if that packet could be ordered seperate for folks who have the book. OR it would be great if they were all available as a pdf to download and a person could pay for them seperate as a pattern packet. Do you have any suggestions for the best way to copy the patterns without damaging the book binding? 

 

I know you've done a bunch of amazing work to put this together so I don't want to make extra work, so if there is any way the publisher could do something like that I'd be happy to purchase it. This really is the most amazing book and the fact that I can follow it on my own means it is really really well written and I'm a teacher so I know when instructions are good or not.  Thanks again for what you've done to keep this art form alive.  I start wool spinning lessons tomorrow and will continue reading the book through.  Hope to be able to start doing stuff this summer during school break. 

 

Thanks again, 

 

Charlie 

23rd May 2020

 

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• Kathie Mooney  - Australia

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In 2014 Jan and her husband Stephen came to visit my husband (an old school friend of Stephen's) and I in Australia bringing with her some Bucks lace. 

 

One evening Jan encouraged me to learn with her as she made her lace.  Before long Jan had me involved, yes, me a compete novice!!!  After a few evenings together I had picked it up.  

 

Jan found a local group I could join and my lace hobby began. Each time Jan visits we sit together making lace and my skill expands.  Through Jan’s enthusiasm, passion and abundant patience, learning lace with her is a delight and so much fun.  I so look forward to the next time we will be able to sit together refining my technique. Thank you Jan for developing in me the passion for making lace.

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• Wendy Heather - Sussex  UK

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I first met Jan seven years ago when as a complete novice I enrolled on a course at West Dean College, the Arts and Crafts College near Chichester.    I really struggled with the order of the bobbins to be worked, but with Jan’s patience and expert knowledge, progress continued to be made.   Jan’s excellently illustrated Torchon book also enabled me to continue learning at home.  

 

Further courses with Jan at West Dean, Portsmouth College and various lace schools under her watchful eye have enabled me to move on to Bucks Point and Bedfordshire, all of which are equally interesting and delightful to work.

 

Her expertise and willingness to advise, and even cajole me to choosing a pattern outside of my comfort zone, shows her dedication and love of the craft – if you ever get a chance to attend one of her courses at West Dean or Missenden you will not be disappointed.

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May 2020

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• Diane Atkins - Hampshire

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.......reading your new website.....it reminded me of our days at the class altogether and all the many projects you taught us. It also reminds me how much I owe you for your skilled teaching, for encouraging me to explore and push at the boundaries, try all the new and exciting materials,  and most of all for the lasting friendships from the class. Thanks Jan.

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July 2020

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