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Limerick stitch is an Irish lace, a sort of handmade embroidery made with a crochet hook on machine-made tulle, invented in Nottingham during the period of the first realizations on machine-made tulle. In 1829, the manufacture was transferred from Nottingham to Ireland by Mr. Charles Walker, who, following his marriage to the daughter of a lace maker, decided to bring in Ireland twenty-four young women to teach the craft to the local population and established himself in Limerick. In 1855 the industry reached the peak of the success, counting about 1500 employees. The typical Irish workmanship is characterized by a chain stitch embroidery on a ground made of machine-made net. The part to be embroidered is fastened, right side up, to an embroidery hoop, called drum. The embroidery thread is positioned underneath the net. Through a very fine crochet hook the taut thread is hooked and pulled over the net to create the chain stitch. In the following step, the second stitch is passed inside the first, and so on, moving along the line to be drawn in order to create a long line of eyelets. Further reading:
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