Milanese Wessex Owl

I recently finished another piece of Milanese lace, the Wessex Owl designed by Jan Gardiner and sold through Lacewing Designs. All of the Milanese pieces I’ve made before have been designs by Claire Bonito – who announced last week that she has a Milanese book coming out soon which looks incredible! – so it was interesting to try a different designer. The owl was originally designed by Jan for a workshop for the Wessex Lacemakers, hence the name.

The two braids used for the wings and body are from the book ‘New Braids and Designs in Milan ‘ by Patricia Read and whilst there is a description of the working order for the braids in the instructions, I found it useful to have the book open alongside as well.

I really enjoyed working these braids and found they came together quite quickly. There’s definitely room for improvement- particularly with the sewings – but I can see improvements from my last Milanese pieces. I did unpick and re-do a couple of sections as I wasn’t happy with how they were looking, and I’m glad I did as I’m really happy with how it has turned out.