Favorite Things: Paper Lace
They do seem like a throw-back, like they are of another time and place. But the paper lace doily has its place, and if you believe Etsy, that place is high and mighty at the hands of DIY-ers across the globe.
I’m not so much going to make an envelope out of a paper doily, or dye one green using natural dyes, or make bunting out of a string of them (but all of these I would admire, from afar).
I just have a soft spot for a good old-fashioned paper doily, of the variety found up at the IGA on the hill or Goodrich’s downstate or Publix in Florida. That always surprises me, their availability at the grocery, because paper doilies seem like they ought to be a specialty item, don’t they? Beautiful laser-cut stacks of paper that can be had readily and on the cheap are unexpected.
I could do without the word itself, “doily” sounding like something Nellie Olsen on Little House would snarl about, something prissy. But like paper bakeware, this paper lace is elegant in its own way, and saves the day by protecting serving platters or by taking the every day (in my case, a blue everyday plate on Main Street) and making it party-worthy, or at least something a notch above what we experience every day.
Paper lace liners hold things in place, like a slippery (and super delicious, so stay posted) deviled egg–on a plate that is not one of the specially-made deviled egg plates, but just a regular dinner plate because that’s all we’ve got at the moment. Which pleases me because it gives me an excuse to pull out a lace doily and put it to good, not at all prissy, use.
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Maureen, you have such great powers of observation–a hallmark of an artist. I haven’t thought of paper doilies for more than a half century–but they were surly a ubiquitous part of my childhood in my mother’s home, and, on occasion, at elementary school for craft projects (especially for Mother’s Day, and, for treat time!). They are truly something of another era. Thank you for jogging free more of the delightful memories of long ago that languish in some unused part of my memory bank.
And, I can’t wait for your deviled egg recipe–love them!!!
Maureen, paper doilies! I haven’t thought of them for decades!! They were ubitquitous in my Mother’s home of my childhood, and, at school on occasion, esp for impending Mother’s Day projects. Thank you for retrieving those memories for me that have been languishing on my memory bank. And, my mother used to crochet them and they were all over the house too! Thanks to you, I can see her beautiful smiling face watching her nimble fingers as she worked.
Looking forward to your Deviled Eggs–love them!
Either I’ve been sorely out-of-the-loop (and out of date) without knowing it or I am just naturally ahead of the trends: I am completely in love with doilies, both paper and cotton. What is there not to like? Just wanted to pipe-in and support the doily cause!