Monday, May 14, 2012

Fake Crochet

Want a closer look at "machine-made crochet?" Click onto image to enlarge.

I think it is amazing the amount of curiosity around "machine made crochet."  I have discussed this topic here several times, the last time being last summer: Crochet Machines?

Here it is, nearly a year later from that last blog post, and nothing has changed.  Crochet still remains one of the last fiber-art forms that must be made by human hands.  This means those little doilies you see in the craft stores for a dollar, to garments at Walmart to Macy's, they are all made by human hands -- NOT by machine.

The closest I've ever found is an oval table cloth, made of plastic, with the crochet pineapple motif stamped on it (see picture above).  I have owned this table cloth for about 10 (or more) years, and of yet to ever see another in-person.  From time to time I will bring it to crochet demonstrations I volunteer for to show the closest I've ever seen what a machine can produce. It's fake.  Want to see other samples of fake crochet?  Go to google.com, click onto "images" and then search for "pvc crochet table cloth."

3 comments:

DaCraftyLady said...

You are right there is no "crochet machine" like in knitting....us crocheters have it 1 womaness up... :P I love crochet although I do knit I prefer to crochet...~~Debb
crochetohoic.blogspot.com

Evelyn said...

My guess would be that someone (a human person) actually hand-crocheted a tablecloth and then they used it to make a mold that could turn out fake plastic versions of it. Interesting!

Suzann said...

I just bought a plastic tablecloth like yours at an estate sale. It's cool, but...fake! You're so right--crochet has to be done by hand.