I am making this Bolero vest on a circa 1880-1900 Battenberg pattern.
This was a common practice for woman around the last turn of the century when a lot of people did hand work.
Battenburg patterns were sold in almost all mercantile and big department stores. I have never counted how many patterns I have like this, but there are well over fifty, I am sure: handkerchief, baby bonnets, doilies, runners, parasols, insertions. I have three that are for vest and jackets. I have the vintage tools and supplies to make this in the traditional Battenburg way. I wanted one in Romanian lace instead; for now I can always go back and make another in Battenburg. 
As you can see I have made the cord. This is not the traditional foundation cord for Romanian lace as it only unravels in one direction. This is usually an accent braid; cord and braid mean the same thing. I just wanted to stay a little true to the Battenberg pattern that had a scalloped tape lace braid, so I made a scalloped Romanian braid instead. I have started the filling stitches. I have taken some close ups of some of the detail of the pattern. 
The measurement refers to the bust size in Battenberg; it will be a little smaller in Romanian as the threads pull a little tighter when stitched. So it should fit me once that is taken into account. I am also using antiques crochet thread to make this item.
