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Romantic, richly embroidered antique Essex Cottage 8-point lace curtain Sweet Cottage Runner featuring French classic eyelet
cotton net lace curtain, 28” x 62”, featuring textured floral design, c. 1896, embroidery edged with Cluny lace, approximately
photo: https://highland-lace.com photo: https://highland-lace.com 17” x 35”, 1930s, photo: https://highland-lace.com
Needle lace fabric, produced in Alençon, France, that arose in 18th century America in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Some
features small, graceful roundels, buttonhole bars, and believe that their handmade patterns arrived with immigrants from
opulent picot edging, while Argentan lace, produced the British Midlands. Others, noting their resemblance to various
in nearby Normandy, features notably denser types of European bobbin lace, believe French Huguenot
designs. Brussels needle lace, a flowery, shaded refugees introduced them. In time, however, Ipswich
pattern known as Point de Gaze, features countless lace makers developed patterns and characteristics of
minute stitches worked in continuous threads against their own. Their “continuous lace” trimmings,
gauzy-mesh connective grounds. This fine, airy adorning garments, and household linens, for
fabric appeared in fanciful fans, flounces, bridal instance, featured motifs, grounds, and fillings
capes, shawls, dresses, and parasols. worked in continuous linen or silk threads from
In addition to needle lace, Brussels a simpler, start to finish. According to surviving account
softer, less expensive pieces using whittled, books, Ipswich lacemakers marketed their
weighted, thread-bearing wooden bobbins. opulent products as far away as Maine.
Bobbin lace, also known as pillow lace, Since needle and bobbin lace was so Heirloom linen and lace
is readily created by crossing and exacting an art, both Colonial and handkerchiefs, c. 1950,
looping threads pinned to European women dreamed of duplicating Switzerland,
pricking-card patterns attached it on simple weaving looms. Yet all photo: https://highland-lace.com
to round, supportive pillows. initial attempts failed. Only in the
As lace-trimmed tablecloths, following century, with the advent of specialized
lappets, linens, caps, coverlets, lacemaking machines, did huge quantities of cheap,
undergarments, and collars manufactured lace fabric flood the market. As a
became increasingly trendy, result, fabric merchants marketed handmade needle
bobbin lacemaking centers and bobbin lace as “real” lace.
arose in almshouses, convents, Victorian women were especially charmed by lace.
and charity schools across So in addition to natural and manmade wonders from
Europe. Their names, like Lille, far and wide, London’s 1851 Great Exhibition
Chantilly, Cluny, Maltese, featured lacy creations both ordinary and odd. Malta,
Bruges, and Bayeux, also reveal for instance, flaunted lacy “Greek style” toilet covers,
their points of origin. while Van Diemen’s Land (modern-day Tasmania)
Dutch and British American unveiled an unidentified piece of “thread lace, made by
colonists evidently wore imported lace a girl eleven years of age …”
caps, collars, ruffs, and lace-trimmed Scottish needle lace curtains, cloaks, collars, gloves,
aprons, dresses, and handkerchiefs as hosiery, and ribbons lay beside Irish bobbin lace doilies,
early as the mid-1600s. Yet acquiring frocks, and lace-edged handkerchiefs and tablecloths.
these luxuries just before and during the English merchants offered everything from an unidentified
Revolutionary War could be difficult “specimen of lace made by a poor woman in Stone,
logistically and politically. As a result, Aylesbury” to elegant lace livery with matching
enterprising Colonial women wove, patterns for carriage interiors. Since plunging necklines
bartered, and sold profitable bobbin
lace themselves.
There was a single commercial Demure Victorian pleated camisole featuring bobbin
handmade bobbin lacemaking industry lace inserts, l. 17.75”, photo: Rubylane.com
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