St Pius InPrint
  • NEWS
  • 5-Minute Reflection
    • Stations of the Cross
    • Bishop Richard on the Refugee Crisis
    • Prayer for Refugees
    • Materials from NJPN Conference 2017
    • Pope Francis' Five-Finger Prayer
  • CALENDAR
  • LINKS
    • Catholic Parish of Guildford
    • Our Catholic Schools
    • Catholic Resources
    • Christian Activities and Resources
    • Some of our Charities

St. Pius InPrint
​Magazine

A Brief History of Lace Making

26/3/2017

0 Comments

 

By Anne Davie

Picture
A lace altar frontal edging, during its elaboration by Anne in 2010
Many thanks to Anne Davie for contributing this fascinating insight into the world of lace making, and its history.  The photo above gives some insight into the intricacy and complexity of the craft.  It depicts the preparation of a lace altar frontal made by Anne for St. Pius X Church.  No fewer than 150 bobbins were involved.

NF
Let's start with a story:
 
Once upon a time, in the city of Bruges, lived a young girl named Serena. Her mother was dying, and Serena prayed for a miracle that would help her to provide comforts for the poor woman. As she prayed a spider's web, perfect in construction, fell into her apron and she looked on this as a gift from the angels. Being a skilled needlewoman she took her threads and tried to copy the delicate web, but the threads tangled and she sat wondering how to manage them. Her lover, on hearing of the problem, suggested that she tied each thread onto a separate twig; Serena then found that she was able to twist and weave the threads into a beautiful copy of the web. From this small beginning grew the craft of bobbin lacemaking for which Bruges is famous.
 
What is lace?
 
It is a textile based on a pattern of holes produced by the manipulation of threads thereby establishing that it is a textile rather than a continuous substance like paper; that it has a predetermined design of holes, rather than random or incidental ones and that the holes are produced by working the threads rather than by processes such as punching or cutting.
 
When we talk about lace, there are two main types – bobbin lace and needle-made lace.
 
History:
 
There is evidence of the production of macramé and braids where threads have been wound onto some sort of bobbins to aid production going back at least 2000 years. Macramé fringing has been found on Assyrian tunics on sandstone rocks above Nineveh and drawn-work on the burial clothes of Egyptian mummies.
 
The next evidence for lace is in the 16th Century; if you look at portraits by Holbein and others you can often see some decoration round the neckline. Lace was certainly being made on the Continent as is proved by the publication of pattern books in 1536, and from then on its development was dictated by fashion. For some reason lower classes could wear bobbin lace but needle laces were considered superior so they could be worn only by the upper classes.
 
It seems that the best lace (needle made, mind) came from Italy, reflecting their obsession with fashion, and the women who made it could boost their income quite handsomely. Venice was a leading centre but other Italian centres were Milan, Genoa, Sicily and Lucca. Lace was also being made in Flanders and in France but it seems that the French lace was inferior to that from Flanders so there was a series of edicts prohibiting the importation of foreign lace but the ingenuity of smugglers was prodigious. English monarchs tried to protect local production in a similar way. Lace was smuggled in barrels, loaves of bread and even in coffins. Jack Rattenbury tells that "on one occasion I had a goose on board, which the Master who overhauled the vessel was very desirous of buying; but I was too well aware of the value of the stuffing to part with it, for instead of onions and sage, it consisted of fine laces."
 
Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn features smuggling and there is a verse in Puck of Pook's Hill by Kipling:
        
     Five and twenty ponies
     Trotting through the dark –
     Brandy for the Parson,
     'Baccy for the Clerk;
     Laces for a Lady; letters for a spy,
     And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!
 
This was the time when lace was considered as valuable as jewellery, so much so that it was not uncommon for a lace edging to be unpicked from one garment and sewn on another.
 
Lacemaking in England was never so widespread – it is not even very clear how the art arrived here. There were two main centres, the Midlands where the lace resembled continuous laces of Flanders, and the South-west round Honiton, where the speciality was free or pieced lace – I will explain these terms later – and that was more like Brussels lace.
 
In the 19th century lace was not so important in fashion – Queen Victoria was persuaded to commission Honiton lace for her wedding dress and other lace for her trousseau. The other problem was the development of machinery, initially to make net onto which lace could be attached, but soon machine made lace produced in Nottingham and the surrounding area was in the ascendant. Somehow hand made lace continued to be produced commercially until the 1930's.
 
An article in The Embroidress in 1927 said:
 
“There is, perhaps, no industry which has suffered so much from the eager desire to substitute machine for hand-made methods as that of lacemaking, and the wonder is that there are any lace workers left to carry on what remains of their precious traditions in the face of such overwhelming competition and almost complete indifference on the part of the public. But there is a secret behind their activity which only those who have experienced the absorbing interest of lacemaking can understand. It is not merely an occupation; it is a need which must be satisfied.”
 
In 1937 H E Bates wrote:
 
“It is simply indifference which is killing the art of making lace on pillows… This is one of mankind's oldest tricks: indifference to a thing while it possesses it, then a great howling and crying out for it when the thing has gone. So with lace. In fifty years, unless something remarkable happens, lace making on pillows will be a memory.”
 
Now let’s talk about making lace.
 
Needlemade lace developed from drawn thread work, through cutwork until the spaces were filled with arrangements of buttonhole stitches.
 
Bobbin lace needs a little more equipment - a pillow, traditionally stuffed with straw, either a dome on a flat base or a bolster shape, though modern ones are often made of Styrofoam; bobbins, patterns, pins and thread.
 
Thread was initially linen which got increasingly fine which of course dictated the quality of the lace. In the early years of lacemaking the workers would have had to sit in a rather damp atmosphere as dry linen thread is very brittle. And lighting would have been pretty poor too…
 
Cotton thread developed in the 19th century; silk was also used.
The pattern was usually on parchment, with the pin holes pricked in and a few details drawn onto indicate features of the pattern: these are known as prickings. There is a large range of designs and each area of production developed different characteristics, the main differences being continuous lace and free lace. The best known free lace is Honiton where individual motifs are linked together by lace made net or later stitched onto machine made net.
 
Continuous lace would have been used for edgings.
 
There are other fabrics which can be classed under the general heading of "lace": tatting, crochet, embroidery on net, knitted lace.
Anne ends her fascinating introduction to the subject of lace making, by reflecting on some of the perils of the craft in this prayer:
From breaking threads and bending pins
Brittle parchments, unmarked prickings
Lumpy pillows, half hitches that run
And people who say "Is that ALL you have done?"
Good Lord deliver us.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    September 2015

    Categories

    All
    10% Collection
    A&B Crisis Fund (Catholic Children's Society)
    A & B ENewsletter
    Aberfan Disaster 1966
    A&B Lourdes Pilgrimage
    ACAT Action By Christians Against Torture
    ACAT - Action By Christians Against Torture
    Activities
    Advent Reconcilliation
    Advent Reflection
    Alpha Course
    Altar Servers
    Ann
    Announcements
    Announcement Slides
    Antwerp
    Arms Trade
    Baptism
    Bereavement
    Big 'O' Party
    Bishop Moth
    Bishop's Diocesan Migrant Fund
    CAFOD
    Calais
    Canon Brian O'Sullivan
    Canon Colin Wolczak
    CAP Money Course
    Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor
    Car Free - Care Share Weekend
    Carols On The Green
    Catholic Association For Racial Justice
    Cherry Trees Respite Home
    Christians In The Middle East
    Christmas Greetings Campaign
    Christmas Party
    Churches Together In England
    Clergy Moves
    Climate Change
    Concert
    Confession
    Craft Group
    David Allen
    Day For Life
    Day Of Reflection
    Depaul International Charity
    Diocesan Plan
    Easter Basket
    Easter Triduum
    Ecumenism
    Edu-Care Cameroon Charity
    Ellie Carter
    Emergency Appeal
    Fairtrade
    Family Day
    Film Night
    First Holy Communion
    Floral Ministry
    Footsteps Charity
    Formation
    Fr Alan Sharpe
    Fr. Roy
    Gift Aid
    Gill Woodrow
    Groups
    Guildford
    Guildford Youth Ministry
    Harvest Fast Day
    HCPT Group 2
    HMP Send Catholic Chaplaincy
    HMP Send - Catholic Chaplaincy
    Holy Saturday
    Homily
    Housing Justice Charity
    Human Rights Day
    Human Trafficking
    Humour
    Iraqi Christians In Need Charity
    Justice & Peace
    Knights Of St. Columba
    Lace Making
    Ladies' Lunch
    Lent
    Lenten Lunch
    Lent Fast Day
    Lent Groups
    Life Group
    Lourdes Pilgrimage Trust
    Macmillan Big Coffee Morning
    Magnificat Magazine
    Mary's Meals
    Men's Walking Group
    Merrow Lunch Club
    Migrants
    Missio
    Musicians
    National Youth Sunday
    Nativity Play
    Number Five Shelter
    Oakleaf Mental Illness Charity
    OFS
    Oxfam
    Palestine
    Parish Day
    Pax Christi
    Peace Sunday
    Pentecost
    Peru
    Philip Kenny
    Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice
    Pope Francis
    Prayer
    "Prayer For The Day"
    Prayer Vigil
    Project Francis
    Project Peru
    Q & A
    Quiz Night
    Racial Justice Sunday
    Rambling/Walking
    RCIA
    Recipes
    Reconciliation
    Reformation
    Refugees
    Requiem/Funeral
    Review Of 2017
    RIP
    Rohingya People
    Roles
    Sainsbury's
    Saint Oscar Romero
    Secular Fanciscan Order
    Shared Lunch
    Shelter Box Charity
    Social Events
    St. Peter's School
    St. Pius InPrint
    St. Pius Pastoral Council
    Sunday Coffee
    Syria
    Terrorism
    The Universe
    Together In Christ
    Ukriane
    Vatican
    Vision For Mission
    Vocations
    Week Of Prayer For Christian Unity
    Wintershall
    Women At The Well Charity
    Womens-world-day-of-prayer
    World-day-of-migrants-and-refugees
    World-day-of-peace
    World Day Of Prayer
    World Day Of Prayer For Creation
    World Day Of The Poor
    World Fair Frade Day
    World War I
    World War II
    Write For Rights Campaign
    Yara Eid

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • NEWS
  • 5-Minute Reflection
    • Stations of the Cross
    • Bishop Richard on the Refugee Crisis
    • Prayer for Refugees
    • Materials from NJPN Conference 2017
    • Pope Francis' Five-Finger Prayer
  • CALENDAR
  • LINKS
    • Catholic Parish of Guildford
    • Our Catholic Schools
    • Catholic Resources
    • Christian Activities and Resources
    • Some of our Charities