Irish Carrickmacross lace is one of the oldest Irish needle laces. This lace, like most other laces, derived its name from the area of origin. It was introduced around 1820, near the town of Carrickmacross,  in the county of Monaghan. There were two types of Irish Carrickmacross made at that time, Guipure and Applique. The Guipure was a type of cut work, in which tiny little flowers and scrolls were traced on fine lawn or muslin. They were then attached by brides using the buttonhole stitch and accented with picots.  The Applique Carrickmacross  was done on a net ground. This was considered a stunning lace, with the one weakness that it did not wash well, and often frayed when cleaned.

The photos that accompany this blog are of a layered collar of handmade Irish Carrickmacross Needle Lace from my collection. “The large round picot edge is trademark. Well done and in great shape.” – Kate Henry - lace appraiser

Normandy lace is made of many different lace samples and techniques. They are pieced together like a patchwork quilt. Valenciennes laces are often used as connective laces within the pattern. Normandy lace evolved as a way of saving lace. Most of the lace is from remnants of precious lace that are too valuable to just discard. There are usually also fine examples of whitework worked into the patterns of Normandy lace. These are often heavily embroidered pieces done on fine hanky linen. These whitework circles came originally from the round backs of the nightcaps of the time. The use of the cap backs was again a way of preserving hand work and reusing it to create new pieces. Normandy lace is now one of the most sought after laces, and because of its patchwork nature, is a wonderful way to acquire samples of many different hand made lace techniques.

Hardanger lace seems to have had a long journey before it settled in the far North and became associated with Norway. This lace technique, which is most often today viewed as a Norwegian lace, appears to have started back in ancient Persia. The Renaissance finds this lace being brought to Italy, where it was reworked and renamed Reticella, Punto Taglito and Punto Rialto. It wasn’t until the mid 17^th century that this type of lace moved northward through Europe, getting renamed and slightly changed in each area. Versions of this lace were known under the names Ayrshire work in England and Scotland, Hedbo in Denmark and Hardanger in Norway. One also encountered Hardanger lace being called Hardangersom, which actually means ‘work from the Hardanger area of Norway’. Hardanger was also known as Norwegian Drawnwork at first. This lace is a form of whitework, although color was also used. The ground fabric is usually a loose weave that makes the patterns easy to work. The geometric patterns and weave work that characterize this lace were most often done in cotton or linen. The Hardanger area had a good flax crop, which was used in the early days of this lace-making.

Limerick lace derived its name as many other antique laces have,  from the name of the town it originated in or was worked in.  Many lace techniques were brought to a particular area by someone who set up the original lace works and fostered it. In the case of Limerick lace, it was Mr. Charles Walker who was often called the Reverend Walker. He had planned to go into the Church, but never actually became a reverend. He instead decided to become a lace maker and begin a lace works. It is said that his wife’s father was a Nottingham lace manufacturer. Most histories agree that he and his wife settled in Limerick, Ireland in 1829, bringing a group of lace workers from England with them. Limerick lace, like Carrickmacross was worked on a net ground, and was often a combination of cut-work and embroidery. Tambour lace and needle laces are often considered types of Limerick lace. Tambour is done with a hook and needle laces with a needle, both on net mesh grounds.

N. Hudson Moore in “The Lace Book” , 1937, tells more fascinating stories about Point de France or Alencon Lace as it came to be known.  Her tale is also connected to Colbert in this manner:

“In 1665, Colbert at one of his own chateaus, Lonrai, near Alencon, started a small lace-factory with thirty women whom he had brought from Venice. This first effort is connected by most authorities with the name of madame Gilbert, a French woman who was a native of Alencon, and who was installed as head of the factory, since she had already learned to make Venetian Point. Fine lace was produced here, and soon in other places in France. Later, specific names were chosen; and encouraged by Colbert, and fostered by the edict of Louis XIV, who forbade the use of any other kind of lace in his immediate court circle, Alencon lace grew to great perfection and beauty, and many people were at work upon it. Drastic measures were used to see that edicts were carried out. In 1670 the hangman publicly burned “one hundred thousand crowns’ worth of Point de Venise, Flanders lace , and other foreign commodities that are forbid.”

“The town of Alencon had long been a centre for the manufacture of Point Coupe and needle-point lace. In 1665, when Colbert was considering where best to place his colony of imported lace-workers, he received a letter from Favier Duboulay, saying:

“It is a fact that for many years the town of Alencon subsists only by means of these small works of lace that the people make and sell.”

“So what more natural than that this little lace-making town should be chosen? Curiously enough, the greatest opposition Colbert received was from the old French lace-makers themselves, who were so wedded to making the old style of laces that it was almost impossible to teach them the new. However, the minister persisted and was ably assisted by his forewoman, Mme. Gilbert, or Mme La Perriere, – authorities differ on this point, – and they soon produced such beautiful pieces that not only was the great Louis himself satisfied, but his courtiers eagerly seized the laces which were exhibited as samples, and Alencon was decided to be “the only wear.” Not only was Point de France (as the new lace was called) the fashion, but the wearing of it was compulsory. All those who were either attached to the royal household or received at Versailles, “could only appear, the ladies in trimmings and head-dresses, the gentlemen in ruffles and cravats of the royal manufacture.”

The history of Point de France lace, as Alencon was originally called, is quite fascinating. I first quote from a wonderful old lace book which is one of my favorites called “Chats on Old Lace” by Mrs. Lowes of London (although undated is from 1909). Mrs. Lowes is quite opinionated, and has a delightfully strong viewpoint which she does not hesitate to share. In these blog postings, we will visit her often for her great lace stories and her special way of evaluating lace!
In discussing the history of Alencon lace, she tells of:

“Colbert, the astute Minister of Louis XIV., who became alarmed at the immense sums of money which went out of the country to purchase the laces of Venice, and, by means of bribing the best workers of the Venetian schools, he induced them to settle at L’Onray, near Alencon. In 1665 he had so far succeeded that lace rivaling that of Venice was being produced. The Venetians became alarmed in their turn (as, indeed, they had need to be) and issued an edict, ordering the lace-workers to return forthwith, or, failing this, the nearest relative would be imprisoned for life, and steps would be taken to have the truant lace-worker killed. If, however, he or she returned complete forgiveness would be extended, and work found them for life at handsome remuneration. History does not tell us the result of this decree, but it evidently failed to destroy lace manufacture of France.
At first lace manufactured at Alencon received the name of ‘Point de France’, and was absolutely indistinguishable from that of Venice. Its magnificence of design, indeed, may be said to have exceeded anything before attempted. The introduction of tiny figures was attributable to the overwhelming personality of Louis XIV., and was symbolical of his magnificent sway and far-reaching influence.
The name ‘Point de France’ is given to all lace made from its commencement by Colbert’s direction until about 1678, when the lace-workers, perhaps forgetting the traditions of the Venetian school, developed a style of their own and the work became more distinctly French, being more delicate, finer in substance, the patterns clearer and more defined. The importation also of the finer flax thread from Flanders brought the more exquisite Pillow lace of Brussels to the notice of the French lace-workers. The French, as a nation, have always been foremost in seizing upon new ideas and adapting them to their own artistic requirements. In this instance the result was admirable, and it gave to the world, not the finest lace, as it was impossible to surpass the earliest Venetian Point laces, but certainly the next lace in order of merit, ‘Point de Alencon’. The chief characteristic of the lace is the fine clear ground, the stiff Cordonnet outlining the pattern, and the exquisite patterns in the ‘jours’ or fillings”

As I said, Mrs. Lowes is very opinionated and not afraid to express her views!
In the next blog posting, I will share more great stories about the beginnings of Alencon lace.

“The Lace Book” by N. Hudson Moore, Tudor Publishing, 1937……continued

Honiton Guipure is the name applied to the modern product, and its manufacture is somewhat on the old plan. After the sprigs are made, on a pillow with bobbins, of course, they are basted on coloured parchment paper to suit the shape of the piece of lace desired, and the space between is filled in with needle stitches, or “purlings” which are bobbin-made extremely narrow braids or tapes with little loops on one edge. The effect is very delicate and pretty.

Honiton Applique, like that of Brussels, consists of sprigs applied to net, formerly hand-made, now made by machine. The most common of the Honiton Applique was, of course, white thread sprigs mounted on thread net; but black silk laces were also made in Devonshire, the best of them coming from Honiton. The usual sprigs were made on the pillow with the black silk, and were transferred to a fine, machine-made silk net. This  made an exceedingly beautiful lace, not so heavy as that we know as Spanish lace, and yet of more body than Chantilly. It was made in wide flounces, in shawls, and in large pieces, and for a while was very popular.

Black silk sprigs were also made into narrower pieces and bits like barbes and lappers by the same method as the white thread sprigs; that is, they were sewed on paper, and brides or bars were used to fill in the spaces around them and connect the sprigs. No black silk laces have been made in Honiton for the last quarter of a century, the workers that are left confining themselves to the making of the white thread laces.

“The Lace Book” by N. Hudson Moore, Tudor Publishing Co., 1937

Honiton Lace – Of all English laces this has been the most esteemed and the most costly, as well as the most beautiful. It is a bobbin lace, with a bride bobbin ground, or with a net bobbin ground, or in rare cases, with a net needle ground.

From the early days of lace-making in England, about Queen Elizabeth’s time, lace was made in Honiton, the coarse bone or bobbin laces as well as the more expensive laces of gold and silver.  Not only were there the original English workers with their primitive methods and patterns, but in the sixteenth century there came many Flemish refugees, bringing with them superior facility and new patterns, of sprigs and fillings which their neighbors soon learned to copy. The name “Honiton” had not then been applied to the laces from this place; but they were called Bath Brussels lace, no doubt on account of the Flemish workers and because the method of manufacture is similar.

It has been mentioned elsewhere that the making of the Honiton pillow-made ground, once so famous, has become a lost art, and the beautiful sprigs which were once applied to it, either by being worked or sewed into it, are now put on machine-made net or connected by needle or bobbin brides.

Modern Honiton is not so beautiful as the old, although there has been a revival of interest in the making of this lace, and a finger variety of sprigs are now made. Fifty or sixty years ago the patterns used were commonplace and lacking entirely in grace and beauty, as the workers became discouraged from the lack of appreciation and the poor sale for their wares.

to be continued…

An antimacassar is a small cloth placed over the backs or arms of chairs, or the head or cushions of a sofa, to prevent soiling of the permanent fabric. These became quite fashionable in the mid 1800′s and were often made of wonderful handmade lace. The name comes from macassar oil, an unguent for the hair commonly used in the early 19^th century. The fashion for oiled hair became so widespread in the Victorian and the Edwardian eras that housewives began to cover the arms and backs of their chairs with washable cloths to preserve the fabric coverings from being soiled. Around 1850, these started to be known as antimacassars. Many of these sets were made of exquisite handmade lace to show off the housewives skills. The matching sets usually included 4 pieces of different sizes and two runners for the side tables. Today these sets are often sold as collections of doilies and the original function is lost or forgotten!

We’ve just redone our site and will be starting our blog anew. Stay tuned for all kinds of posting on lace, its history, and lots of wonderful lace photos.

I’m glad to meet you all and I hope you will enjoy these postings.

Happy Lacing to all of you, Maude