lace machine

Lace was originally a heavy texture more like embroidery and of two kinds, Lacis or "darned netting" and Cutwork. Laces, often worked in gold threads and coloured silks was also called " spiderwork." Lace is purely an English word, derived from the Anglo-Norman lacier, to lace, bind, tie or fasten, etc. The word appears to have been first used in 1519. It is a fabric of open mesh or net formed by crossing and intertwining threads. Lace was originally purely a hand craft, but today it is machine made as well. There are three main classes: - Point lace, pillow lace and machine-made lace. Point Lace - When the term " Point " is applied to a lace fabric it should mean that the lace has been made by the needle with a single line of thread, but it is now given to many machine-made laces. There are numerous laces sold as point laces and each has some feature not possessed by any other, many of these laces are known by the town where they are manufactured. Pillow Lace - These laces are made by intertwining threads on pins fixed in a cushion over a pattern fastened on to the cushion. Many pillow laces are part hand and part machine made such as Honiton, Valenciennes, Irish, etc. Machine-made Laces - There are three principal classes which can be placed (1) warp fabrics; (2) plain nets; (3) Levers' laces. Warp Laces - This is the earliest form of lace produced on a machine which was the invention of the Rev. William Lee in 1589, and was an adaption of the stocking frame. A warp lace is a series of upright threads that twist upon each other to form a fabric. There are no crossing threads. They are made in widths up to 10-in. and are the cheapest laces made. Plain Nets - John Heathcote, the inventor of the bobbin-net machine in 1809, laid the foundation of the machine-made lace trade. These are formed by a diagonal bobbin thread intertwining with the upright warp threads so that when the web is taken off the machine the mesh is honeycomb shaped. Other shapes followed, such as the square mesh. Cotton, silk, mohair and rayon are all used in making plain nets. Standard plain nets are as follows: - Brussels Net - Close mesh, specially selected fine yarns, in widths 36-in. to 80-in. The mesh varies up to 20 holes per inch. Both stiff and soft finish. Mosquito Net - Made in many qualities and closeness of mesh and from 54-in. to 108-in. Cable Net - Made up to 300-in. wide and from coarser yarns than other laces. This fabric is used as the ground fabric for curtains, etc. Bretonne Net - A very fine fabric, close mesh and finer yarns than Brussels, very soft and smooth finish. Point d'esprit - Fabrics with spots at regular distances. The yarns are not as good a quality as Brussels. Finished both soft and stiff. Paris Nets - Very stiff finish, used by the millinery trade for foundation work. Illusion Nets - A star-shaped mesh fabric, very fine yarns, used for veils and evening dress purposes. Silk Mechlins, or Tulles - A net more round than square in mesh and made from fine silk yarns. Malines is a tulle made in Belgium. Chantilly, or Silk Brussels - Similar to Brussels, but made from black dyed silk yarns. Chambray Nets - A finer all silk net than Chantilly. Levers' Lace Fabrics - These are various fancy laces and are produced on the lace machine fitted with a jacquard. Samuel Draper of Nottingham combined the jacquard with the lace machine in 1813. John Levers invented the machine. Varieties of these laces are Cluny laces. Torchons, Maltese lace. All-overs and numerous others.

A general term for all laces made on lace machines. There are two varieties, woven lace using warp and weft threads, and embroidery lace, in which a pattern is embroidered on a ground, which is often burnt out afterwards.

The complicated machine used for the manufacture of lace. Also called bobbinette frame and warp net frame.

Machine-made lace without raised work, being quite flat.

A hand-made lace of gold and silver thread work. This is very scarce. A machine-made variety is much cheaper. The hand-made is a guipure lace, while the machine-made has a net foundation with metal thread designs woven in.

A machine-made fabric for curtains, such as made in Nottingham. A design is worked by hand or machine on a machine-made net ground. Saxony Brussels curtains have a double net in the ground (see also Brussels Curtains). Swiss Brussels curtains have a single net with a machine-made chain-stitch forming the designs.

German-made lace fabric in which designs in cotton or silk are embroidered on a wool foundation and the wool is afterwards dissolved away by an alkali solution, leaving the lace intact. Mostly made in imitation of the beautiful Point de Venise and other laces. Plauen lace is made on the Schiffli machine and is very frail.

A machine-made silk lace to imitate the old hand-made Spanish laces. Done in all styles of design. Used for dress decoration. This is a comprehensive term including convent lace, needle-point lace, cut drawnwork, etc.

There are numerous plain net fabrics in use and the styles as under are the most popular. Cable Net - A coarse net for use as a ground for figured lace curtains, bedspreads, etc. This is the heaviest of the cotton nets. Brussels Net - A net made of very fine yarns and in a close mesh. Used for trimmings, ladies' ties, etc. Bretonne Net - Very similar to Brussels, but finished much softer, and sold in white, ecru, cream and other light shades. Mosquito Net - This style has a wider mesh than any other net and besides its uses as a mosquito net it is used for trimmings. Fine lace yarns are used for all above nets except the cable net, and they are made on the " bobbin net machine" in many widths (see also Stirrup Net, Fly Net, Rose Net, English Net)

A cheap, cotton machine-made lace in simple designs. The motifs are leaves and flowers with heavy cord outline. Originally the term denoted a narrow pillow lace made in Paris prior to the Revolution.

Fine lace, for edges and trimmings, both hand-made and machine-made. It is one of the plainest of bobbin laces and is made by peasants in most European countries. The better quality is of linen thread and the cheaper are of cotton and commonly called " Beggars " or " Bavarian " lace.

Irish needlework. It is done by stitching patterns with heavier thread over machine-made net ground, or by buttonholing the edges of a pattern traced over lawn or muslin, cutting away the ground and applying the whole on machine-made net.

Patterns formed with narrow tape, joined together with various brides, producing a form of Renaissance lace, but of coarser quality. Now made both by machinery and hand. Hand-made is used for collars and cuffs on dresses, and machine-made for drapery and other purposes.

Belgian bobbin lace, originally very similar to the Valenciennes consisting of mesh patterns over spider and rosette ground. The modern variety is made of flat bobbin springs applied to machine-net foundation.

Imitation lace made upon an embroidery machine. The process consists of a woollen foundation afterwards " burnt " away or dissolved in a solution of caustic soda or other chemicals (see Chemical Crinoline)

A lace similar to torchon. The designs are usually geometrical, wheels, etc., and are made with coarse linen thread with bobbins. The machine imitation is of cotton. The hand-made is used for lingerie and dresses and the coarser kinds for pillows, centre-pieces, etc.

Knotted point lace in geometrical designs of Spanish origin. It is made of macrame cord made specially. The threads often hang loose to form a fringe. The silk variety is used for shawl ends and the heavy coarse thread sorts for edging bedspreads, etc. It is now machine made.

A trade term for a very fine Belgian pillow lace figured on a net or tulle foundation, also known as Maline. It is transparent, soft and made in all kinds of floral effects. The silk variety is used for dress and millinery purposes. Imitated in cotton and machine work for making-up into light summer dresses (see Mechlin Embroidery)

Hand-made laces having spider-web effect of single threads in wheel form connected together. Also known as Teneriffe lace. A machine-made variety is coarser.

Coarse machine-made lace in imitation of Venetian point.