Vigo County Historical Society

A symbol of the good life - History’s fashionable clothing laced in luxury

Lace!

The very word has magic, as we think of stately gentlemen with lace at the throat and wrists, and queens of the past with standing lace collars, elaborate headpieces, and dainty lace handkerchiefs. Brides always have worn lace, as have infants in christening gowns and children in communion dresses.

Lace marks the wearer as a person of wealth and fashion and symbolizes luxury. The word is fraught with charm and splendor.

Lace can be more valuable than jewelry. Noblemen sometimes sold their land, the basis of their wealth, for priceless handmade lace. It is bequeathed in wills, bestowed in dowries, and offered to God in linens, priestly garments and robes for the statue Madonna.

It is considered a royal ornament and has been glorified in art by Raphael, Velazquez and others. Lace is mentioned in Isaiah and Homer and has been found in ancient Egyptian tombs.

The word "lace" comes from the Latin word "laqueus," meaning noose or snare. It denotes an open fabric made with threads of linen, cotton, silk, silver, gold or nylon, and, to a certain extent, from wool. Handmade lace usually is made from linen thread because of its softness and strength.

Most lace consists of two elements: the pattern, called the toile; and the background, called the reseau.

As to the method of making, lace can be bobbin, using spools or bobbins, or using needles. Many laces are a combination of the two methods and there are endless variations.

Bobbin lace long has been associated with the Flemish people of Belgium and the Netherlands, but it also was made in Italy, France and England. Although some lacemaking was done in Colonial American, very little has been written about it. Lace from Europe was brought to America by Lafayette. Popular lace pieces included collars, cuffs, jabots, handkerchiefs and fans.

At the height of lacemaking in the 17th and 18th centuries, skilled pacemakers used thread so fine it could be seen only with a magnifying glass. Sometimes they worked as many as 1,000 bobbins on one piece.

The human cost, however, was too high as the makers became ill from working in damp cellars to keep the thread from breaking. Many lacemakers went completely blind before the age of 30.

By 1780 a net-making machine was being used in France, and in 1809 John Heathcoat of England patented a bobbin net machine. In 1813 John Leavers improved Heathcoat’s model and his finished product became the basis for all lacemaking machines used today.

The first made only the background and the design was hand embroidered. Leaver’s machine could do both the background and the design. It could make 1 yard of net in the time it took a lacemaker to make 6 inches of lace 1 inch wide.

Today almost all of our lace is machine made. Machines can copy accurately almost any kind of handmade lace, so it is very difficult to tell which is handmade and which is machine made. A present day lace machine may have as many as 40,000 movable parts, and controls an immense number of threads (in some designs as many as 50,000).

Handmade lace was reduced to cottage or convent industry as a result of the invention of the machine. The laces made by nuns are exquisite, and many pieces are stored in the great cathedrals of the world.

During the Victorian Era in America, lace was used in every conceivable manner in clothing, accessories and home furnishings. The machine brought the luxury of lace within reach of many.

Lace can be seen in many places in the museum. The Victorian rooms on the second floor have beautiful lace panels at the windows and doilies and scarves on the furniture. The mannequins are wearing gowns decorated with lace trim and inserts.

A showcase of lace has been arranged in the middle room on the first floor. The display includes pictures and articles as well as samples of many kinds of lace.

Lace making is closely bound up with local history and traditions. Even in our modern world, lace remains a symbol of good taste, luxury and the good life.