Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/734

* LACE. 668 LACE. quintains became more and more oi)cn in texture until they were mere nets, called kicis^. The needlework upon lacis was at first made in a simple darning pattern, the threads being run in and out among the meshes. Point L.vik. During the sixteenth century it was often a (Ullkult matter for ladies to secure patterns for tlic various forms of embroidery. Often these were drawn on ])archment or copied, on samplers which were passed from luind to hand. Pnjbably the first printed pattern-book was published by Pierre Quinty, of Cologne, in 1527, and was entitled Seic and ffiiblh liouk Conceriiinfi the Art and iScicnce of Eiiibroidcri/, Frin(/cs, Tai>cstri/-.Jal:iii(i. as Well an Oilier Crnfls Done nith the Seedle. After this many other pattern-books were published from time to time, .ind l)y stiidying these one is able to trace the transition from white thread embroid- ery to needle-point lace. Soon we find work called puiilo in aere, in which the embroidery is edged with Vandyked points which are wholly of needlework, without any foundation of cloth. Another step brings us to work not simply edged, but wholly made in this way: in other words, to the production of actual lace. The develo]unent of a true lace was earliest carried to perfection in Venice. At first it was similar in pattern to the cut and drawn work, but toward the end of the sixteenth century these geometrical designs were replaced by elaborate floral and scroll ornaments which culminated in the delicate productions of the eighteenth cen- tury. Venetian lace gradually liecame less bold and efl'ective in design and more delicate in exe- cution, as lace became less worn by men and more by women. This is seen by comparing the earlier laces with the celebrated rose point: the latter is composed of delicate scrolls held to- gether by tiny bars and freely spotted with small blossoms. From Venice the art of lace-making spread into France, and early in the reign of Louis XIV, his minister Colbert established a lace-making company enjoying exclusive privi- leges, with a general shop at Paris, the principal centres of lace-making being villages where the art was already practiced, notal)ly .^lencon, I See Despierres, Histoire du point d'AIenton, Paris, 188(i. ) At first the laces produced, which were callc<l under tlic general name of point de France, were mere imitations of Venetian pat- terns; but gradually dislinctly national edges were evolved. The nianufacture of needle-point lace also spread to Flanders, where a lace of most delicate quality was made, on account of the sujicrior fineness of Belgian flax. In trencral point lace is made by first stitching a thread along the outlines of a pattern on paper, parchment, or cloth, and then covering and con- necting the pattern-thread with stitches. Of course in actual practice this method is subject to endless modifications and variations, and cer- tain technical terms arc used in describing the various processes and products, the ]irincipal of which are the following: The unfigurcd back- ground of lace is called the resc(ru. Tlic pattern is the motif. Point de relin is lace worked on a parcliment pattern. Brides are the simple lines with which the pattern portions arc some- times connected. Modes are elaborate variations of the reseau. Picots are little loops worked on a pattern to add to its effectiveness, Cordonnets are stout threads, sometimes of horsehair, em- ployed to outline a pattern. During later times the term yuipure (see guipure later on) was applied to all laces where the design was con- nected with simple bars or ties, while laces with regular meshed backgrounds (rcseaux) .were called dentelles. The process of making point d'Alencjon lace can perhaps licst be understood by reference to the accompanying plate illustrating the various steps in the work, Tlic diH'ereiit classes of work are assigned to dirt'crent workers successively, and the fabric jiasses through many hands before it is finally complete. Fig, 1 shows the design, which is drawn on white pajier. It is llicii pricked with a needle on a piece of green parchment on which the grounding is indicated (Fig. 2), X colored design in which the portions to be worked out by the dilVcrent workers are indicated is next eiiiiiloycd and is shown in Fig. 3. The first worker traces out the tlcsign on the ])arch- nient (hi trace) as shown in Fig. 4. The next supplies the coarser groundwork (bride), indi- cated on the color scheme by yellow and shown in Fig. 5. Next the finer grounding (reseau), which corresponds in the color ]il;iii to the green, is worked ill and then the design itself is worked in solid buttonhole stitch (renipli). This is in- dicated by the white on the color jilan. Next the fine stars of the openwork (modes) are added, corres]ionding to the red on the diagram, and the final process consists in working a heavy outline around the design, as is indicated by the black. Fig, '.) shows the finished lace after it has gone through these successive stages, Pn.i.ow L.CE, The invention of pillow lace has been claimed for Barbara Uttinann, who lived at Saint. naberg, Sa.xony, about the middle of the sixteenth century. Whether .she invented or merely introduced the art can- not now be proved; but certain it is that it soon became established in Saxony, and spread thence to the Netherlands and France, Pillow lace, sometimes called cushion or bobbin lace, is so called from the pillow or cushion being used to work the pattern upon, and the various tlireads (if which the figtires are made up each being wound upon a bobbin, usually of an ornamental character, to distinguish one from the other. The jiattern on parchment or paper being at- tached to the pillow or cushion, pins are stuck in at regular intervals in the lines of the pat- tern, and the threads of the bobbins are twisted or plaited round them so as to form the net- work arrangement which is characteristic of this class of lace, the patterns or figured portions being workeil out by a crossing of threads, which, although actually plaiting, gives the effect of weaving. As many as 1200 liobbins are required for the more elaborate patterns, JIany pillow- lace patterns are made in strips, and are cleverly united by a stitch called point de raccroc, which consists in finishing off the two outer parallel edges of a strip with a series of half instead of whole meshes, which arc subsequently united in a way that defies detection. The name passement was given to the earliest bobbin laces. Being cheaper and simpler than the point lace, they at once became popular with those who could not afTord the latter. Gradu- ally, however, wider and more elaborate pillow laces were made. In 1708 the manufacture of machine net or tulle was started at Nottingham, England, and