Early twentieth century tape lace

 

These tape laces are all advertised in one of the monthly issues of The lace and embroidery review in 1911. This was an American magazine produced for trade buyers which discussed the new seasonal trends and contained many advertisements for buyers and suppliers of lace and embroidery. This advertorial shows ‘some beautiful real tape laces’ available from P K Wilson and son. It shows a range of design styles and suggests that the top and bottom ones are possibly Bohemian lace (a term described later in the same issue and discussed in my blog of 14 November 2024).

The fact that these laces are labelled as ‘real’ implies that they are all handmade. It is hard to see from the image but the second piece does seem to include lines of tape that have been gathered and folded to make the pattern and then joined with simple filling stitches. So this piece is probably handmade, although the tape itself is machine made.

In the third piece machine-made tapes have also been gathered and folded to make the bold designs on each side. This was probably worked by hand over a machine made net, with the surplus net being cut away once the tape had been sewn in place and joined with simple filling stitches.

The piece on the fourth line was probably worked in a similar way with the edging tape and flowers added to machine made net. The central swirls could also be made using a fine tape, but I think it would be much easier to work this part of the design in tambour lace with a hook and thread producing a fine chain stitch. Tape lace was certainly popular in the early twentieth century; customers appreciated its bold designs and manufacturers liked it because it was quick and easy to make.

London landmarks in lace

 

This machine-made, lace panel of Westminster Abbey in London is one of a series and I have another one depicting Trafalgar Square. Many of these fairly small lace panels (they are 30 x 45 cm) were made from the 1960s to the end of the 1980s and I’ve seen others of famous UK landmarks such as Edinburgh Castle and Nottingham Castle. The two I have are made of a synthetic thread so are definitely fairly modern in construction. As you can see in the detail below, they are very cleverly shaded by using a limited range of stitches and the square format of this type of lace lends itself well to depicting architecture.

I don’t know how many different landmarks were part of this London series. I have seen lace panels of Buckingham Palace and St Paul’s Cathedral but they did not have the same border as my two examples so I don’t think that they are part of this series. A search on the internet does not reveal much and concentrates on the images of London shown in the Battle of Britain commemorative lace panel, which I know very well having researched it and written about it many times. However, the images on the commemorative panel are not views of London landmarks, but mainly images of bomb-damaged London buildings. I bought my panels online but I assume they were originally sold as souvenirs for tourists and that is why I think they must be part of a wider series of London landmarks in lace.

Alternative lace bobbins

 

I’ve started a new piece of work, which will be 3 or 4 m long and 20 cm or so wide. As you can imagine it requires quite a lot of thread and my usual lace bobbins aren’t big enough to hold it all so I had to find another solution. I had a look through my bobbin collection and found several continental bobbins that I’ve been given over the years by kind friends, which are just right for the job. So thank you to those of you who have given me gifts of bobbins over the years, they are proving very useful. I’m also enjoying using them as they remind me of my lace travels and they are pleasing to work with. However, even these lovely bobbins are not suitable for some of the thicker threads I’m working with. The ‘hairy’ thread you can see is actually made of paper and is too voluminous to wind round a conventional lace bobbin. I tried winding it round various other cylindrical items but none worked well, sticks were too thin, paper spools too light and toilet rolls too big. Then I discovered two old spools from reels of thread, which worked perfectly, and the thread holds a half hitch nicely to keep the thread in place.

Another problem was the thick thread in the ball, which is made from hemp, and was too bulky to thread onto a spool. Also I want to use a long quantity of it without having to keep joining it, so I decided to keep it in the ball. I started by pinning it down while I made the lace but that was fiddly and time consuming so in the end I just tied a rubber band round it to keep the thread in place, which is working well. The thread does have a tendency to twist, but I find that if I hang the ball over the edge of my pillow as I work it untwists itself and provides the tension I need. I feel quite pleased with my alternative lace bobbins and working with such thick thread means the lace is progressing quickly too.

Swiss embroidered lace curtains

I’m back doing more lace curtain research this week and have discovered these very pretty Swiss embroidered curtains in a lace curtain catalogue from the west London department store Whiteley. The catalogue was produced in the early twentieth century but unfortunately no actual date is given. Swiss is a confusing term in the context of lace curtains because it can signify various different techniques. The Nottingham lace curtain machine can produce Swiss and Swiss combination stitches and Swiss lace is also a term for chemical lace. However, The very light open design of these curtains makes me think that they were made using the Schiffli embroidery machine straight onto a net background.

The three designs of curtains here were all available in white or ecru. The curtain with the design of irises (main image) cost 12/9 for a pair in the sale and each one was 126 inches long and 50 inches wide. The curtains in the lower image are both 126 x 60 inches in size, but are more expensive. The ones on the left cost 17/9 per pair and the others cost 24/3 per pair. I’m not sure why there is such a discrepancy in price as they both seem to have equally complicated designs, requiring similar amounts of work. All three curtain designs are sold in fairly large lengths and widths indicating that they are for a house with large, but not lavish, windows and their price, even in a sale, suggests they would have been bought by a well-to-do customer.

Raised petals in Bedfordshire lace

 

Raised petals are added to lace to give a more three-dimensional appearance to the design. The group of raised petals that you see on the left here were worked separately to the main design and then sewn in place once the work was finished. It is probably possible to make the petals directly over the main piece of lace, and attach it to the lower edge with sewings as you work, but I think making it separately and then attaching it with needle and thread is much quicker and easier. Also, Bedfordshire lace does not traditionally use sewings, so the old lacemakers would not have been familiar with the technique.

The addition of raised petals seems to be left to the worker's discretion as the pricking for the lace does not indicate that the petals should be raised. Perhaps raised petals were only included in the lace if they were specifically requested by the lace buyer for a special piece.

I haven’t seen many examples of Bedfordshire lace with raised petals so I don’t think it was a commonly used technique. However, in this pattern by Thomas Lester the inner row of petals in the large flowers could easily be raised, and Lester’s work was just the type of high quality lace that would have been likely to contain such a detailed embellishment.

Tambour lace: frame, hook and thread

 

Tambour lace is a fine, delicate lace made by working chain stitches through a machine-made net background, using a tambour hook. The net is held taught in a frame so both hands are free to accomplish the tambouring. One hand holds the tambour hook above the net and the other controls the thread beneath the work. The hook is inserted through a space in the net, it then picks up a loop of thread and pulls this through to the front. Keeping the loop round the hook, the hook is then inserted into an adjacent space in the net and another loop is picked up through the first one. When this second loop is pulled through to the front of the work, the first loop will be left as a chain on the front of the net. The work then progresses forming a line of chain stitches, which are used to outline the pattern. Filling stitches can then be added either with the tambour hook or using a needle and thread. 

When I make tambour lace I pin my pattern below the net, but this does mean I have to keep moving it out of the way to make the chain stitches, which is time consuming. Commercial workers often had the design printed onto the net, which made the work faster. They would also have had a larger frame for the net so that several people could work on one design together and speed up the work. Large and small frames both allow a length of lace to be made, as the completed part can be wound around the roller at the end of the frame and a new area of net moved to the working area. Attaching the net in the way I show here using a binding also allows the work to be moved up easily when you move to a new section.

In the early nineteenth century, embroidery and tambouring on net were the only ways to make decorated lace. It wasn’t until later in the century that the ability to make patterned lace entirely by machine was invented. Tambouring on net later became the speciality of Coggeshall in Essex and Limerick in Ireland.

Queen Elizabeth’s ruffs

 

Looking at images of Queen Elizabeth I of England reveals the development of lace ruffs throughout the sixteenth century. The fashion for ruffs began in the 1530s with a small ruffle on the neckband of the smock. As the century progressed the ruffles became box pleated and fuller, often with an edging of simple needlelace, embroidery, or cording. They tended to be full at the back and sides of the head but were shallower at the chin.

By the 1570, the ruff had become a uniform size around the head and was formed of figure-of-eight shaped pleats often 3-4 inches in height. Wide lengths of lace were used to edge the ruff often incorporating spangles, or sequins, which would have sparkled as they caught the light. These ruffs were separate items of clothing and no longer attached to the smock. This made them easier to launder and starch into their stiffened shape.

The 1580s saw the development of much wider and more ornate ruffs, which appeared to be made entirely of lace, or were embroidered and edged with a wide lace edging. These ruffs required a support behind them to maintain their shape and the effect was quite stunning, as we can see in this miniature by Nicholas Hilliard.

By the 1590s necklines were lower and ruffs were often worn open with their edges pinned to the corners of the bodice. These ruffs tended to be more delicate than the solid styles of the previous decade. They also needed a support, known as a rebato, to maintain their height and shape. These supports were finer than the earlier ones and were made of wire covered with thin gauze or cotton, some also had an edging of lace. This detail of the Rainbow portrait by Isaac Oliver also shows the Queen’s delicate wired head rail. We are very fortunate that painting styles of the time depicted clothing so accurately, providing a beautiful record of these changing fashions.