Needle-made lace from an old DMC booklet

 

This lace comes from an old DMC booklet on needle-made lace, which gives patterns, instructions and thread suggestions for the home needlewoman. The author is Therese de Dillmont, which surprised me, because she died in 1890 and this booklet gives the impression of being from a slightly later time, as the fashions are Edwardian rather than Victorian. It led me to do some further research and I discovered that DMC continued to publish books in de Dillmont’s name after her death because her name was such an asset to the company. Another confusion is that her niece had the same name as her and they published books in her name too.

Therese de Dillmont was an Austrian needleworker and author who ran an embroidery school with her sister, owned several needlework shops in major European capital cities and wrote many books and pamphlets about needlework including her famous Encyclopaedia of needlework, which was published in 1886. She collaborated with the French thread company Dollfus-Mieg et Cie (DMC) and their joint publications promoted the company’s threads and became known for their clear instructions and illustrations.

The booklets included patterns printed on a strong flexible paper rather like Vilene fabric, which they called ‘lace paper’. These could be cut out and used directly for working on to although they do give instructions for pricking through them to make copies if needed.

The booklet then shows how the design on the pattern was outlined with a couched thread and the filling stitches worked across the pattern areas. This image shows how blanket stitch was used to fill the design and how bars of blanket stitch, worked over a thread, were used to join areas together. It also shows how the outlines of the design elements were edged with blanket stitch to give a more three-dimensional appearance to the lace. I was interested to see that all the images show the stitches being worked with the needle pointing away from the worker, as I have always worked them the other way up with the needle pointing towards me, but the final effect seems to be the same.

The booklet also gives some suggestions for how the needle-made lace motifs and trims could be used as decoration for fashion and household items. The designs are beautiful and the instructions are very clear so I can see why these booklets have stood the test of time and why de Dillmont’s encyclopaedia is still used by many needlewomen today.  

Figures in early lace

 

Many early laces from the 16th and 17th century depict people. Some are mythical creatures like gods, goddesses and putti and others are people in contemporary dress. They were made in a variety of types of lace and patterns were available in books such as Le Pompe, published in 1559 for bobbin lace, and Federico Vinciolo’s 1587 pattern book for needle and filet lace. The image above comes from a 1617 pattern book published by Cesare Vecellio and depicts the four seasons and some dancing figures. The seasons are shown in classical dress while the dancers wear contemporary clothes. The pattern is designed to be worked in needlelace.

These lovely corner designs are printed in the same pattern book and again are patterns for needlelace. The books would not have included any instructions for working the patterns, as it was assumed the ladies who brought them had the required knowledge to work them from these illustrations.

This angel is worked in needlelace and is a detail from an illustration in Elisa Ricci’s book on Italian lace designs. It was made in the 17th century and is made to appear more three-dimensional than the previous images with the incorporation of thicker threads around parts of the lace, such as the halo and the feathers in the angel’s wings.

Another illustration from the same book is this detail of a tablecloth made up of alternating squares of embroidery and lacis work. Lacis was popular in the 16th century and many books included patterns for this type of lace which is basically darning on fine net. The net was made first ensuring that the squares were all the same size by using a gauge. It was then held taut in a frame while the design was worked by passing a needle and thread through the holes in the net, to darn some solid areas and make more open looped patterns in others.

Figures could also be made in bobbin lace as you can see in this lace made from a pattern in Le Pompe. It is a complicated pattern and requires threads to be added and removed as it is worked. The original pattern would not have included any working instructions but Santina Levey and Patricia Payne in their book about the Le Pompe patterns included instructions for making the laces. Forty pairs of bobbins were used to make the lace and two different threads were used, a fine one for the figures and a thicker one for the plaits. If you are interested in early laces this book is very helpful because it describes the way early laces were made and also explains how to make lace prickings from the original woodcut patterns.

Frayed nerves: needle lace and silk paper

 

To have frayed nerves is an expression that has been used since 1870 to mean being worn down or irritated to the point where you feel stressed, anxious and no longer able to cope. As textile people we are aware of threads fraying when they become stressed and worn to the point that they gradually pull apart and thus lose their strength and ability to function.

This piece literally show the frayed ends of the threads, and the nerves they represent, lying under the skin. It shows a glimpse of the nerves at a point where a strip of skin has been broken and torn down to reveal them lying underneath. The implication being that the skin was scratched incessantly in a nervous manner until it was torn open to reveal the nerves underneath.

The nerves are made in needlelace, which is worked with a needle and thread, forming a variety of buttonhole stitches. Here the buttonhole stitches are worked, in subtly coloured silk threads, over a core of thicker crochet cotton. The frayed ends of the nerves are embedded in a larger piece of handmade silk paper to form a hanging, with a strip of the silk paper hanging down at the front of the work as if it has been ripped from the main hanging to reveal the nerves underneath. The hanging is backed with a length of silk that has a fine shimmer suggesting the interior of the body. The fine silk paper and the subtle colours of the nerves were designed to suggest the fragility of the human body and the ease with which the nerves can be stressed.  

Hollie point: an English needlelace

 

At first sight hollie point lace resembles other needle-made laces, however this particular style of fine, flat, white lace incorporating designs of religious motifs, made up of small holes in a grid-like pattern seems to be uniquely English. It was used particularly to trim christening robes and a circular medallion of the lace was often inserted in the crown of christening caps. The image below comes from Margaret Simeon’s book The history of lace and shows the typical panel and medallion inserted in an early 18th century christening cap; the edging is Valenciennes bobbin lace.

Hollie point was made from about 1720 until the early 19th century. The name hollie point is a corruption of holy point and the term was originally used to denote any type of church lace, but by the early 18th century the name exclusively referred to the style of lace we are looking at here. The patterns are all geometric and include religious symbols such as the Holy dove, the crown of glory, and the tree of knowledge. They were thought to have a protective function in warding off evil and keeping the child who wore them safe.

The hollie point stitch is basically a buttonhole stitch with an extra twist, worked over a horizontal thread. The example here was an exercise in working the holes and was made in crochet cotton, so it was easier to see the stitches and their placement. It was worked on a backing with an outlining cordonnet secured round the square shape to provide an outline from which to work the rows of stitches. The examples above give an idea of how attractive these designs could be, even though they are worked on a simple grid. Many antique pieces also include dates and initials adding a touch of social history to these lovely designs.  

 

Renaissance lace patterns from the 16th century

In the 16th century, several lace pattern books were produced in Europe for the skilled amateur working from home. Cesare Vecellio, a Venetian painter and designer who was a relative of the painter Titian, produced four volumes of these patterns. The first, entitled 'Corona delle nobili et virtuose donne' (Coronet of the noble and virtuous [skilful] ladies) was published in 1591 and dedicated to the wife of the ‘most illustrious lord procurator’ of Venice. 

All these books were dedicated to wealthy patronesses, who presumably had the leisure time to make these laces, or more likely, to organise and pay for their production by a skilled female workforce. Each design is accompanied by a caption highlighting its function or exclusivity, for example this image is labelled ‘Elegant Flemish style patterns used in Italy by duchesses and other noblewomen’ in the same way modern magazines advertise high end fashion.

Other captions are very specific, such as ‘Patterns for collars on little boys’ first dress clothes’, below this image of small patterns for children’s clothes. No instruction are given in the books, but the laces are variously labelled as punto in aria, cutwork, reticella, Flemish style needlework or rosettes. Santina Levey notes that Vecellio used all these terms interchangeably and all the patterns in this book are for needle lace. By the time of publication, needle lace no longer depended on a geometric woven background (like cutwork) and a technique based on outlining cords had been developed (punto in aria) which allowed the production of more free-flowing patterns of any shape. Basically the lacemaker could use whatever needle-lace technique she preferred, for example the image at the top of this blog is based on a square geometric design and could be worked in a reticella style or more freely as punto in aria.

Reading the thread

 

I’m delighted to have a chapter in this fascinating new book about textiles edited by Lesley Millar and Alice Kettle. Entitled Reading the thread: Cloth and communication it considers the abilities of thread to record or communicate a story. The contributions are wide ranging including the history, construction and future of threads and their use in contemporary practice.

My chapter builds on my research into the Battle of Britain commemorative lace panel made by the Nottingham machine lace company, Dobson and Browne, at the end of the second world war. In this study I compare it with the handmade needlelace tablecloth made for Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, as part of the Belgian war lace initiative during the first world war. Although both these lace works seem quite different in technique and manufacture, there are many similarities between them. Both were designed as artworks rather than everyday lace and both incorporate iconography and symbols representative of the events of their time.

Importantly for the theme of the book, both lace artefacts communicate a story, literally and metaphorically. They both include the facts and dates of their respective wars but also the hidden story of the resilience of lacemakers and the power of lace to transcend war and result in two beautiful war memorials. The book will be published on 23 January by Bloomsbury, so not long to wait now.

Lace in Turkey

 

I’ve just returned from an amazing textile tour of Turkey where they have their own distinctive style of lace, which is mainly used as an edging for scarves and clothing. There are two main techniques, one using a fine crochet hook and the other a knotting technique using needle and thread.

We were lucky to be shown both styles of making on our tour and the skilful women who demonstrated for us were all able to use both techniques. The edging of the blue scarf in the main image is fine crochet work. The photo shows both sides of the work so you can see how the scarf is hemmed as an integral part of the lace, a clever way of saving time so the scarf does not have to be hemmed before the lace work begins.

The knotting and looping technique is shown round the edge of this beautiful dark blue scarf. The needle is inserted under the main thread then the remaining thread is twisted round the needle to form the loop. The skill lies in controlling the size of the loops to make a pleasing gradation to represent flowers and leaves.

As well as lace attached to fabric, strings of flowers and leaves are also made using a crochet technique which can be used as necklaces. Beads and ribbons can also be incorporated into the lace to add highlights to the work. We were lucky to be shown how the lace is made at several places and were pleased to see contemporary and vintage lace being sold in various outlets throughout our tour.