Lace was used to decorate linens and towels in boudoirs as well as slip covers in drawing rooms. Lace also provided finishing touches on personal attire in the form of handkerchiefs, scarves and trimming for blouses and dresses. In the mid 19th century Paper Lace doilies were developed in Germany as a more efficient way to make a product that could be used in restaurants and in the home to make an affordable touch of class available to the rising Middle Class. By the 1920 s, the homemaker, who previously had lined her shelves with plain paper, began to utilize decorative lace paper instead. Since the 1920 s, bakeries, restaurants, hotels, schools, and households have increased the usage of lace paper products for functional and decorative purposes.
Sanitation is enhanced when food is served on clean, white doilies rather than on permanent-ware.
Clean tablecloths last longer when protected by attractive paper doilies. Today, paper doily making has become an important industry which serves commercial establishments as well as consumers. Doily machines are complicated mechanical devices. To create a die for a machine that would print a specific lace pattern is an intricate process. Steps of making doilies The initial step in the creation of dies for lace paper doilies is a drawing of the pattern.