Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-08-07
Something About Lace.

IT has been wondered at by persons I'M
acquainted with the possibilities of mech
anism that machine-made lace should be
so inferior to that made by hand. Its
not only true that it is, but that, for vari
Gus reasons, it must always continue in
ferior. In lace making it is essential that
the ends Of the thread be loose. Now, I'M
til machine has been devised which will
pick up these loose ends as a Devonshire
lace-maker or a Belgian nun does, it is
useless to expect from the automatic ma
chine the s0ttness and elasticity, the even
ness Of thread, or grace of pattern which
comes from intelligent fingers | do not
desire to snub the machine made gimpS
and tringes that give a style to English
and American ladies' dresses, which the
traveller misses so much as he proceeds
through Europe toward the East but they
are not lace.
There are but four real classes Of lace,
although the specialties of different c0un-
tries are innumerable. Point, pillow,
drawn, and applique are the generic kinds
OF lace proper, and the name Of each, to a
woman's understanding, designates how it
is made. Point lace, indeed, meaning
made by the needles point, is untrue to
its name, since it is partly pillow twisted,
but pillow lace, drawn lace, and applique
lace are what their names indicate.
Of drawn lace and applique lace no de
scription is needed. OF pillow lace the
usual method of work is thus Upon
the pillow, which is nearly giObular,
piece of stiff parchment is stretched hav-
ing number of holes forming the pat
tern. Through these holes pins are stuck,
and threads wound upon bobbins are wO-
ven around the pins and twisted i'll com
N1o+a 9TH
threads now form the skeleton. The
meshes are bound together At every two
or three turns of the thread it is twisted
around its own cord and then again
around its neighbours cord. The figure of
the meshes depends upon the number of
turns made before the twist is changed
from one cord to another. 1t is a most
tedious process. Attention cannot be di-
verted. Thought must be upon the work.
Memory is severely taxed. The mistake
of a single twist becomes fatal to the
whole piece.
There are certain peculiar conditions
necessary to the production of perfect
lace. These are, first, the quality Of the
thread; second, the abundance of female
labor; and third, the Roman Catholic re-
ligion. Belgium, better than all other
European countries, possesses the three.
Her thread has not, and never had rival;
her peasant girls, red-cheeked pictures OF
perfect health, are proverbially industri-
Gus; and her upper and lower classes are
Catholic devotees. In the vestrles OF the
old churches of Flemish land there is a
wealth of lace upon SacerdOtal yestmentS
that is beyond estimate 1t has been col
lecting ever since Isabella's days, was
wrought as a labor of love by nuns and
other holy ladies, and appears upon the
gorgeous apparel of ecclesiastical digni-
taries on great days of the Church. But
in all the world there is no such cOllec-
ton of every description of lace as at the
Vatican. From France and England,
from Spain, Portugal, Austria, and Italy,
point d'Espagne and point Alencon, Val
enciennes and Honiton, Brussels, Genoese,
Argentan. and one knows not what, have
been coming as gifts to the Church these
500 wears. There are twelve large rooms
used exclusively as wardrobes for laces in
the Papal Palace.
Though a great deal of old lace has
come down in families ana N ecclesiastl-
cal establishments and though lace, as an
heirloom is guarded as watchfully as dia-
monds, no doubt much has been lost. 1t
has been the fashion at times, in different
narts of the world, to bury the dead of dis
was particularly the case at Corfu. To
this day there are to be found in shops
these specimens of antique lace of elegant
workmanship, conspicuous for darkness
of color and sepulchral smell.
Honiton lace, made only in Devonshire,
ENGLAND has never been favorite in the
United States. Two handkerchiefs. con
tributed by an American gentleman visit
inc in London, to the New York Sanitary
Fair in 1863 could scarcely be disposed
of at cost. About the middle of the last
lection that it rivaled Brussels. But the
lace ,makers introduced a set of hideous
patterns "out of their own heads" they
said, patterns of boars' heads and peacock
tails: of kettles and frying pans of
churches and castles. Leaves and flowers,
graceful compositions of the old school,
we're abandoned, and the end was an utter
depression of the trade. To revive the
| hest day. of Honiton again, Queen Victo-