Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1883-08-24
Tie History of Lace.
From the Philadelphia Record.

Tie History Of Lace.
From the Philadelphia Record.
In the use of lace as an adornment
women have been more faithful d to
their early tastes than men, for up to
the beginning of the present century it
was much worn byImena as women. Hen
ny III covered himself with fine lace in
gold, and the Valois usedit profusely,
Bossompiere, Glnq. Mars, and other
leaders of fashion at the court of Henry
III bro ught the extravagant use of lace
to climax. When gentlemen wore it
as a decoration they adorned their
gloves, falling collars, ruffs, and dresses
with it in abundance. Some, indeed,
wore a rosette of it on their CATERS, a
bow of it on their high top boots, and it
was covered into fancy buckles for low
shoes. It has from earlv date been
used on the covering of 'chalice altar
cloths, and decorated the priests alb
and the prelate's rochet. Mrs. Bury
Palliser speaks of the high esteem in
which the church held lace, and of cele-
brated painters furnishing designs for
biblical pictures in which we see the
HAOohoA al %hOSApa VI InO 4CIUl IL VI
the prodigal son, preparing him for a
tippet trimmed with the richest point;
the foolish virgins weeping with
handkerchie1s bordered with it;
the table-cloth of Dives, as we'll as the
table~napkin used by his guest, orna-
mented in the same manner.
Laces made for women's use were for
merly designated for each change of the
season, for different hours of the day,
and adapted to all ages. Under Louis
XIV point d'Alencon and point d Argeni-
an, etiquette styled "winter laces," and
even now ladies have little dis ,ernment
who cannot distinguish appropriate laces
for morning or evening wear. Valencien-
mes, with it's clear ground work is par
ticularly adapted to handsome morning
toilets. Narrow edgings are for linen
suitings, and torchon for those seaside
costumes that in elegant material ape
the blue garb of the French peasant.
Lace, properly considered, indicates by
its transparent thick or smooth points,
or those in relief, the difference between
the trivo lous and sedate, and suggests
the appropriateness Of such as should
decorate promenade dresses, visiting
costumes, or regatta or race toilets.
Great antiquity is claimed by many
for the origin of lace. Yet an inconsist-
ency is apparent, for if these eastern ma
tons had mai .ufactured lace for several
centuries before it was known in Europe
why did they so strictly keep the Sc.
cret? Then again, these people, since
the commencement of their history
have carefully preserved their methods
Of dress, habits and industrial arts The
first lace which the earliest engraved
| patterns display was guipuire, and came
to us from Venice. There is but little
reason for doubling that the origin of
lace is purely Italian. The Venetians
used ornaments in high relief on their
guipires, and so adroitly did they study
the effect of light and shade that shad-
ows changed from dark to light at each
movement of the Wearer.
In Queen Charlotte's time the English
had piece of lace manufactured in
point d'Angleterre, and presented it to
her which had for design the destruc-
ton of the invincible armada by Eliza
beth's fleet. 1t shows men of war bend
ing before the wind, dolphins nearly as
large as the ships. forts,
gaoupsS of n;+ weapons 2oaf ea and h
point d'Alencon, made with needle,
is acknowledged by all connoisseurs to
w ulAC 1AC1VOt Ss11A LuO5t UCduC11uk vi I'LL
lacey. Elegant and fine, made entirely
of linen thread, it has raised figures for
ornaments.
Long after handmade laces had en-
joyed life of popularity, mechanism
invaded the domain of lace-making.
Tu]le was the first lace so made. Many
unsuccessful efforts were made, which
finally eliminated: toward the end of
the last century, in the bobbin loom
From this invention immense machines,
moved by steam, weave upward of Is 900
I meshes per minute, while lace maker,
on an average can produce but five or
six meshes in the same time Those
wearing expensive handmade lace can
scarcely realize labor employed in it's
manufacture: In travelling through
Flanders, Norway or Aqvergne,
| one often sees ground door
filed with young girls, bend.
ing over their cushions, welding innum-
cradle bobbins around innumerabl bic pins
twisting, crossing, interlacing them,
making nearly $4,000 evolutions, for 8
design of ten inches, amounting to twen-
ty-seven movements in minute.
Bossompiere says that the baptism OF
the royal children of France in l sos.
when extravaganza ran riot, cost him
1000 crowns. The lace, which was man
uiactured for the occasion, was of ex-
quiste texture, and had sewn on it fifty
pounds weight of pearl. Gabrielle
D, Estess in 1894 ordered lace banker
chief made for her, the price being 100
crowns. Mary of Medici made the Med
icis supplant the French ruff after her
arrival at the French capital. It was
composed Of lovely lace, and on account
OF its abrupt rise Of twelve inches at the
back of the neck had to be supported
on wire.