LACE AND LACE-MAKING. 



535 



Valenciennes lace was made in other towns of tlie province, but 

 " vraie Valenciennes " onlj' at Valenciennes. The Lille makers, for 

 instance, would make from three to five ells a day (an ell is forty-eight 

 inches), while those of Valenciennes would make not more than an 

 inch and a half in the same time. Some lace-makers made only twen- 

 ty-four inches in a year; hence the costliness of the lace. Modern 

 Valenciennes is far inferior in quality to that made in 1780. 



The manufacture is now transferred to Belgium, to the great com- 

 mercial loss of France, for it is the most widely consumed of any of 

 the varieties of lace. It is the most important of the pillow-laces of 

 Belgium. Ypres, which is the chief place of its manufacture, began 

 to make this lace in 1656. In 1684 it had only three forewomen and 

 63 lace-makers, while in 1850 it numbered from 20,000 to 22,000. 

 The Valenciennes of Ypres (Fig. 3) is the finest and most elaborate 

 of any that is now made. On a piece not two inches wide, from 200 

 to 300 bobbins are employed, and for greater widths 800 bobbins ai'e 

 sometimes used on the same pillow. The large, clear squares of the 

 ground contrast finely with the even tissue of the patterns. The 

 Ypres manufacture has greatly improved since 1833, and has reached 

 a high degree of perfection. Irish Valenciennes closely resembles 

 the Ypres lace. Valenciennes lace as fine as that of France was at 

 one time made in England (Fig. 9). 



Fig. 9. Valenciennes, Northampton, England. 



Mechlin is a fine, beautiful lace, made in one piece on the pillow, 

 and is distinguished by the flat thread which forms its flower. Be- 

 fore 1665 all pillow-lace, of which the pattern was relieved by a flat 

 thread, was known as Mechlin lace. " It is essentially a summer lace, 

 not becoming in itself, but charming when worn over color." 



Silk laces were first made about 1745. At first this new fabric was 

 manufactured from silk of the natural color brought from Nanking 

 and it was hence called blonde. After a time, however, it was pre- 

 pared from the purest and most brilliant white silk. " Not every 

 woman can work at the while lace. Those who have what is locally 

 termed the haleine grasse (greasy breath) are obliged to confine them- 



