LACE 



3290 



LACE-WINGED FLIES 



present application in the sixteenth century; 

 before this it was descriptive of the cord used 

 to lace articles of clothing, and of gold and 

 other fancy braids used for trimming. The 

 most ancient specimens of lace in existence are 

 the hair and breast nets found in Egyptian 

 tombs, which date as far back as 2500 B.C. 

 There are two distinct classes of hand-made 

 lace, each of which coin a ins many varieties; 

 these are >i<ll< -point lace, and bobbin, or 

 pillow, lace. A great deal of lace is now made 

 by machinery, but this, of course, cannot be 

 compared to the exquisitely designed and deli- 

 cately beautiful hand-mad* 1 varieties. 



Needle-Point Lace. In the needle-point 

 />/(><( N.S a needle and a single thread are em- 

 ployed, and the work is developed mesh by 

 mesh, each mesh being completed before the 

 next is begun. Under this head are included 

 (impure. Venetian point, the French laces of 

 Alencon and Argent an. Brussels Rose, Portu- 

 guese and Maltese point. Brussels point dif- 

 fers from the Venetian and French needle laces 

 chiefly in the use of a plain instead of a but- 

 ton-hole stitch. Spanish point was at one time 

 very popular, but the industry declined owing 

 to the large quantities of Flemish lace im- 

 ported into Spain. Specimens of this lace pro- 

 duced by Spanish convents in the early part 

 of the nineteenth century were similar to 

 Venetian point. Point d'Angleter % e is another 

 name for Flemish lace. In the oldest forms 

 of point lace there was a foundation of fine 

 linen, with a network of threads attached to 

 a light frame, the patterns being worked with 

 the button-hole stitch upon these threads and 

 into the linen foundation. When the work was 

 completed, the foundation was entirely hidden 

 by the design. The foundation outside the 

 pattern was then cut away, and the designs 

 joined together by threads. 



The Bobbin, or Pillow Process. This form 

 of lace i> said to have been invented in 1561. 

 This variety of lace is made by working the 

 design over a parchment pattern upon a cush- 

 ion or pillow, the threads being wound upon 

 bobbins. The figure is then made by looping 

 the threads around the pins to form the open- 

 work or net part of this form of lace. Among 

 the more important bobbin laces are Mrussels 

 i both Saxony and Flemish), Mechlin, Lille, 

 Chant illy. Valenciennes. Honiton and Irish 

 lace. The Mechlm laces are made in Mechlin, 

 Antwerp and Lierre. Ordinary Mechlin and 

 Brussels pillow laces are made with a hex- 

 agonal mesh. The |,j|le laces are of a simple 



pattern, outlined by a thick thread. The 

 Chanti.lly laces are also of simple construction. 

 and are highly regarded, especially in black. 

 Valenciennes was probably the most important 

 pillow lace manufactured in Belgium prior to 

 the German invasion in 1914, and that made at 

 Ypres was of a particularly fine quality. Its 

 chief characteristics are elegance of design. 

 beauty of background and uniformity of tis- 

 sue. The mesh, which is diamond-shaped and 

 closely plaited, is without twisted sides. 



Honiton is the best known and the most 

 beautiful of the English pillow laces. It is, to 

 some extent, similar to Brussels, but has more 

 individuality. The beautiful Irish lace is made 

 at Limerick, and ,is highly valued. The lace 

 industry of Russia is said to have developed 

 in the seventeenth century after a visit of 

 Peter the Great to Paris, and the Russian varie- 

 ties are therefore of French origin. 



Machine-Made Laces. The various kinds of 

 manufactured lace are largely made from cot- 

 ton, although a fiber called ramie has been 

 satisfactorily employed. 



Nearly every kind of hand-made lace can 

 be copied so perfectly that it is sometimes 

 difficult to distinguish the imitations from the 

 genuine. While the enormous output .and 

 cheapness of machine lace have brought it 

 within reach of all classes, it is said that the 

 demand for the hand-made varieties has not 

 declined. 



The first crude form of a lace machine was 

 invented in 1758, and a lace was at once pro- 

 duced in imitation of Brussels. A really prac- 

 tical device .was not brought out until 1809. 

 This is said to have been suggested by ma- 

 chinery used in making fish nets. S.L.A. 



Consult Jackson's Hand-Made Lace; Mincoff 

 and Marriage's Pillow Lace ; Jourdain's Old Lace ; 

 Clifford's Lace Dictionary. 



LACE-BARK TREE, a curious tree for which 

 the natives of the West Indies find various 

 uses. The inner bark, made up of very strong 

 fibers, consists of several layers, which after 

 soaking may be easily separated into weblike 

 sheets of "lace." This the women use for orna- 

 mental purposes, and it is said that Charles II 

 of England was presented with a collar and 

 frills made from it. Ropes, matting, whips and 

 other articles are also made from the fiber and 

 used largely in the Indies. 



LACE- WINGED FLIES, a family of insects 

 whose wings are lacelike, somewhat resembling 

 gauze on an open-work frame. They have 

 yellow-green bodies and feed upon smaller flies 



