Handmade lace is an openwork textile created entirely by hand, without a woven ground, using either a needle and thread or a set of bobbins worked over a pattern on a pillow. The two principal types are needle lace, built up from buttonhole stitches, and bobbin lace, formed by twisting and crossing many threads, usually of fine linen, cotton or silk.
Lacemaking flourished in Italy and Flanders in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and spread across Europe, with famous centres including Venice, Brussels, Mechelen, Alençon and, in England, Honiton and the East Midlands. Lace was hugely expensive and was worn as collars, cuffs, caps and flounces, and used on church linens and christening gowns. Machine-made lace, developed in Nottingham and elsewhere during the nineteenth century, gradually displaced the hand trade. To identify handmade lace, examine the structure closely: hand work shows slight irregularities, individually worked motifs and threads that do not run in perfectly continuous lines. Condition is important, as fine lace is prone to tears, darns and discolouration. Antique lace should be stored flat or rolled in acid-free tissue and cleaned only with expert advice.
