Chats on Old Lace and Needlework Part 6

Ghent executes vast quant.i.ties of hand-made imitations of Valenciennes, a good and durable lace, but much more expensive than the machine-made varieties which flood the shops as "real Val."

[Ill.u.s.tration: MECHLIN LAPPET.

Eighteenth Century.

(_S.K.M. Collection._)]

Perhaps the only other lace worth mentioning in smaller and later varieties is that known as "d.u.c.h.esse point" or "Bruges," which while being a showy, decorative, and cheap lace, is anything but satisfactory either in design, manufacture, or wear. It is largely composed of cotton, is heavy and c.u.mbrous in design, and after washing becomes thick and clumsy. It is pillow-made, the flowers being made on the cushion and afterwards united by coa.r.s.e and few brides.

Almost equal in favour with old Brussels lace was

MECHLIN,

which was aptly termed "the Queen of Laces." Old Mechlin was wondrously fine, and transparent. It is often spoken of as "Point de Malines"

which, of course, is entirely wrong, as it is not Point at all--being made entirely, all at one time, or in one piece, on the pillow. Much of the lace known under the general name of Flemish Point is really Malines or Mechlin, the only difference being the fine silvery thread which runs all through the designs of real Mechlin. The earliest date of the manufacture of Mechlin is unknown, but in 1681, it is recorded, that the people of Malines busied themselves with making a white lace known as Mechlin. It became a fashionable lace in England in 1699, Queen Mary using it considerably and Queen Anne buying it largely, in one instance purchasing 83 yards of it for 247.

It has always remained a favourite lace with English royalties, Queen Charlotte almost exclusively using it. The other day I discovered in a bric-a-brac shop about twenty yards of it, old and discoloured, it is true, which came directly from Queen Caroline, the ill-used wife of George IV. In the earlier Mechlin, although pillow-made, the introduction of the "brides with picots," and also the may-flower patterns of Brussels, helped to make it more decorative. The ground or reseau was very similar to Brussels hand-made, but the hexagonal mesh is shorter, as reference to the diagram of reseaux will show.

The exquisite "lightness" of Mechlin, so specially adapted to "quillings" and "pleatings," accounted for its popularity. It was specially suitable to the lawns and muslins of the eighteenth century, but little of this lace is left owing, no doubt, to its great favour except the ubiquitous "lappets," for which it was no doubt "the Queen of Lace."

The immediate cause of its extinction was the introduction of Blonde laces, and later its final overthrow came from its being the easiest lace to reproduce by machinery.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MARIE ANTOINETTE, QUEEN OF LOUIS XVI., SHOWING HOW MECHLIN LACE WAS USED.

From an old fashion plate.]

IX

OTHER CONTINENTAL LACES

IX

OTHER CONTINENTAL LACES

Spanish lace; Gold and silver laces of Spain--German laces--Russian laces--Maltese silk and thread laces.

Outside the great lace-making countries of Italy, France, and Flanders, little lace was ever made, and that little of less consequence.

_Spanish Lace._

Much of the old lace known as "Spanish Point" is not Spanish at all, but the best of Italian Rose Point on a large scale, being the variety known as Gros Point. It was not extensively used for dress purposes, as contemporary portraits show, but Spain being such an ultra-Romanist country, vast quant.i.ties of it were imported into Spain for church use.

When Spain fell on unhappy days, in 1830, and the religious houses were dissolved, this lace was eagerly bought by connoisseurs and collectors and became known as Spanish Point. It is not unlikely that the Italian lace was copied by the nuns of the Spanish convents; indeed, at South Kensington Museum there is a set of church altar lace which is admittedly Spanish work and is a distinct but far off imitation of Italian Point.

Spain made gold and silver laces of fine quality and gorgeous design.

Blonde laces in both cream and black are almost indigenous to the soil, and a particular kind of black Blonde, embroidered with colours, specially appealed to the colour-loving people.

_German Laces._

Perhaps at the present day more lace is made in Germany than at any other period. An enormous manufacture of good machine-made lace is exported yearly, the variety known as Saxony being both popular and cheap.

Germany has no national lace, the clever _hausfraus_ caring more to decorate their table and bed-linen than their persons, and using the substantial and practical embroideries of the cross-st.i.tch patterns more than the elegant frailties of lace tr.i.m.m.i.n.g. Lacis network darned into patterns has always been popular here, as also in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.

[Ill.u.s.tration: d.u.c.h.eSSE LACE.

Modern.]

_Russia._

The Russian laces need little more than a pa.s.sing note. As in Germany, Lacis and Cutworke form the only hand-made lace known, the people contenting themselves with these varieties and using coloured threads to further decorate them. Their laces may be called merely Russian embroideries. Peter the Great did much to found a lace school, but only gold laces were made, of a barbaric character. Recently an attempt has been made to imitate the Venetian laces, with very fair results, but the character is very stiff and mechanical, going back to the primitive forms of Reticella rather than the elegancies of Italian Point.

The only other Continental lace requiring note is

_Maltese_,

a lace made entirely with bobbins and on a pillow. This lace is of ancient make, being known as early as the old Greek laces, which it strongly resembles. Its very popularity has killed its use as a fine lace, and at the present day it is copied as a cheap useful lace in France, England, Ireland, and even India. The old Maltese lace was made of the finest flax thread, afterwards a silk variety, which is well known, being made in cream. Black lace was also manufactured, and at the time of the popularity of black lace as a dress tr.i.m.m.i.n.g it was much used. At the present day the lace is not of the old quality, cotton being frequently mixed with the flax threads. There is no demand for it, and it is about the most unsaleable lace of the day.

X

A SHORT HISTORY OF LACE IN ENGLAND

[Ill.u.s.tration: QUEEN ELIZABETH: RUFF OF VENETIAN POINT.

(_National Portrait Gallery._)]

X

A SHORT HISTORY OF LACE IN ENGLAND

Early samplers--Lace worn by Queen Elizabeth; by the early Stuarts--Extravagant use of lace in time of Charles II.--William and Mary's lace bill.