[Illustration: Imitation Irish Crochet.]
{68}
POINT.--Same as Needle-point lace, made wholly by hand, with the needle and
a single thread.
POT.--Lace whose pattern is distinguished by the figure of a vase or deep
dish, and sometimes by that of a basket containing flowers. It is the
best-known lace made at Antwerp, and was formerly in common use in that
city for decorating women's caps. The vase and basket figures vary much in
size and design. Some have considered this pattern to be a survival from an
earlier design, including the figure of the Virgin and the Annunciation,
but this is not certain.
POWDERED.--Lace whose ground is strewn with small, separate ornaments, such
as flowers, sprigs, or squares, like Point d'Esprit. The term is applied
also to whitened lace.
RENAISSANCE.--A modern point lace, whose patterns are made of narrow braid,
and united by bars or filling of different kinds. It is generally
ornamented with circular figures and scroll-work, stitched in place by
needle and thread, the intervening spaces or groundwork, being composed of
a variety of fancy openwork. Irish Renaissance, Luxeuil and Battenberg are
the other names for this lace.
ROSE POINT.--See Venice Point.
SAXONY.--Fine drawnwork embroidered with the needle, in much demand in the
eighteenth century. At the present time the term is somewhat vague,
denoting many kinds of laces made in Saxony, especially in imitation of old
Brussels lace. Though the latter is the best that is made, a coarse guipure
lace, known as Etervelle, and plaited lace has the greatest sale.
SEAMING.--A narrow openwork insertion, gimp or braiding, with parallel
sides, used for joining two breadths of linen, instead of sewing them
directly the one to the other. The name is given to a similar lace used for
edgings, as in the trimming of pillow-cases and sheets. {69} During the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries this lace was very popular, though the
name "seaming" was then applied to any kind of lace used for a particular
purpose--namely, to insert in the linen or other fabric wherever a seam
appeared, and often where no seam was really necessary. The lace first used
for this purpose was cut-work; then Hollie point became fashionable, and
afterward the custom grew to be so common that cheaper laces were employed.
There is still in existence a sheet decorated with cut-work that once
belonged to Shakespeare.
SILVER.--A passement or guipure wholly or in large part composed of silver
wire, or of warp threads of silk, or silk and cotton combined, wound with a
thin, flat ribbon of silver. See Gold lace.
SPANISH.--A general term applies to the following four different kinds of
lace: (a) Needle-point lace, brought from Spanish convents after their
dissolution, though the art of making it is thought by some to have been
learned in Flanders. (b) Cut and drawnwork made in Spanish convents, of
patterns usually confined to simple sprigs and flowers. (c) A modern black
silk lace with large flower patterns. (d) A modern needle-made fabric, the
pattern usually in large squares. The machine-made black and white silk
laces, with their flower patterns, are from Lyons and Calais, France. Much
could be said about the uncertain application of the term "Spanish" in
regard to certain kinds of lace. It has often been inaccurately used. For
instance, "Spanish Point" and "Point d'Espagne" have been misapplied to
Italian laces, in the same way that "Point d'Angleterre" has been
misapplied to Brussels lace. In the four kinds of Spanish lace above
enumerated, it is noticeable that some are of Flemish origin. A lace known
for certain to be of Spanish origin is a coarse pillow guipure made in
white thread and also of gold and silver. It is a loosely made fabric
consisting of three cordonnets, the center one being the coarsest, united
by finer threads running in and out across them, and with brides to join
{70} the parts of the pattern and keep them in shape. It is well known that
large quantities of lace that have the characteristics of raised Venetian
Point were used in Spain, both for court dresses and church purposes, such
as the ornamentation of vestments and altars. During the invasion of
Napoleon the churches and monasteries were pillaged and the laces contained
therein were scattered abroad and sold as being of Spanish origin, though
many of them were not.
The graceful Spanish headdress, the mantilla, has been chiefly made in the
province of Catalonia, out of black and white Blondes, but it is inferior
to a similar lace of French manufacture. The most celebrated of the Spanish
laces are the gold and silver fabrics, known as Point d'Espagne, the Blonde
laces and Spanish or Rose point. The first-named is a very old lace, was
known in Spain as early as the middle of the fifteenth century, and is made
with gold and silver threads, upon which a pattern is embroidered in
colored silk. The Blondes, which have been already mentioned, have thick
though graceful patterns upon a light net ground. Rose point is wholly made
with the needle and is very like Venetian point, being considered, in fact,
as a variety of the latter. The close resemblance is accounted for by the
fact that this kind of lace was made by the inmates of religious houses,
which were transferred from one country to another at the will of their
superior and carried with them the secret of a difficult art. The Rose
points, some of which are not raised, are formed with a pattern-worked net
in buttonhole stitches, the parts of the pattern being joined together by
brides. The raised Rose points are recognized by their thick cordonnet or
outlining of the pattern.
TAMBOUR.--Lace made with needle embroidery upon a machine-made net,
generally black or white Nottingham. It is chiefly made in Ireland and
commonly included among the Limerick laces.
{71}
[Illustration: Leavers's Lace Machine.]
{72} TAPE.--A lace made with the needle, except that a tape or narrow strip
of linen is wrought into the work and is the distinguishing feature of the
pattern. These plain or ornamented tapes or braids, arranged so as to form
the pattern, have always been peculiar to this kind of lace. The patterns
are connected together with either bride or net grounds. The earliest were
made with a bride ground and simple cloth stitch, but gradually very
elaborate designs were wrought as part of the braid-like patterns and
united by open-meshed grounds. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
the braid and tape laces included the large majority of coarse pillow laces
made in Flanders, Spain and Italy.
THREAD.--Lace made from linen thread as distinguished from silk and cotton
laces. Black thread is a misnomer for Chantilly.
TORCHON.--A coarse pillow lace made of strong, soft and loosely twisted
thread. In Europe it is known also as "Beggars'" lace, and the old French
Gueuse lace was similar to Torchon. The patterns generally are very simple
and formed with a loose stout thread and the ground is coarse net. Torchon
is now also machine made.
VALENCIENNES.--A solid and durable pillow lace having the same kind of
thread throughout for both ground and pattern. Both the pattern and ground
are wrought together by the same hand, and as this demands much skill in
the manipulation of a great many threads and bobbins, the price of
Valenciennes is very high. The mesh of the ground is usually square or
diamond shaped, very open and of great regularity. It is a flat lace,
worked in one piece, and no different kind of thread is introduced to
outline the pattern or to be wrought into any part of the fabric. This
affords a ready means of distinguishing the hand-made variety of this lace.
The Valenciennes now made is not so beautiful in design and construction as
the fabric of an earlier date, especially in the latter part of the
eighteenth century. It is usually of narrower width and is easier to learn
how to make.
Valenciennes was first made at the town of that name, which, {73} though
originally Flemish, was transferred to France by treaty; and the
manufacture at this town was carried on under conditions which assured the
superiority of the lace produced there. The difference between the
Valenciennes product and that of other towns could be detected by the
softer "feel" in the former case, because the moist climate of Valenciennes
gave a smoother action to the bobbins when used in manufacture; and it is
interesting to note that the lace was made in underground rooms. These
peculiarities earned for lace made in that town the name of Vraie
Valenciennes, and it brought a higher price than the Valenciennes of the
surrounding villages. The thread was spun from the finest flax. To buy a
yard of a flounce or a pair of broad ruffles was a serious matter for the
purchaser unless he was wealthy. The labor cost was high even in those days
of low wages; from 300 to 1,200 bobbins were required in a piece of fine
work. The history of the changes in Valenciennes patterns is, to some
extent, a history of deterioration in elegance of design. The first
patterns were exquisitely beautiful, the designs often being wrought in
grounds that were varied in several ways even in one piece. The designs
afterward became simpler, and octagon and hexagon meshes came to take the
place of the close grounds of earlier manufacture. Since 1780 the lighter
and less expensive laces of Lille, Brussels and Arras have partly ousted
the more beautiful, costly and durable product of Valenciennes, while
changes in modern dress have stopped the demand for some articles which
were formerly among the fashionable mainstays of the industry; for example,
men's ruffles.
The French Revolution practically destroyed lacemaking at Valenciennes, and
the industry was transferred to Belgium. The lace produced there was,
however, given the name of False Valenciennes. Alost, Bruges, Ypres, Ghent,
Menin and Courtrai became centers of the manufacture, and the lace made in
each town had a distinguishing {74} feature in the ground. For example, the
Ghent ground is square meshed, the bobbin being twisted two and one-half
times. At Ypres, the ground is square meshed, but the bobbins are twisted
four times. In Courtrai and Menin, the bobbins are twisted three and a half
times, and in Bruges three times. As an illustration of the fact that the
making of old Valenciennes is a lost art, it is interesting to note that
the last important piece of work executed within that town was a headdress
presented by the town to the Duchesse de Nemoms on her marriage in 1840.
The headdress was made by old women, the few real Valenciennes laceworkers
then surviving, with the praiseworthy and patriotic object of showing the
perfection of the product of former days. There are several machine-made
varieties of Valenciennes. English Valenciennes is chiefly made at
Nottingham; it is also called Platt and Normandy Valenciennes. It is an
imitation of the early hand-made lace, to the extent of having a similar
diamond-meshed ground. Its pattern is without relief, and the threads of
which it is made are no heavier than the ground. French Valenciennes is
made mostly at Calais. Its pattern is usually outlined by a stouter thread
than that forming the ground, and it has a finer finish and softer "feel"
than the English Valenciennes; in fact, it is an excellent imitation of the
real. Italian Valenciennes is a narrow, fine-threaded lace, used for
trimming fine underwear.
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[Illustration: Schiffli or Power Embroidering Machine.]
{76} VENICE POINT.--A needle-point lace made at Venice during the first
half of the seventeenth century. It is somewhat difficult to apply the name
exclusively to any one of the several varieties of Venetian point made at
that time; but Venetian Raised point, whose pattern is of large,
beautifully designed flowers in decided relief and united by brides or
bars, is commonly called Venetian point. Other names applied to this kind
of lace are Rose point, Venetian Flat point, Carnival lace, Cardinal's
point, Pope's point, and Point d'Espagne. These names simply register the
various changes of style and manufacture in the history of this lace. With
the exception of Point d'Espagne, which has a less valid claim to be called
Venetian point than the others, the various names given serve roughly to
suggest the distinction between three separate stages in point of style and
date of the fabric known broadly as "Punto tagliato a foliani," or Venetian
point. They are generally given as follows: (1) Venetian Raised point, or
Gros Point de Venise, under which is included Rose point; (2) Venetian Flat
point, or Point Plat de Venise, with its later variety, known as Coraline
point; (3) Grounded Venetian point, or Point de Venise a Reseau, which
includes Burano point, so called from the island near Venice, where it was
made. With regard to Raised point, it is worth noting, in addition to the
characteristics already referred to, that the flower design is of a freedom
and continuity that make the pattern so filling that there is very little
space left for the ground, the bridework merely serving to hold the pattern
strongly together. The cordonnet, or outlining thread, is unusually
prominent, and the raised part is no less remarkable for its boldness in
design than for its delicate workmanship. An Italian poet has described
this work as "sculptured in relief." In Raised point the skill of the
laceworker was informed by the instinct for beauty in such a degree as to
produce one of the highest types of the art. Rose point resembles Raised
point in all essential features, the only difference being that the designs
are smaller and the ornamentation more abundant. The pattern is less
filling and the connecting brides more prominent.
Flat Venetian point is marked by an absence of the prominent raised work,
the designs are more attenuated, and the brides are altogether more
prominent than in the Raised point. Coraline point is a variety of Flat
point, which must be considered a deterioration in design on account of its
ill-connected and irregular pattern, which was originally supposed to
imitate a branch of coral. There is no raised work, the ground meshes are
ill-arranged and ill-shaped, and on the whole this {77} lace marks the
decadence of an art formerly almost perfect. It is more like an imitation
of a free growth of plants, the tangled growth of a state of nature, as
compared with the order and beauty of art. The grounded point, the last
stage of development of Venetian lace, began to be made to supply the
markets of France after the fine old Venetian point had been excluded by
protective laws. The Venetian lacemakers then adopted the reseau or net
ground made at Alencon. The ground is composed of double twisted threads,
and has a rounder mesh than Alencon, and there is no outlining cordonnet.
In this variety of Venetian point, which was produced during the latter
half of the eighteenth century, the pattern is not so well arranged as in
others, and there is a redundancy of ornamentation. The manufacture of
Venetian point is now almost extinct. The machine-made variety, produced on
the Schiffli embroidery frame, is now made at Plauen and St. Gall. (See
Plauen lace.)
YAK.--A stout, coarse pillow lace, made from the fine wool of the Yak. The
patterns are of simple, geometrical design, connected with plaited guipure
bars that form part of the pattern, being made out of the same threads at
the same time. The term is also applied to a machine-made worsted lace,
produced in black, white and colors. It is used as a trimming for
undergarments, shawls and petticoats.
YPRES.--A pillow lace resembling Valenciennes, but sometimes with bolder
designs and rather large lozenge or square mesh in the ground; also a type
of Valenciennes.
* * * * *
Corrections made to printed original:
Page 2 in "though it was also regarded as the insignia":--"though", printed
as "thought" in original.
Page 34 in "transferred to Calvados":--"transferred", printed as
"trasferred" in original.
Page 39 in "the leaves of the aloe":--"aloe", printed as "alol" in
original.
Page 65 in "raised outline of buttonhole stitching":--"raised", printed as
"raise" in original.
Page 75 in caption "Schiffli or Power Embroidering
Machine":--"Embroidering", printed as "Embroldering" in original.