Page 376 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots
P. 376
A History of Lace 369
were being used to give a clearer line and a crisper silhouette.
In Switzerland, those Huguenot lacemakers who had settled in Geneva
before the Edict of Nantes was published welcomed those who had fled there
upon its revocation; about 2000 lacemakers set up a factory in Neufchatel,
smuggling much of their work back to France in `revenge' for their losses. This
helped to enrich Switzerland, and Neufchatel still remains the centre of the
Swiss textile industry despite the sumptuary edicts which regulated the use of
lace within the state.
At the French court, the vogue for Naples lace embroidered over in sil-
ver or gold gradually faded out; blonde and black blonde laces then became
popular despite the lack of artistic design, for their use implied a compliment
to the court of Spain. The Spanish lace mantillas achieved their best de-
signs at this point, having had French taste to influence the patterns. The
fashion developed for lighter laces, particularly as cotton yarns were imported
from India. The bobbin laces, being lighter in texture and design, gained im-
portance among the fashionable; spinning-wheels simplified the production of
thread, and the comparatively faster technique put the lace within a realistic
price-range. The lighter, floral designs of Mechlin, Brussels, and (later in the
century) blonde Chantilly became the laces favoured in the summer; while for
winter the needle laces of Alencon and Argentan were preferred. Sometimes
a compromise was made, the mixed lace having, for instance, flower motifs
worked in needlepoint with the ground made in bobbin lace round the motifs.
It is interesting to note that in Russia, despite the court fashions, the
only national laces were of peasant origin. Country girls used to work a sam-
pler apron with bands of embroidery and lace, which was worn with `best'
clothes, and designed to show the needlework skills of the wearer. The aprons
have alternating bands of coloured designs and drawn or pulled thread work
in white, each band showing a different pattern which appears to be copied
slavishly from another piece. It is difficult to conceive of such exact reproduc-
tion of proportion and colour, particularly as the signficance of the symbolism
has been lost; but there is the same precision of copy as in the painting of
icons, and this would suggest that the craft pre-dates its records. The dress
of the gentry shows little beyond copies (sometimes debased) of the European
court dress, with uneasy compromises such as peasant-style sarafans of vel-
vet embroidered with pearls for the royal nursemaids. However one original
approach was shown in using split straws as embroidery thread on muslin to
imitate the fashion for gold lace on white silk: at arm's length there is no
obvious difference.
In the same category of faithful copywork there should be included the
Norwegian openwork technique of Hardanger Embroidery, a form in which
small rectangular blocks of satin stitch outline open areas of design. Threads
are withdrawn from these areas leaving a cartesian grid which may be darned