Overview
This pillow was used for weaving a type of lace called bobbin lace. It is believed that bobbin lace making developed from the craft of knotting. Basically it is a very elaborate form of plaiting. There are only two simple movements in most kinds of bobbin lace. However, it is the way in which these two movements are combined and the variation in the numbers of pairs of bobbins used that make each piece of lace different.
To make bobbin lace, the pattern for the lace is pricked out on card or paper that is firmly pinned to the pillow. Thread is wound on the bobbins which are hung in pairs on the pricking (the pattern on the card). The bobbins are then crossed and twisted according to the pattern running below them, in order to knot the thread into lace. The pins are stuck between the bobbins into the pattern to keep the threads in place. Usually the pillow has some sort of stand or box to stop it rolling over while the lace is being woven. The pins are removed as the piece of lace grows.
Bobbin lace is not the only kind of lace. Needlepoint lace is made with a needle and thread, and there are also knitted and crochet laces. Whatever technique is used, lace-making is a time-consuming, mathematical process, and the speed at which the work is produced depends on the width and complexity of the pattern, and the skill of the worker.
Lace can be made from various fibres including silk, cotton, and wool – in fact it has even been made from human hair! But it is most successfully woven from linen yarn.
It is thought that lace as we know it today originated somewhere in Italy around the fifteenth century, and it has remained popular. In centuries past , fine hand-made lace could cost more than jewels, and only the wealthiest people could afford it. Many a housewife spent time making lace, and it was often a vital way for her to supplement her family’s income. It was not unheard of for wealthy women to spend their time weaving lace, but for them it was a suitably ladylike way to while away the hours, rather than a way to make ends meet.
Lace-making was organised in different ways in different places. What was needed was an efficient person with enough money to pay for the thread, and an accurate fashion sense to choose the marketable designs. Sometimes lace-making was organised by convents; at other times lace masters or mistresses gathered a group of employees. Very occasionally, the head of a household would set their family to work on it.
Lace was made all over Europe and in a few parts of England, notably Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Devon. Lace making techniques and styles developed differently in different areas, and each came to have their own characteristic look. Different styles of lace were named after their place of origin. In the case of bobbin-lace, there are three main groups:
Brussels lace (from Belgium) and Honiton lace (from Devon) are both made with pillows like the one pictured. They feature sprigs and leaves joined with bobbin net or needlepoint, and are sometimes appliquéed onto machine-made net.
From France come Lille, Chantilly, and Mechlin laces. These are characterised by sprig patterns, but surrounded by a thicker thread called a gimp, woven into the piece. These laces, unlike Brussels or Honiton laces, come off the pillow in a complete piece. Bucks, or Buckinghamshire lace from England is similar.
Then there are bobbin laces from Cluny (France), Malta, and Bedfordshire (England) with their own patterns.
Bobbin lace was made in England throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. However, during the nineteenth century, the era of industrialisation, the making of lace by hand was almost eliminated by the development of cheaper machine-made lace. A lot of lace-makers either had to go into a lace making factory, or search for other work. For some working women this was one factor in a decision to emigrate. Lace makers were among the many people who left their countries in search of better lives.
Today in New Zealand and around the world some people still make lace as a hobby.
Text originally published in Tai Awatea, Te Papa's onfloor multimedia database (1998).