Featured Lesson #6 - Black bobbin - Handmade vs Machine made

Black lace threads are a bit harder to actually see - as black thread shadows on itself.

These pieces are enlarged quite alot.

But let's do a side by side. Here are two similar pieces. The design elements of these two laces; point to being Chantilly lace.

Light, open ground; floral design elements utilizing "half stitch"; dots in the netting.

These two have like design elements. The straight edge, the open work ground or netting, the outline or cordonnet/gimp, the dots in the netting and the more solid leaf / foliage areas. Compare what you see as the same and different.


Machine made on the top of this photo; handmade on the bottom of this photo.


Let's address what is very much the same:
#1. This openwork stitch in the center of the floral area... almost impossible to tell apart.

#2. The dot in the net; again...almost impossible to tell apart without magnification...perhaps the machine dot is a bit more solid.

Also #6. The netting; to the naked eye, they are almost impossible to identify without magnification. They look very similar.

#3. The footing edge. This is a big clue. The machine example has a rather "undefined" stitch. Where as; the handmade example has a clearly defined thread path. A set of (2) threads departs the netting...works its way through the darker vertical (2) pairs of threads. It then, is exchanged with the outer pair of threads; and the new pair after working again through the double set of vertical threads; waits to be again united with the netting. In a nutshell, you can see the thread path clearly - a zig-zag.

#4. Another big clue. The outer scalloped edge of the machine piece is very frayed. That is because it is really a "cut" edge of (lace) fabric. Often that darker cordonnet and picot edge is actually sewn on and over time; is pulled away. In the handmade example, the thread path can be clearly followed again with a pair of threads going around the darker cordonnet or gimp, working the picot and then returning into the body of the work.

#5. This is another big clue. These are "suppose" to be the same open stitch known as a "half stitch". In the handmade example, it has a very light, open, airy, clearly defined look. The threads have quite a diagonal look, in a manner of speaking.
Now look at the machine made example. It looks almost solid; there is nothing light and airy about it. It looks more horizontal than diagonal. And again; has that "garbled" appearance, rather than a clear thread path.

*I might also point out here that one of the beautiful observations in handmade Chantilly (and some additional bobbin laces), is the use of "half stitch". The way that half stitch operates makes it naturally conducive to shading. A hint of this can be seen in a few of the lower flower petals in the hand made example.

I hope you enjoyed this one and learned a few things!
Leslie

 

I felt compelled to add these photos of a piece of "blonde" Chantilly. It is unbelievably fine. The top photo shows the piece in it's entirety - measuring 13" long x 11 1/2" wide from footing straight edge to scalloped hem. It is gossamer fine silk.

I purchased it many, many years ago from a rather wealthy lace collector - who didn't herself make lace. She stated that it was machine lace as it was "way too fine" and way too large to possibly have been worked by hand.

There is no doubt in my mind that this piece is hand done.

It is worked in two strips that would have run the entire length of the yardage. It is hard to see - and I should have given you a blow up - but the program wasn't being cooperative. The join runs horizontally across the piece - almost at the lower tip of the top solid sprig. About half way down the piece (not the fold that runs just above the design elements). That reason alone is enough to prove it is hand done. A machine would have just run the entire width as a whole.




In this second photo - waaaay enlarged: As a reference; each of the solid little ringed balls measure a 1/4" or less (not including the outer outline thread/cordonnet). Under the balls, the openwork grid measures roughly 1/8" across and each "thread" you see that makes each of those little circles - is actually two threads twisted together. The solid oval shape measures approximately 1/2" x 1/4".





Yes, incredibly, incredibly fine! Unreal that it is hand worked. Something this fine, this beautifully executed, something this wide requiring dozens and dozens - several hundred pairs of threads... all worked WITHOUT benefit of magnification goggles...and often in very poor light. It boggles the mind!

As we randomly look at the close ups - generally you can follow thread paths. I personally see some minor "errors" in the work... very small ones where a pair may have been twisted an extra time causing it to throw off the netting rhythm and regularity...just a little. There are no glaring errors; the skill level of the pattern maker AND the lace maker were at the highest level. Even a lace maker at this skill level would have found herself only working roughly a square inch an hour or less.

Be amazed - as I am!
Leslie

 

Absolutely Gorgeous handwork !!! .. Joy.

 

We watched elderly ladies in Belgium making lace in front of the shops when we first started going there in the early 80s. Now they've all passed away and you don't see it any more.

 

It is... I wish it was my own work!
Leslie

 

Hi Bev,
There are still pockets of lace makers in Belgium and other places, and there are still public displays of lace making...but, on certain days, rather than all the time.

Just like in the U.S. There are lace makers; but most tend to demonstrate at an event or occasion rather than just sit out on the sidewalk and demonstrate. I think it is not so much a street "craft" anymore. It is a real bother to pack up your pillow and move it!

Part of the reason is that those "elderly" ladies sold their lace for DIRT cheap; now any modern pieces that are sold are really, very very expensive....if they are for sale at all. Most lacer's I know, won't sell their work for any price!

I know that a lot of Chinese export bobbin lace was for sale in the U.S. back in the 80's... simple patterns, quickly worked... not quality pieces.

In a way it is a shame that more _aren't_ out there demonstrating... as the more exposure the public has, in regard to how laces are worked... the more the interest grows and the more "valuable" their knowledge and their work becomes.

Sorry... I tend to get on a soapbox...
Thanks for your comment... it is well taken!
Leslie

 

My last post for the evening.

Many of you may be familiar with "The Lacemaker" by Jan Vermeer. You may not know that this was his wife Katrina; and that he painted a near identical painting of his daughter - wearing the same dress - and working on the same lace pillow - undoubtedly working on the same piece of lace. Because of the petite size of this pillow; the lace was probably not very wide. It was undoubtedly "Flemish" in design and structure; we'll discuss that some other time.



Then, in contrast, we have this whopper of a pillow. Even though the finished lace must be quite coarse (as it is SO visible)... it still required a huge number of bobbins. I don't happen to know the country of origin of this photo - sorry.

Sweet dreams,
Leslie

 

Thanks for posting something on Chantilly, it is my favourite lace.
I'll see if I can take a decent photo of one of my Chantilly fans.

True. Here you see them at traditional crafts fairs.

This is the way I saw the lace makers in Bruges, in the 60s. I always loved it, you saw them in Brussels and some smaller towns as well.


And yes, you can still spot the occasional lady who will don a lace cap and show her amazing skills for a bit of pocket money:



When I was in Portugal in the 80s, they were still teaching bobbin lace making in a secondary school in Peniche, a well known lace making town.

 

In Dutch Vermeer's wife is known as Catherina or Trijntgen/Trijntje. Trijntje is still used as a diminutive of the name Catherina in some parts of the Netherlands.
Katrina is not really a Dutch name. Similar names would be Katrien, Katrijn or Katelijne, but Catherina or Catharina are the usual versions.

 

I like the peeks of the finished lace projects in the window!!!
Leslie

 

Mind blown! The hand-made Chantilly in black was amazing but the blonde lace was insane! I've seen lace-makers in person and I couldn't fathom how they could go 2 minutes without mixing up or losing bobbins. Incredible human talent. Thanks to all for their insights and images!

 

I do agree! There are a lot of very "intensely" made HUGE pieces of Chantilly. Other forms as well. But there is something truly incredible about the shading in Chantilly...due to that half stitch. It doesn't show up so much in blonde, but is more recognizable in black. Huge collars, capes, lappets, parasol covers, flounces.... it boggles the mind. Therefore - "joins" are very important when "reading" lace to determine if it is handmade or machine made.

In the black and white photo of the woman making that very wide piece of lace on one pillow... I would like to point out that it is extreme and unusual. That lace is quite coarse and therefore; despite how many pairs she is working with - it is deceiving, as the coarser the thread, the fewer the pairs needed to create the width.

I dare say that working a piece of Chantilly that wide - would have been impossible for one person to work - due to the crazy amount of bobbins needed to complete that much width. The speed to work across just one row would have been so self limiting - that it would have taken an unfathomable amount of time for one person to accomplish even an inch across. Therefore; these large very fine pieces HAD to be worked by many.

Because of the very fine size of the thread and the sheer size of the project - many hands were needed to complete larger projects. The handmade lace industry employed literally thousands of people (particularly in Europe - England, France, Belgium, Italy, etc...) and that industry came to a screeching halt when machines displaced most of the lacemakers.

The first machines were invented in the early 1800's...but, it wasn't until the mid-1800's that the hand industry (for all intents and purposes) died.

As for understanding how it is made and watching lacemakers... I've demonstrated many times and it is important for the viewer to understand that unless the demonstrator has you stand BEHIND her - it will always look confusing! I try to have people stand behind me.

Simply put, it is a form of weaving. Threads are anchored by means of pins to a pattern. Despite the fact that sometimes the lace maker must stack her bobbins to make room to work... she really doesn't pay much attention TO the bobbins. Her eye follows the "next set of threads" that she needs to use that are in relation to the pins.

Generally speaking, she chooses the next pair - completes the stitch with the pair that is the "worker" and the next "new" pair. She will work across the row or complete the next stitch. the pairs "work" or dance... and the stitch is complete (and or the pin is set) she moves on to the next pair.

Despite how it "looks" - it is orderly, mechanical, methodic, melodic, repetitive, relaxing, and I personally love the sound that the bobbins make.

The next time you have the opportunity to watch someone demonstrate; try to sneak a view watching over their shoulder. It should make a difference to understanding the mechanical nature. Try to focus on the threads being worked in relation to where they are pinned - rather than the end attached to the bobbin!

Hope that helps... gotta scoot for now...
Leslie

 

I think I did know about the different spellings... however I didn't know about Trijntgen or Trijntje... Interesting!
Leslie