Racaire's Embroidery & Needlework…

just a short info about the history of needle lace / Nadelspitze

I really like needlelace and therefore from time to time I try to learn a new technique or stitch because I think it’s a lovely and funny art – if you ever saw some of this lovely girls, boys, lords, ladies, animals,… worked in needlelace you will most likely agree with me.
First I just wanted to show you the technique/stitches I used for my blackberry cover (please don’t worry, I will post about them during the next days) and than I remembered that some people think that lace is just a ‘modern’ art, or “out of period” (after the 16th century)  like some SCA-members would call it – therefore I decided to have a look inside my books and dig out what I can find about the lace “in period” (before 17th century) and here the information I found (including the reference if you are interested to read more about it):

You can find a short story about lace in the booklet:

• “Alte Spitzen, Gestricke und Stickereien” – Förderverein Textilmuseum Neumünster:

page 20+ / Kurze Geschichte der Spitze:
The main focus here is at ‘Nadelspitze’ (needle lace) and ‘Klöppelspitze’ (bobbin/pillow lace) – according to the text the first laces were sewed and tongued (?) during the 15th century. The text furthermore tells that lace originally was a kind of “Randabschluß” (I think the best translation for it is border decoration/finish). To prevent fraying at “Schnittkanten” (cut selvedge?) two methods are possible: the hem or the knotted/tied or the braided fringe. The hem represents the beginning of the needle lace – the fringe represents the beginning for the bobbin/pillow lace, “Macraméspitze” and “Posamente”. During the time the needle lace disconnected from the “Gewebekante” (hem/selvedge) and is a so to speak independent hem decoration. To reach such a high level many development stages were required like “Durchbruch” & “Doppeldurchbruch”.
Early examples for this techniques were found in Egyptian graves of the 11th century – the free spaces resulting from the “Doppeldurchbruch” could be filled with all kinds of “Zierstiche” (ornamental stitches).

page 21+ / Italien:
From such techniques the way to the first free-hand needle lace, Reticella, wasn’t a long way. The development of Reticella was in the first half of the 16th century. …

page 23+ / Niederlande:
The author assumes that bobbin lace started during the second third of the 16th century. Besides bobbin lace – especially in ‘Brüssel’ (Brussels) – there was also a production of needle laces. …

…

If you are looking for another book about laces I can also recommend:

• “Alte Spitzen” by Marie Schuette

Marie Schuette also refers to the cut selvedge and the need to prevent the fabric from fraying as the beginning of needle lace and bobbin lace. To prevent the fabric from fraying, the threads of the fabric cut off from the loom or the warp threads of the fabric from the loom have to be saved and that can be achieved by a sewed hem or by knotting the freely suspended warp threads. As also stated in the booklet “Alte Spitzen, Gestricke und Stickereien” the first method represents the beginning of needle lace and the other one the beginning for the bobbin lace.
Aesthetical needs joined the technical necessity. The visible parts of the white linen goods demanded decoration and in the first half of the 16th century the european fashion developed the white wrinkled linen collar and the “Manschetten” (shirt cuffs?) with colorful silk embroidery as decorated ending. …

Concerning laces from the medieval time: In the “Rhein” region (Germany) and in Spain “gemusterte Seidennetzstickereien” figured silk-net-embroidery survived (the book refers to: Düsseldorf, Köln – Schnütgenmuseum, Krefeld – Textilingenieurschule, Nürnberg – Germ. National Museum).

Two knotted and with gold thread and colorful silk embroidered pillowcases found in Burgos, the grave Sanchos, the son Alfons’ XI (1312-1350) prove that the “Filettechnik” was used in Spain during the early 14th century.

In the “Paramentenschatz der Danziger Marienkirche” a north german “Altartuch” (pallium) with rich insertion of “Leinenfilet” survived, with several pattern, which are similar to the pattern found in german “Modelbüchern” of the 16th century. Marie Schuette assumes that in medieval times the “Netzarbeit” (netting?), even if nothing from earlier times survived, was very common as “Wäscheschmuck” (linen goods decoration?) in the european “Kulturländern” (culture lands?). As a confirmation for this assumption she lists a “Inventareintrag” (inventory/stock listening?) from the year 1327 of the Winchester Kathedral.

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Btw. the MAK – Museum for Applied Arts / Contemporary Arts has quite many needle and bobbin laces from the 16th century on display – unfortunately it’s not allowed to take photos there.

This posting is dedicated to anyone who was told that laces are not ‘period’

…interesting links I found concerning lace:

sca-lace · SCA Lacemaker’s Mailing List

The Lacemaker’s Home Page

Ilaria’s Lace Bobbins

Needle’n Thread – “Needlelace Tutorial – Excellent Step-by-Step Instructions!”

…and please don’t forget to check out Jeanine’s blog “Italian Needlework” - she posts a lot about Filet lace, Reticello, Drawn Thread Work,…