Natalie White, age 15, of Beaumont, Texas, for her question:
WHEN WAS LACE FIRST MADE?
Lace is an open fabric that is made with threads of linen, cotton, silk, silver or gold. It can also be made of nylon. Much homemade lace is made from linen thread because of the thread's softness and strength.
Lace as we know it developed in Italy in the 1400s. It grew out of the "cut work," or open pattern, in embroidery.
The beautiful lace of the Renaissance was glorified in art by such painters as Raphael, Frans Hals and Velazquez. Using lace was a mark of prosperity. Catherine de Medici introduced lace into France in 1533. Lafayette first brought it to America in 1784.
Most lace is made up of two elements: the pattern, called the "toile," and the ground that holds the pattern together, called the "reseau." The word "lace" comes from the Latin word "laqueus," which can mean either "noose" or "snare."
The two main types of lace are bobbin and needle point. Other types of lace are crocheting, made with a needle, and tatting, which is made by knotting threads.
Bobbin lace is associated with the Flemish people of Belgium and The Netherlands. But it is also made in Italy, France and England.
Bobbin lace is sometimes called pillow lace, because the design is drawn on a pillow or on parchment fastened to a pillow.
The lacemaker sticks small pegs into the pillow along the lines of the design and works a large number of small bobbins of thread around the pegs to produce the lace.
The ground for needle point lace may be either net or connecting threads called brides. Lace is then made by filling in the pattern with buttonhole stitches. Needle point lace is called "point" in France and "punto" in Italy.
The very first lacelike decorations, "called" passementerie, were made of narrow braids or edgings known as "passements."
Although lots of people still make lace by hand, most commercial lace today is made by machine. Machines can copy accurately almost every kind of lace made by craftsmen.
The lace machine was developed in England. By 1780, net machines were used in France. In 1809, John Heathcoat of England patented a "bobbin net" machine, which John Leavers improved in 1813. This machine became the basis for lace machines that are still being used today.
Rhode Island produces about 75 percent of all Leavers lace made in the United States.
Comparison of machine made and handmade laces indicates that the latter can be raveled, and has more irregularities in the pattern. The threads are interwoven so that they will not slide back and forth. Machine made lace has a more flat, dull appearance.
Much lace is still made by hand today in Bruges, a city in Belgium.