Bobbin Lace: An Illustrated Guide to Traditional and Contemporary Techniques

INTRODUCTION

Lacemaking was the last traditional textile technique to come into existence, and during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, it developed into one of the most expressive art forms. Whether it was made by peasants in Eastern Europe or by professional lacemakers in the courts of Western Europe, it was prized for its intricacy, delicacy, and decorative richness by people all over the world. After over a century of obscurity, lace is enjoying a revival as more and more artists are intrigued by its creative possibilities.

Along with knotting, tatting, and needle lace, bobbin lace is classified as a true lace technique, since it is used predominantly to make openwork fabrics. Bobbin lace is made over a pattern attached to a firm pillow. The threads used to make the lace are wound on bobbins, and pins hold the lace in position while it is being made. Whether the finished lace is simple or complex, the procedure and technique is the same—the bobbins are crossed and twisted over each other in varying sequences to form a wide range of stitches. The richness of the lace depends upon how these stitches are used and how they are combined.

HISTORY

A Slovakian lacemaker from Turie Pole at work on her cylindrical pillow. Photo Jozef Vydra.

The development of the technique of bobbin lace is not well recorded, and a lot of the available information is founded on probability. The oldest specimens of lace have very rarely survived, and written descriptions are not always completely reliable. The first dependable recording of lace began with portrait painting, where details of clothing were accurately represented.

Knotting, plaiting, and weaving on a vertical warp all claim to be forerunners of bobbin lace—it is quite possible that in different countries bobbin lace developed from different techniques. Simple network and plaiting were almost universally known all over the world. Examples of these rudimentary laces have been found in excavations in Egypt, Peru, China, England, and Scandinavia. But the sophisticated technique of bobbin lace as we know it today did not appear until the latter part of the 15th century. The earliest form of bobbin lace was made with gold and silver threads, and these laces seem to have been haberdashery trims that later were developed into the intricate designs of the 16th century when fiber threads began to be used.

WESTERN EUROPE

There are two theories on the origin of bobbin lace in Western Europe—one that it originated in Italy in the 15th century, and the other that the technique was brought to Italy after being developed somewhere else, such as Dalmatia. (Dalmatia was the country to introduce bobbin lace to Eastern European countries and Russia.) In any case, the fact that lace made with bobbins existed in Italy in the 15th century is proved by written documents as well as by existing examples of lace.

From Italy the technique spread quickly to other countries. Since busy trade kept Italy in close contract with Flanders during the Renaissance period, the technique of lacemaking was carried there quickly. By the end of the 17th century, Flemish laces reached such a high degree of development that the origin of bobbin lace is very often ascribed to Flanders. Also in the 17th century, France—in addition to Italy, Holland, and Belgium—began to produce some of the most sophisticated laces, distinguished by their fineness and airiness. Colbert, a minister of Louis XIV, established the lacemaking industry in France and attracted the best designers.

Bobbin lace was already being made in England by the end of the 16th century, and it became widely spread very soon. English laces developed their own technical vocabulary—some types of lace such as Buckinghamshire and Honiton are still among the best known and most valuable.

Fine Buckinghamshire edging made from linen thread in the 19th century. Collection of Brigita Fuhrmann .

16th century torah decorated in silver thread lace. Collection of the Jewish Museum in Prague, Czechoslovakia, photo and courtesy Jarmila Sykitova.

Motifs are skillfully combined in this wide edging of Brussels lace from the 19th century. Collection of Brigita Fuhrmann.

Spain, the European center of gold and silver laces, also produced some of the most beautifully colored silk laces as early as the end of the 16th century. The Scandinavian countries Sweden and Denmark have a long history of bobbin lacemaking too—the technique was probably brought there from Belgium. The technique of lacemaking spread widely in Scandinavia and has been used without any historical interruption up to the present. However, since the lace was made mainly by peasants for purely utilitarian purposes, Scandinavian lace never achieved a high degree of prominence.

During the middle of the 16th century bobbin lacemaking was introduced to the Saxony region of Germany by Barbara Utt-mann, who came from Nuremberg to the mining town of Annaberg and taught lacemaking to the local people. The industry she established prospered for a long time and influenced lacemaking in all of Germany, Switzerland, and Bohemia.

The bobbin laces were first made predominantly by nuns for purely ecclesiastical purposes; but when Renaissance fashion adopted lace, it began to play a very important role in the clothing of the noble class and royalty. As the fashions of collars, ruffles, and veils changed, new and always finer styles of lace developed, and the demand for this subtle textile grew by leaps and bounds.

In the 17th century, Western European laces reached their most elaborate level of technical and esthetic development. With the 18th century came the most lavish large pieces of lace of highly complex designs. Silk became the most popular material, and it is from these times that the beautiful Spanish mantillas originated.

Three strips of lace were used to decorate the edge of this Russian wedding towel. The top insertion (closest to the towel) and the edging were made in straight lace with metallic threads, while the central strip was made in tape lace with green silk and a metallic gimp. Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, gift of Mary T. Harkness.

The scalloped edge on this 19th century border from Slovakia is made from white, green, and red cotton. Collection of Miss Ester Oldham, photo Bill Fuhrmann.

The French revolution was a heavy blow to the lacemaking industry, since with the deterioration of the noble class the demand for elaborate lace became nearly nonexistent. From then on the fashion was simple, and the lavish laces ceased to exist. Even Napoleon I, who attempted to reintroduce the lace into fashion and commissioned designers and lacemakers to make many beautiful pieces, could not bring back elaborate laces.

(Top) This decorative border of a towel from the beginning of the l9th century was made by the tape lace technique in the city of Be-lozersk in the Novgorod region of Russia, Courtesy Gosudarstveniy Russkiy Muzey.

The straight lace technique was used to make this colorful silk towel border from Russia-it is complemented by equally colorful embroidery. Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, gift of Edward S. Harkness.

The end of the handmade lace industry was, in effect, 1818, when the first bobbin net was produced by machine in France. Although the machine-made lace was considered an imitation at first and was not readily accepted, its lower price and availability quickly overcame the public’s initial apprehension. Handmade lace became less and less in demand, even for very special occasions.

EASTERN EUROPE

Since bobbin lace was made primarily by professional lacemakers and was not practiced as a hobby, the technique would probably have been forgotten had it not been for the peasant lacemakers. While the professionals made the fancy lace styles marked for their originality and fragile beauty, peasants produced humble lace to decorate their daily clothes and costumes. Because the folk costumes were conservative and did not change with fashion, the designs and types of lace used on these costumes carried on a continuous tradition. This lace was of a consistently high though rather coarse quality.

Peasant lace developed in all European countries where bobbin lace was made. But in Eastern European countries and in Russia, where the peasant culture was much more prevalent than in the Western European countries, the bobbin lace made by peasants for their own use developed into a highly sophisticated and technically outstanding craft with very unique and often very personal designs.

A red silk ribbon connects the wide edging and the insertion in this Russian straight lace border. Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, gift of Mary T. Harkness.

Wide Russian border made in tape lace with natural and red linen. Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York.

This wide Russian tape lace borderis beautifully complemented by the fabric-embroidered in drawnwork and darning patterns-to which it is attached. Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, Ella C. Woodward Memorial Fund.

A wide edging from Russia made from natural linen in the 19th century. Collection of Brigita Fuhrmann.

Bobbin lace was introduced to these countries from two sources—from Dalmatia, where the technique was carried through Yugoslavia to Slovakia and Russia, and from Germany and Flanders, where the technique was carried mainly to Bohemia and Poland. These two streams of influence crossed paths in many of these countries and developed into very distinct regional styles.

In Yugoslavia the first bobbin lacemaking centers were in Dalmatia and Crotia. Although Dalmatia is considered by some to be the cradle of the technique, the area did not develop into a world-renowned lacemaking center. Bobbin lace was and is still made in the Yugoslavian mining town of Idria, where presumably the first tape lace was made. (For this reason this type of lace is sometimes called Idria lace.) Bobbin lace is still made in other parts of Yugoslavia as well, and the technique is taught in a lacemaking school in Lublan founded in 1888.

In Russia bobbin-made gold and silver laces existed as early as the 15th century. These very simple, narrow trimmings—probably products of haberdashers—later developed into very rich and lavish laces decorating residences of knights, monastaries, and rich merchants, as well as the houses of the agricultural classes. Metallic lace was used on fur coats, on edgings for curtains, and even on trimmings for horse blankets. Bobbin lacemaking spread quickly, and the laces became an integral part of Russian folk art in the 17th century.

Lace made of gold thread lavishly decorates this woman’s bodice from Slovakia. Collection of U.L. U. V. Bratislava, courtesy Ema Markova, photo S. Stepanek.

Many colors are used in this tape lace edging from the town of Bosace (Nove Mesto Nad Vahom region) in Slovakia. From the Archive of U.L.U.V. Uherske Hra-diste, C.S.S.R., courtesy Ema Markova, photo M. Shotola.

Three examples of tape lace edgings made in Poland in the 18th and 19th centuries. Collection