LACE

LACE, from lacinia, the guard hem or fringe of a garment, is a plain or ornamented network, consisting of threads of gold, silver, silk, flax, or cotton, tastefully interwoven so as to form a beautiful texture. This delicate fabric appears to have claims to high antiquity, but its origin is involved in considerable obscurity. That it was worn by Grecian females is certain, and the derivation of the word lace affords presumptive evidence that it was also in use amongst the Romans. In Venice, and the neighbouring states of Italy, it was very early worn; and Mary of Medicis is supposed to have been the first who introduced its use into France; but as early as 1483 it was included in a list of articles prohibited from importation into England. Hence it had been made in this country prior to the period above mentioned; and this prohibition, like many other subsequent acts, was for the protection and encouragement of home manufactures. But pins, which are indispensable in the process of fine lace-making, were unknown till long afterwards; so that it is probable the fabric made was neither very fine in texture nor produced to any great extent. It is uncertain by whom the manufacture of lace was originally introduced into this country. About the middle of the seventeenth century the lace trade was flourishing in Buckinghamshire; and so greatly had it advanced in England, that, by a royal ordonnance in France, passed in 1660, a mark was established upon the thread lace imported from this country and from Flanders, and upon point lace from Genoa, Venice, and other countries.

Pillow, or Thread Lace, is made by placing a perforated pattern on a hard stuffed pillow, and the thread required is wound upon bobbins with a groove in the upper part for retaining the thread; while, to form the meshes, pins are stuck in the cushions, and threads woven or twisted round them, the pattern showing the points of insertion for the pins, and also the direction for the gimp, which is interwoven with the fine threads of the fabric to form the pattern. At the commencement of the work the bobbins are arranged on one side of the cushion, and are brought to the front side, two pairs at a time, and twisted together. The woman holds one pair of bobbins in each hand, and twists them three times over each other to form the sides of the mesh, the adjacent bobbins of each pair are next interchanged, so as to cross these threads over one another to form the bottom of the next. Supposing the four bobbins to be marked 1, 2, 3, 4,—No. 1 is twisted round 2, and No. 3 round 4; these, in order to cross 2 and 3, are interchanged, so that 1 and 3 and 2 and 4 come together, and at the next twist these pairs of threads will be combined. As the meshes or half-meshes are formed, they are secured by pins. These four bobbins are now put on one side of the cushion; two more pairs are brought forward, twisted and crossed as before, and these operations are repeated until a row of meshes is formed of the required breadth,

when the bobbins are worked over again to form another row. From 48 to 60 bobbins are required for every inch of breadth. Pillow or thread lace, formerly employed a large number of women and children in the counties of Bedford, Buckingham, Northampton, and Oxford, but the demand for this kind of white thread lace failed, and black lace took its place. Honiton lace differs from pillow lace in having the pattern made separately. The ornaments were formerly confined to simple sprigs and borders; but the fabrics now produced show extreme delicacy of execution, with beauty and taste in design: flouncings, shawls, scarfs, handkerchiefs, berthes, &c., now vary in price from 10 to 200 guineas. The Honiton lace district extends about 30 miles along the coast of Devonshire, and about 12 miles inland. In 1851 from 7000 to 8000 persons were employed in the manufacture.

British point, tambour, and Limerick laces are chiefly imitation, and are produced in shawls, scarfs, dresses, court trains, flouncings, lappets, &c. British point is made chiefly in the neighbourhood of London, tambour chiefly at Islington, Coggeshall, and Nottingham, while Limerick lace is peculiar to Ireland. Black laces now occupy a considerable portion of the attention of the trade.

The most celebrated laces have been classed as,—1. Brussels, the most valuable. There are two kinds: Brussels ground, having a hexagon mesh, formed by platting and twisting four threads of flax to a perpendicular line of mesh: Brussels veire ground, made of silk; meshes partly straight and partly arched. The pattern is worked separately, and set on by the needle. 2. Mechlin: a hexagonal mesh, formed of three flax threads twisted and platted to a perpendicular line or pillar. The pattern is worked in the net. 3. Valenciennes: an irregular hexagon, formed of two threads, partly twisted and platted at the top of the mesh. The pattern is worked in the net similar to Mechlin lace. 4. Lisle: a diamond mesh, formed of two threads platted to a pillar. 5. Alençon, called blond: hexagon, of two threads, twisted similar to Buckingham lace; considered the most inferior of any made on the cushion. 6. Alençon point: formed of two threads to a pillar, with octagonal and square meshes alternately.

In the manufacture of lace France takes the lead; and it is calculated that the production of lace by hand gives employment in that country to upwards of 200,000 females of all ages. It is all made with bobbins upon a small pillow, except at Alençon, where the needle only is employed. The materials used are hand-spun linen thread, cotton, wool, silk, and gold and silver thread. Point d'Alençon is the only lace made with pure linen hand-spun thread; this thread is worth from L.100 to L.120 per pound. White lace is now chiefly made with cotton thread, Nos. 120 to 320. The principal seats of the manufacture are,—Caen and Bayeux, Chantilly and its neighbourhood, Lille, Arras, Mirecourt, Puy, Bailleul, and Alençon. Each of these districts has its own peculiar style; and although the lace may be made in the same way, and with the same material, in all these districts except the last, yet each is easily recognised. Silk blond originated at Caen, and was so called from being made of undyed silk of a nankeen colour: the finest white or the finest black silk is now employed. Caen and Bayeux excel all other places in the production of piece goods, and manufacture shawls, robes, mantles, &c., more extensively than any other districts in the world. By means of a stitch called rueroe, the women of the department of Calvados join several parts into one piece so cleverly as to defy detection, even with a magnifying glass. Most of the improvements and novelties in lace-making originate at Mirecourt; it produces the same kind of lace as Lille and Arras, viz., clear foundation, fonds clair, and also fonds de champs, in white thread, also a lace resembling the Honiton called guipure.

Lace. Flowers are also made, and sewed upon the extremely fine net called Brussels net, closely resembling the Belgian fabric. The whitest and cheapest French lace is produced at Bayeux.

Belgium is the great rival of France in the manufacture of laces, the chief varieties of which are known as Brussels, Mechlin, Valenciennes, and Grammont. Brussels produces two descriptions of lace, known as point à laiguille, and Brussels plait, the one made entirely with the needle and the other on the pillow. The finest kind is made of very fine flax thread, and some of cotton: it is remarkably soft and clear, but very costly. Mechlin laces are made at Malines, Antwerp, &c. They are made in one piece on the pillow, and the flowers are surrounded by a plait thread, which designs the outline, and has the effect of embroidery. Valenciennes laces are made chiefly at Ypres, Menin, Courtrai, Bruges, Ghent, Alost, and their respective neighbourhoods, each town having its characteristic peculiarities by which its productions are identified. Ypres produces laces of the finest square grounds, varying in price from 6d. to £50 the English yard.¹

It is natural to suppose that attempts would be made to lessen the cost of production of so beautiful and costly an article as lace. It was not, however, until machinery had been largely introduced for the purpose of manufacturing textile fabrics that lace machinery can be said to have been successfully employed. About the year 1768 a framework-knitter of Nottingham employed the common stocking-frame in the manufacture of lace, and about the same time another person of the same place introduced a pin machine for making single-press point-net in imitation of the Brussels ground. Various machines were from time to time introduced, all of which, except the weave machine, have been superseded by the bobbin-net machine, so called from the circumstance that the thread that makes the lace is partly supplied from bobbins and partly from a warp. The first successful machine of this kind was made and patented by John Heathcote in 1809, the principle of which was to pass the bobbins from front to back, and from back to front, while a lateral motion was imparted to the warp-threads, thus causing one series of threads to wrap round the other. The first machine was so complicated, that sixty motions were required to complete one hole, an effect that can now be produced with six. The cost of production has also more than proportionally decreased; for in 1815 one square yard of the produce was worth 30s., and can now be purchased for 3d. Up to the year 1831 plain net and quillings were the chief produce of the bobbin-net machine; but about this time methods were introduced to purl and bullet-hole the edges of narrow laces, finishing them afterwards, with a gimp thread, with the needle. The machines used were known as the Leavers, named after the original constructor; the pusher machine, so called from having independent pushers to propel the bobbins and carriages from front to back, instead of pulling or looking them; the circular machine, so called from the bolts or combs on which the carriages pass being made circular instead of straight; the traverse-weave machine, so called from the warp traversing instead of the carriages. About the year 1839 the Jacquard apparatus was successfully applied to a pusher machine; and since 1841, when a plan was discovered for applying the Jacquard to the guide-bars, scarcely a machine has been worked without the ornaments being applied by means of cards. New sources of manufacture soon developed themselves, such as flounces, scarfs, shawls, window-curtains, &c. Lace goods are now manufactured for all parts of the world, and lace-designers—greatly assisted by the Government School of Design at Nottingham—have proved themselves adequate to the de-

mands of a diverse and greatly extending trade. At the time of the Great Exhibition the articles manufactured by the bobbin-net machines consisted of—1st, Black silk piece-net ornamented, shawls, scarfs, flounces, trimming-laces, blonds in white and colours, some finished on the machines, others ornamented partly by machinery, and afterwards embroidered by hand. Such goods are exported annually to the value of upwards of £1,150,000, and they are lower in cost by from 75 to 90 per cent. than the class of hand-made articles which they represent. 2d, Cotton edgings, laces, insertions, linen laces, in imitation of white pillow lace, muslin edging and laces, fancy-piece net, spotted net, plain net, in imitation of the costly Valenciennes lace. 3d, Curtains in imitation of the Swiss bed-covers and blinds. 4th, Silk and cotton goods, plain net Mechlin grounds, blond, Brussels or extra twist.

In the year 1851 there were 3200 bobbin-net machines in operation at Nottingham, representing, with the subsidiary trades, a total capital of £2,965,945; the total number of hands employed, 133,015; and the annual amount of business returns was estimated at £2,300,000.

Before proceeding to notice the construction of the bobbin-net machine, it may be useful to remark, that a piece of lace (figs. 1 and 2) consists of a series of nearly parallel

warp-threads, lying in one direction, with a weft-thread twisting once round each warp-thread until it reaches the outer one, and then making two turns, and proceeding to the other border in a reverse direction. The double twist and the return of the weft-threads forms the selvage. This twisting and interlacing of the warp and weft produce regular six-sided meshes. It will be seen from the figures that the fabric is formed by the union of three sets of threads, the one forming the warp proceeding in a wavy line (fig. 2) from the top to the bottom; the second set proceeds to the right, the third to the left, the two latter being weft-threads, which cross obliquely in the centre between every two meshes, one set of weft-threads drawing the warp to the right, and the other to the left. When the warp-threads have been laced twelve times by the weft, the latter is moved sideways through one interval of the warp. In ordinary weaving the threads of the warp are alternately raised or depressed for the passage of the weft; but in lace-making the warp-threads are shifted sideways to the next pair, to which they are united by the weft-threads, which also work in pairs, each entwining two individual threads at once.

The thread for the warp is wound upon a roller, and for the weft upon small bobbins. Fig. 3 represents one of the bobbins B, mounted in its carriage c, and shown detached in section at B'. It consists of a couple of thin brass disks, with a square hole in the centre, and rivetted together with a smaller disk between, so as to leave a circular groove for the reception of the thread. From one to two hundred bobbins are spitted upon a square spindle, and mounted in a frame; the thread is conducted from a drum through the slits of a brass plate, and a thread being attached to each bobbin, the spindle is turned round, when the drum revolves and delivers its thread. About 100 yards of thread

Lace. are wound on each bobbin, which quantity is indicated by a hand moving round a dial-plate in connection with the re-

volving apparatus. As many as 1200 bobbins may be required for one machine. Each bobbin is inserted in a small iron frame or bobbin-carriage, in which it is held by a spring s (fig. 3), and the thread t passes out through an eye at the top; on gently pulling this thread the bobbin turns round.

The working parts of the machine are shown in a vertical section or end view (fig. 4), in which A is the thread-beam containing the warp, and B a similar roller for receiving the finished work. Between these two rollers the warp-threads are extended vertically, and they are strained over guide-bars, a, a, from which the threads pass through the eyes of needles, n; each guide-bar has a shagging or slightly shifting motion to the right and to the left, to allow the bobbins to pass to the right or to the left of the warp-threads as often as is necessary to produce the twist. The bobbins are arranged in a double line in two rows, c, c (fig. 4), on each side of the warp-threads, and the bobbin-carriages are supported between the teeth of a comb, CC (fig. 4), shown separately in fig. 3, each bobbin-carriage having a groove for the reception of the teeth of the comb. It will be seen from fig. 4 that there is a comb on each side of the work, and the free ends of the teeth in the opposite combs are so near to each other that there is only sufficient space for the proper motions of the warp-threads between them, so that the carriages, in passing across through the intervals of the warp, reach the back bolts before they have entirely quitted the front ones. The bobbin-carriages are alternately driven from one comb to the other by two bars, b, b, and when one of the lines of carriages is pushed nearly across the intervals of the warp, the foremost of the catches projecting below the comb comes in contact with a plate d, attached to a revolving shaft, and this pushes it quite through. The beam to which the combs are attached has a short sidelong motion, by which the relative position of the opposite combs is changed by one interval or tooth, so as to transfer the carriages to the next adjoining teeth, by which means all the carriages make a succession of side steps to the right in one

comb, and to the left in the other, whereby the bobbins cross each other, and again twist round the vertical warp-threads, so as to form the meshes of a net. When the bobbins have moved several times round the warp-threads, a point-bar shown on the left, a little above b (fig. 4), containing a row of pointed needles, falls between the warp and weft threads, and carries up the interlacings of the latter to form a new line of holes or meshes in the lace. Here it remains while the other point-bar makes a similar movement to form a second line of meshes, so that the working of the machine consists of a repetition of twisting, crossing, taking up the meshes, and winding the finished lace on the roller B.

Bobbin-net lace owes much of its beauty to the quality of the threads, and the correct shape of the meshes. By increasing the number of warp-threads within a given space the meshes are reduced in size, and finer lace is formed. There may be from 700 to 1200 and upwards of warp-threads in a piece one yard wide. The fineness, or gauge or points, as it is called, depends on the number of slits in the combs, and hence on the number of bobbins in an inch; thus, gauge nine points indicates nine openings in 1 inch of the comb. The length of work counted vertically, and containing 240 holes or meshes, is called a rack. A circular-bolt machine may produce about 360 racks per week. Bobbin-net is made up in pieces of from 20 to 30, or more, yards in length, and of variable breadth. Narrow quillings are worked together in a number of breadths, united by threads, which are afterwards drawn out. In well made lace the meshes are slightly elongated in the direction of the selvage. Ornaments, consisting of separate flowers, sprigs, &c., are worked in by a Jacquard apparatus attached to the frame; but as the ornaments are all necessarily connected by the thread of gimp which forms them, the connected thread is afterwards cut out with scissors, by children employed for the purpose. Where the machine produces only plain net, the pattern is worked in by hand, the lace-runner being guided by a lithographic pattern placed under the net. When the embroidery is complete, it is examined, defective parts are marked by tying the lace in a knot, and these are restored by a distinct set of women called lace-menders. The net is gassed before being embroidered; bleaching or dying is performed afterwards; dressing, rolling, pressing, ticketing, and making up, resemble the processes described under CANCELLING.

In addition to the bobbin-net machine for making lace, there is also the warp-machine, invented about the year 1775. It was suggested by the stocking-frame, in which only one thread is required, whilst in the warp-frame there is a thread to each needle. The first articles made by it were silk stockings, with blue and white zig-zag stripes, or vandykes, as they were called, from the name of one of the four claimants to the invention of the warp-frame, the other three being Englishmen. About 1784, a Nottingham mechanic greatly improved the warp-frame by the application of the rotatory motion, and the cam wheels to move the guide-bars, still known as Dawson's wheels. The improved frames produced officers' sashes, purses, braces, and other elastic textile fabrics, the manufacture of some of which still continues. In 1796 a new fabric was produced from the warp, and employed for sailors' jackets, pantaloons, and the article known as Berlin, so much used for making gloves. Warp-machines were the first to produce ornamental patterns on lace, such as spots, bullet-holes, &c., which had been previously embroidered or tamboured by hand. The bobbin-net machine, invented in 1809, soon became a formidable rival of the warp, and influenced its fortunes in various ways, until 1839, when the Jacquard apparatus was applied to it, and so much increased its capabilities as to introduce into the warp-lace trade of Nottingham a new class of products of elaborate design, such as shawls, scarfs, mits, falls, laces, &c. Of late years, the

Lace. twist-machine has been employed on similar goods, and has to a great extent superseded the warp. Great improvements have also been introduced in the English methods of dressing lace, especially in silk goods. Many new kinds of elastic fabrics, in gloves, in silk, and other materials, have been introduced. Velvet, and velvet in combination with lace, have also been produced at the warp-frame. At the time of the Great Exhibition there were about 1400 warp-frames in operation, namely about 600 in Leicestershire, about 400 in Derbyshire, and about the same number in Nottinghamshire. The employment in the various branches was estimated as follows:—150 machines engaged in the production of blond, and other silk laces; 150 in cotton tatting, 550 in Leicester hoisery, &c., 100 in lace gloves and mits, 150 in woollen cloth, hoisery, purses, and various fabrics for gloves, &c. The first machines were about 16 inches in width; they are now, in the Nottingham trade, from 90 to 150 inches in width, and in the Leicester hoisery trade, from 44 to 72 inches. The number of persons employed in the warp trade in 1851 was estimated at 10,000, and the capital invested at £360,000, making a return per annum of £700,000. In the Great Exhibition was exhibited a power machine, capable of producing (working 12 hours per day) 800 racks per week, which, when dressed, would be equal to about 1200 square yards. A yard of 4-quarter white silk blond, which in 1830 cost 2s., can now be had for 6d.

Gold and silver lace.¹ The textile fabric known as gold or silver lace consists of warp threads of silk, or of a mixture of silk and cotton, while the weft or shoot is a silk thread covered with silver, or with silver gilt, as the case may be. The production of this thread is a remarkable illustration of the extensibility of gold, and of the ductility of silver. The silver preferred by the wire-drawers is that which has been separated from argentiferous galena, this being less brittle than the silver obtained from purer sources. From 400 to 500 ounces are cast into an ingot about 2 inches in diameter, and from 20 to 24 inches in length. This is made red-hot in a charcoal fire, and hammered until sufficiently reduced to pass through the first hole of the draw-plate, the hammering increasing the tenacity and elasticity of the metal. After the bar has been reduced by passing through 10 or 12 holes, it is planed, in order to remove any imperfections from the surface which would interfere with the perfect gilding; the blemishes are readily detected by the reflection of a sheet of foolscap paper slightly arched, and placed over the bar. The bar is now gilt, by placing on it a number of gold leaves, varying from 10 to 30, according to the richness of the wire required, the higher qualities being used for military purposes, and pearls and bullions for embroidering, while the lower qualities are used for liveries, the ends of muslins, and for skein threads exported to India and China. The gold leaves are placed in a row, side by side, nearly the length of the bar, on a piece of cartridge paper: the bar is then gently placed on the leaves, pressed close, and the edges of the leaves raised up until the silver is entirely covered. The bar is next enveloped in paper tied tightly round with cord, and placed in a charcoal fire, where it is left until it becomes of a bright red heat, the paper not burning but becoming red with the metal, when it slowly consumes, after which the bar is withdrawn. While still red-hot it is burnished with a blood-stone or with South Sea axe-stone, for the purpose of uniting the gold and the silver perfectly. When cold the surface is covered with wax, and the bar is drawn into wire through graduated steel dies, and, after one or two annealings, finished by drawing through perforated rubies, so fine, that from an ounce of metal a wire a mile and a quarter in

length is produced. At this point the wire has not so rich and deep a shade of yellow as is required, but this is given by winding the wire round a copper cylinder, with the addition of a small portion of wax, and filling the cavity of the cylinder with red-hot charcoal made from birchwood, the effect of which is to deepen the colour and render it permanent. The next process is to flatten the wire by passing it between a couple of steel rollers, one of ten, and the other of four inches in diameter, made of the finest steel, and of exquisite polish. They are manufactured in Rhenish Prussia, at a cost of £120 for a single pair of rollers. The flattened wire is wound on small bobbins, which are placed in the centre of circular rings, attached to a bar, over a spinning frame. On the front of the frame are bobbins of silk, the threads of which pass through the centre of the ring to which the reel of wire is fixed. The whole is set in motion, and while the thread is being twisted, the ring with the wire revolves round the thread in the opposite direction. In this way from 30 to 40 threads are covered at once, the result being a resplendent flexible gold thread, adapted to the purposes of lace-making, embroidery, &c. Of this thread, although gold only appears, probably nine-tenths of its bulk is silk, while of the remaining tenth only 20th part is gold.

It is highly probable that the process of electro-gilding will greatly simplify some of the above processes, but the plans hitherto adopted for the purpose have not been successful. Mr A. Hock has contrived a mechanical process for the gilding of fibres. The silk used for the purpose must be of good quality, free from knotty nibs and rough places. The gum must be boiled out, and the silk be dyed of a light orange tint. It is then wound on bobbins, from which it is passed through a trough containing a glutinous transparent liquid. It is now passed over a reel attached to an endless screw or threaded spindle, arranged so as to lay the silk in close coils on a brass cylinder. Gold leaf is then applied to the silk until the entire surface of the roller is covered. The roller is then turned round, and a burnisher of wood covered with cloth or wash-leather is applied: this presses the leaf close to the silk, and separates it between the windings, thus gilding the thread, which may be of as fine a quality as desired. If the entire thread is to be gilded, it is wound on another cylinder, so as to expose the ungilt part of the thread, and the process is repeated. It is next wound on reels, dried, and then transferred to boards or planchettes, and is ready for the market. The thread is of the natural colour of the gold leaf; it is light, and perfectly flexible. Fabrics made of this gilded silk are much lighter than those produced with the ordinary gold thread. (C. 7.)