The Story Of Lace
Delicate lace! I love combining different designs in soft French and English laces, and meticulously sewing them in place using machine and hand stitches. Tiny french seams, attaching glass pearl buttons, hand beading with tiny glass beads...
Did you know that Calais lace actually has its origins in the Nottingham? And that they’re related to each other? It's a story that involves stockings, a vicar, Luddites, smugglers and lace...
In 1812, John Leavers invented a machine to make lace, based on the Stocking Frame ( a machine invented in 1589 by a Nottingham vicar, Rev. William Lee to help his wife knit, well yes, stockings!)
This new machine-made Leavers lace threatened the livelihoods of the traditional lace workers, artisans who were highly trained and took great pride in their work. In the discontent that followed new factories were attacked and the machines vandalised by the Luddites, named after an elusive figure Ned Ludd.
Ned Ludd
And then there’s the legal blows! To protect vulnerable trade secrets the British government also banned the export of these machines. And it was an offence for a textile worker to leave Britain for to carry out his trade, adding to the misery at home.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
In 1816, some Nottingham lace workers escaped the bitterness to manufacturing in England, and smuggled in the first lace making machines to France, dismantled and mixed with old iron! Skilled operators were smuggled across the Channel too, in a ship called The Smuggler! They settled in Calais, a port in need of a new economy after the Napoleonic Wars, and that’s where the hub of the French Lace making industry continues to this day.
A French lace bridal gown
Hand sewing lace appliqué to the cuff of a blouse
Stockings, a reverend invention, artisans, Luddites, smugglers and lace, quite a tale for today! Did I mention Free Trade? Oh heck, perhaps another day!
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