The ladies' complete guide to crochet, fancy knitting, and needlework

by Ann S. Stephens

The delightful art of netting produces not only objects of beauty but of comfort so indispensable in our severe winters, that the fair hand employed in netting may be deemed useful as our grandmothers’ were when they seamed enormous quantities of yarn away in winter socks and stockings. In our cold seasons, when parties most prevail, sleeves, cuffs, rigolettes, and over-shoes of delicate Berlin wool, have saved many a fair form from colds and their consequent diseases, which, without such care, prove so fatal when heated rooms are exchanged for the biting cold of a winter’s night. With soft warm cuffs, or oversleeves, to draw over the arms, a snowy web of netting and tassels upon the head, and shoes thickly wadded with silk, drawn over the satin slippers, added to the usual wrappers, no lady need expose herself to cold though the atmosphere be at Zero and her dress of gossamer, with low neck and short sleeves. It is not always that fashion blends so gracefully with taste and comfort, as it does in these charming little trifles manufactured at odd moments, from Berlin wool, by the fair hands of those who intend to present or wear them. Besides, the fabrication of these articles is a pretty accomplishment that possesses a social value, independent of time well employed, and comfort secured.

Knitting, crochet work, and the manufactory of lace are so connected and interwoven together that the history of one would be incomplete without the other. We therefore go on from our familiar and pleasant talk about needlework as an accomplishment and give its history as a matter of trade. In this point of view, lace making is the most important, and indeed so connected with the rest that we give concise history of its rise and progress in the world.

We have already spoken of needlework in its first rude condition, when uncouth figures and a barbarian taste for gorgeousness prevailed without those powers that create harmonious beauty.

After these rude attempts at a first step in the arts, it is not wonderful that improvements were made, almost unconsciously, and that the innate genius that existed then as now in the female bosom found at all times some imperfect means of expression through the needle, which ended at last in those stitches, that have since been combined into the fabric called lace.

It is certain that neither labor nor ingenuity was spared in the production of the magnificent borderings for robes, often worked in gold and silver and various colors, which are associated in our minds with the ancients on better grounds than mere tradition. What, then, is more probable than that, in the search for novelty and variety—as much an object of desire, no doubt, in that age as in our own—the idea should have presented itself to some tasteful eye of relieving the pattern of the fabric with occasional spaces, either left wholly vacant, or filled up with a web-like ground work? This would, in reality, constitute lace, however much it might differ from the delicate material known by that name in the present day. Whether the introduction of lace is referable to the classic ages or not, certain it is that a very respectable degree of antiquity may be claimed for it.

It must be borne in mind that real or handmade lace is divided into two distinct classes: first, that worked with the needle, which has for ages been known by the name of point, and is but transparent embroidery; and secondly that made on a hard cushion or pillow, by the interweaving of numerous fine threads wound on wooden bobbins. The latter method of lace making is comparatively of modern invention; so that in the early history of the fabric it must be understood as referring solely to the point. During the earlier periods at which the existence of lace is generally recognised, it was exclusively worked in conventual institutions, and applied to the adornment of church-furniture and the state-vestments of the priests. Had it been made in populous towns, and formed an article of commerce, more satisfactory information would have been here and there discovered; but of those old isolated convents in Spain and Italy, and of the habits and pursuits of their inhabitants, little beyond vague tradition has descended to us. There is every reason to suppose, that during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and two following centuries, the making of lace occupied the same important position in the daily employments of the nuns, as the arts of copying illuminating manuscripts, amongst the monks and friars.

It is singular that, in later years, the secrets connected with the manufacture of old point lace have been lost to us; and that, although ingenious imitations are by no means rare, the authentic method of making it is quite unknown. The substratum used, or ‘foundation,’ as it is called, would appear to have been fine linen, though scarcely a thread is visible to the eye, from the heavy embroidery upon it, which here and there stands out in complete relief. The pattern consisted of small sections of fantastic and varying outlines; now a rather unnatural imitation of a flower, now some quaint arabesque or mechanical form, resembling nothing in the world but itself. These being distinct from each other, were united by delicate fibres made with the still common button-hole stitch; and it is not easy for mere description to render justice to the beauty of the general effect. It seems wonderful that so perfect a result could have been attained by following the impulse of the moment; but still more difficult to believe that any design could have been invented so strange and capricious in character. As for the untiring patience displayed in the execution, we can only rejoice that it was believed to be in a good cause; that the pious nuns could not foresee the desecration to which, in the course of some few centuries, their cherished productions were to be subjected. When accident or necessity by degrees alienated the more valuable adornments of church-furniture, they were applied to secular purposes; and no doubt many a modern belle may have unconsciously displayed in a ball room a lace flounce which has adorned an image of the Virgin, or sought ineffectual protection from a draught by drawing around her a mantle of old point, which has witnessed from the shoulders of a cardinal many a grand and imposing ceremony. There are, of course, comparatively few specimens extant of this very antique lace, properly described as Spanish point; and these few have in most cases been handed down to their possessors as valued heir-looms from generation to generation; regarded with as much honest pride by the ladies of the line, as the more valuable portion of the family heritage by their matter-of-fact husbands. As the supply of old point can never be renewed, and competition can never affect it, its value naturally increases; and when it can be bought at all, it is only at a price that would be deemed extravagant by any other than a genuine lace-fancier.

It was not until the latter part of the fourteenth century, that the world at large was indulged with more than an occasional glimpse of the beautiful fabric when displayed in the great festivals of the Church; but by that time some knowledge of the art had crept out of its holy hiding-places, and had found its way amongst the merchants of one or two continental cities, to whom its novelty and beauty could not fail to recommend it as a subject of extensive and profitable commerce. It is true, we do not hear of it at once as being in general use; but Rome was not built in a day, neither was point lace to be produced at a wish. The hands that made it had to be carefully instructed and exercised in their employment before any degree of perfection could be attained, and then long and unwearyingly had they to pursue it before even the wealthier classes of society, to whom alone it was attainable, could be adequately supplied. We meet with most frequent allusion to Venice, that great bazaar of the luxuries of the middle ages as the chief seat of the point lace manufacture in early times. As this city certainly monopolised the most skilful artisans in every branch of ornamental handicraft, and was the great emporium whence everything beautiful and costly was spread over the world, it is by no means extraordinary that the establishment of lacemaking in other countries should be generally referred back to some wandering band from the city of the winged lion.

The character of the lace worn during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries differed in some respects from the conventual point, if it may be so termed. It was less massive, and although, certainly, exhibiting no deficiency of work, did not display that superabundance of adornment which distinguished the chiefs-d’œuvre of the holy sisterhoods. This is easily accounted for by the circumstance, that the one kind was made for money by those whose bread depended on the work of their hands, whilst the other was the chosen occupation of leisure hours, and an outward demonstration of heart-service.

Brussels, which has during several centuries maintained a reputation wider and more extended than any other place, may certainly in the present day be said to support and, if possible, extend the renown of its lace; of this there are two distinct varieties, easily recognisable by the initiated in such matters. The more valuable and beautiful kind is that called pointe a l’ aiguille, or, more commonly, Brussels point; it is worked wholly with the needle, and is, as its name implies, a very refined descendant of the ancient family of the points. It was very much in vogue among the wealthier classes in England during the reigns of Charles I. and several succeeding monarchs, and has been immortalised in Vandyck’s portraits of the martyr-king, under the form of the beautiful pointed collar and cuffs which were dignified by the name of the artist. Fashion has, in this case, been more constant than usual, since the taste for Brussels point has continued so decidedly among us, that we still monopolise a large proportion of the whole quantity made; the other variety, called Brussels plait, being more extensively used in France Spain, Russia, and other countries. In the latter description of lace, the flowers for the pattern are made separately on the pillow, and afterwards attached to net. It differs, in fact, but little from the best English Honiton, of which I shall speak hereafter.