Beechey, William - Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen - NPG 1533

Blonde lace is a continuous

bobbin lace Bobbin lace is a lace textile made by braiding and twisting lengths of thread, which are wound on bobbins to manage them. As the work progresses, the weaving is held in place with pins set in a lace pillow, the placement of the pins usually de ...

from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

that is made of

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

. The term ''blonde'' refers to the natural color of the silk thread. Originally this lace was made with the natural-colored silk, and later in black. Most blonde lace was also made in black. It was made in the 18th and 19th centuries. The pattern, which is generally of flowers, is made with a soft silk thread, thicker than the thread used for the ground. This causes a big contrast between the flowers and the ground. It uses the same stitches as

Chantilly lace Chantilly lace is a handmade bobbin lace named after the city of Chantilly,"Chantilly" ''The Oxford English Dictionary''. 2nd ed. 1989. France, in a tradition dating from the 17th century. The famous silk laces were introduced in the 18th cent ...

and

Lille lace Lille lace was a type of bobbin lace that was made at Lille, also known as Rijsel. It was a lightweight lace popular in the eighteenth century in both black and white. It lacked the rich designs of Valenciennes lace. Its quality declined after ...

, and is similarly made in strips 5 inches wide and invisibly joined. Blonde lace is not as good as Chantilly lace though, as the

ground Ground may refer to: Geology * Land, the surface of the Earth not covered by water * Soil, a mixture of clay, sand and organic matter present on the surface of the Earth Electricity * Ground (electricity), the reference point in an electrical c ...

isn't as firm, nor is the pattern as regular. Blonde lace became very popular, and replaced

Mechlin lace Mechlin lace or Point de Malines is an old bobbin lace, one of the best known Flemish laces, originally produced in Mechelen. Worn primarily during summer, it is fine, transparent, and looks best when worn over another color. Used for women' ...

. It is very soft, and thus was well suited to the gathered trimmings fashionable during the nineteenth century. Blonde lace was used by royalty, and was worn in the portraits of the daughter of

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

Princess Charlotte Princess Charlotte may refer to: People * Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1694–1715), wife of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich of Russia and mother of Tsar Peter II, Emperor of Russia * Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans (1700–1761), wife of ...

in 1817, and of Queen

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in 1830. In 1805 blonde lace was popular in Paris. Blonde lace was made in Caen from 1744, in parts of Flanders, in Barcelona, and, in small quantities, in the east Midlands of England from about 1806. It didn't suffer when other lacemakers were reduced to the brink of ruin in 1821 to 1832 by the introduction of machine-made bobbin net. In fact, the demand for blonde actually increased, and

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000, It was one of the earliest laces to be copied by machine- in 1833 the traverse warp machine (invented in 1811) made it for a full season, and it was sold without saying it was machine-made, at handmade prices, with no one the wiser. By 1840 blonde lace was out of favor.

Spanish blonde lace

There was a lot of blonde lace made in Spain, mostly in the

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

region, and especially in Barcelona. It had all the same qualities as blonde lace made elsewhere, with very large flowers. It was used mainly for

mantilla A mantilla is a traditional Spanish and Latin American liturgical lace or silk veil or shawl worn over the head and shoulders, often over a high comb called a '' peineta'', popular with women in Spain, as well as in Latin America. It is also wor ...

s and scarves and became part of the archetypical image of a Spanish lady.

References

External links

* {{lace types Bobbin lace Silk Arts and culture in the Ancien Régime Textile arts of France