Ipswich Lace

Ipswich lace is a historical fashion accessory, the only known American hand-made bobbin lace to be commercially produced. Centered in the coastal town of Ipswich, Massachusetts north of Boston, a community of lacemaking arose in the 18th century. Puritan settlers to the area likely made and wore lace as early as 1634, because Sumptuary laws from the early colonial records indicate this activity. Earliest known records of the commercial production indicate that lace produced by local women was used to barter for goods in the 1760s, as denoted by ledger account books belonging to local merchants. These laces were sold in the region from Boston to Maine.

Although some references presume that Ipswich lace represents an offshoot of the styles of British laces such as that known today as Bucks point lace, and originated with English immigration, other evidence points to continental influence. Bucks point is theorized to have developed from Mechlin, Lille, and other lace styles brought to England with Huguenot refugees. Early Buckinghamshire region lace may be different from the characteristics of this lace in modern understanding. A key observation is that the footside of Ipswich lace sits to the left during production, contrary to English laces typically created with a footside to the right.

Ipswich bobbin lace is similar to European bobbin laces of the 18th century such as Mechlin and Valenciennes, but developed characteristics and patterns of its own over the production period. They were made as borders and insertions to be added to clothing or household items. It is a continuous lace, meaning that the threads continue from the beginning to the end of the pattern, as opposed to non-continuous laces, where the threads that are used for the motifs (dense, decorative parts) are not the same threads as those used to make the fillings and grounds (the open parts connecting the motifs). The motifs in Ipswich lace are mostly surrounded with a thick gimp (outline) thread. Most of the motifs are constructed with the half stitch (Cross-Twist), and the ground of small meshes connecting the motifs consists of either some variation on the Torchon ground or the Kat-stitch, also called Paris ground. A decorative edge of two-threaded picots (loops) are very common. The Point ground (cross, twist, twist, twist) as used in Bucks point and other similar laces were not used as a ground in the Ipswich laces, only as a decorative filling.

History

Typically the lace was produced from "prickings" or patterns created on parchment or pasteboard that were attached to a round bolster-style lace pillow. Bobbins whittled from local wood or reeds were used to provide the thread repository and the appropriate tension for constructing the lace. Linen or silk thread was the material commonly used in the early period with cotton employed only later after the development of mercerised cotton improved thread characteristics. Imported and individually handmade pins provided the structural support for the patterns, until pin-making machines became available in the 1840s. Known lace examples are largely white linen or black silk threads.

Preceding and during the American Revolutionary War, the purchase of luxury imported goods was problematic from social, political, and logistical perspectives. Hannah Adams of Medfield, who later became an eminent writer, described making bobbin lace herself during these years. The style or type of lace she made is unknown, but confirms that lace making was underway and profitable during this period in Massachusetts.

During the American revolutionary war, I learned to weave bobbin lace, which was then saleable, and much more profitable to me than spinning, sewing or knitting, which had previously been my employment. At this period I found but little time for literary pursuits. But at the termination of the American war, this resource failed, and I was again left in a destitute situation.

By the 1790s, over 600 women in the Ipswich area were producing significant quantities of lace for sale. Stored in the Library of Congress with the papers of Alexander Hamilton, a report of this activity was submitted to the Secretary of the Treasury with actual samples of Ipswich lace. Reverend Joseph Dana, author of the report, provided:

Rev. Dana reported 13483 yards of edgings and 28496 yards of lace, for a total of 41979 yards of Ipswich lace made by local women in that time frame.

Lace making continued through the end of the century and into the early 1800s as a hand-made activity, and period advertisements for “American Laces” and “Ipswich Lace” indicate that the lace was available from local merchants, on par with competing European laces.

Extant samples of Ipswich lace on garments can be found in various archives. For example, a mourning cap, silk hood and a cloak featuring Ipswich lace are found in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Martha Washington possessed a shawl made with Ipswich lace which is preserved in the Mount Vernon collection; the lace was reportedly purchased by George Washington on his post-election tour of the young United States. An additional lace segment is also at Mount Vernon. Lace adorning a man's Masonic "Memento mori

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