Lille lace was a type of
bobbin lace that was made at
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deƻle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...
, 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 the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
, and by 1800 it was worn only by 'the most ordinary women'. In the first half of the nineteenth century the sketch-line designs, made only of gimp, were enclosed by a cloudy
fond simple, relieved only by a scattering of tiny dots (point d'esprit). After the
French Revolution of 1848, little was made commercially.
References
{{Lace types
CATEGORY:Bobbin lace
CATEGORY:Textile arts of France
Textile arts of Belgium