Collecting Lace
By Mel Lewis

Lace was at its most fashionable, and elaborate, in Elizabethan times, when a single ruff might incorporate lace a metre wide and 20 metres long! Virtually impossible to fake, antique lace looks almost gemlike under glass, against a purple velvet or blue silk background. Some lady collectors even wear their old lace, as a stunning keynote to a modern outfit. Today's lace collectors have just one headache, deciding whether the lace under their watchmaker's eyeglass (much better than any magnifying glass) is hand or machine made - which in any case dates back over 100 years. "Lacis", the first lace, and no more than darned net, typically depicts geometric patterns, equestrian scenes, or figures in Tudor costume. But beware: innocent copies may date to Victorian times, when the delicate craft enjoyed a genteel revival. Cutwork, the next development, saw the lacemaker working on a linen base, drawing out threads. Eventually the openings became the dominant feature, and the background was lost in the airy pattern. Whipping over the threads with a strong buttonhole stitch kept the material firm. Both types of true antique lace were made from scratch. In other words, no net background provided a foundation; nor was there any embroidery or drawing together of threads.

In needlepoint, a design was created by sewing a design with looped buttonhole stitches. The piece took shape from a single thread carried on a needle. In pillow lace many strands were used - hence the classic image of neatly splayed threads draped over a bulbous cushion, with a carousel of dangling bobbins keeping the threads taut. With pillow lace, a pricked out pattern, marked by pins, was tacked to the pillow. Thread carried on a bone or wood bobbin was looped around the pins. The art of twisting and manipulating the threads to create patterns are the real fascination for the lace collector.Here are some pointers to early age and genuineness: Rolled-up machine lace feels slightly lumpy. Handmade lace rolls softly and is smooth to touch. Handmade lace was made of flax, silk or human hair, also known as "point tresse". Machine lace is cotton or synthetic. Fine thread suggests old lace. Regularly recurring errors suggests machine manufacture, but joins every half metre or so indicate flax.

If your lace unravels when you so much as breathe on it, it probably isn't handmade needlepoint, which resists attempts to unpick it with a vengeance. One low-cost entree to lace collecting is to focus on 19th century cambric, lawn or white linen ladies' handkerchiefs edged in antique lace, a popular fad of the day. An ordinary 19th century lace collar might cost up to £20 ($32). Victorian Irish lace, however, can command five figure prices, as witness the "Victorian Irish lace top, featuring Clones lace, linen embroidered open-work and drawn stitch lace, 38cm long" depicted in the 1999/2000 Millers Collectables Price Guide at £900-£1,000 ($1,450-$1,600). According to the guide, " ... this [Clones] lace features a rose and shamrock design ... Garments such as this were complex and time-consuming to make, hence the high price".