Point de Gaze

Last updated
Point de Gaze
1940.5 web.jpg
Point de Gaze Jabot, 19th century, Brussels, Belgium
Type Lace
Production method Needle lace
Production process Craft production
Place of origin Brussels, Belgium
Introduced19th century

Point de Gaze (sometimes Point de Gauze) is a needle lace from Belgium named for the gauze-like appearance of the mesh ground. It was made from the early to mid 1800s to sometime between 1914 and the 1930s.

Contents

Etymology

The word lace is from Middle English, from Old French las, noose, string, from Vulgar Latin *laceum, from Latin laqueus, noose; probably akin to lacere, to entice, ensnare. [1] This type of lace takes its name from the fact that its ground mesh is very loose. [2] :87At one time, the French names of bobbin and needle laces were preceded by the word "point." [2] :86

Characteristics

Point de Gaze is made of open, twisted buttonhole stitches [3] of very fine thread. [4] The buttonholes connect through each other, yielding a light, gauze-like ground fabric. This type of lace uses floral designs, [4] with both garden and wild flowers evident. [5] :151 Also found are ferns and leaves. These floral designs frequently included borders, scrolls, and other non-floral elements. [5] :151 Either cotton or linen thread can be used to make it. It was used to make clothing (dresses, shawls, and flounces) as well as accessories, such as handkerchiefs, parasols, and fans. [2] :87

Origins and history

Point de Gaze lace handkerchief, 19th century Flanders 1957.135 web.jpg
Point de Gaze lace handkerchief, 19th century Flanders

Point de Gaze is a type of needlepoint lace that originated in the area of Brussels, Belgium. It was constructed from the middle of the 19th century until approximately the start of World War I in 1914 [5] :149 or until the 1930s. [4] One source indicates that its manufacture started earlier, in the 1830s. [2] :87

The Schiffli machine, which used net to mimic the gauze-like texture, was able to imitate the production of hand-made Point de Gaze lace. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drawn thread work</span> Creative textile work

Drawn thread work is one of the earliest forms of open work embroidery, and has been worked throughout Europe. Originally it was often used for ecclesiastical items and to ornament shrouds. It is a form of counted-thread embroidery based on removing threads from the warp and/or the weft of a piece of even-weave fabric. The remaining threads are grouped or bundled together into a variety of patterns. The more elaborate styles of drawn thread work use a variety of other stitches and techniques, but the drawn thread parts are their most distinctive element. It is also grouped with whitework embroidery because it was traditionally done in white thread on white fabric and is often combined with other whitework techniques.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lace</span> Openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand

Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is divided into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted or crocheted lace. Other laces such as these are considered as a category of their specific craft. Knitted lace, therefore, is an example of knitting. This article considers both needle lace and bobbin lace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobbin lace</span> Handmade 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 determined by a pattern or pricking pinned on the pillow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Needle lace</span> Lace made with a needle and thread

Needle lace is a type of lace created using a needle and thread to create hundreds of small stitches to form the lace itself.

Needlepoint is a type of canvas work, a form of embroidery in which yarn is stitched through a stiff open weave canvas. Traditionally needlepoint designs completely cover the canvas. Although needlepoint may be worked in a variety of stitches, many needlepoint designs use only a simple tent stitch and rely upon color changes in the yarn to construct the pattern. Needlepoint is the oldest form of canvas work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Embroidery stitch</span> Decorative stitch used primarily in embroidery

In everyday language, a stitch in the context of embroidery or hand-sewing is defined as the movement of the embroidery needle from the back of the fibre to the front side and back to the back side. The thread stroke on the front side produced by this is also called stitch. In the context of embroidery, an embroidery stitch means one or more stitches that are always executed in the same way, forming a figure. Embroidery stitches are also called stitches for short.

Filet lace is the general word used for all the different techniques of embroidery on knotted net. It is a hand made needlework created by weaving or embroidery using a long blunt needle and a thread on a ground of knotted net lace or filet work made of square or diagonal meshes of the same sizes or of different sizes. Lacis uses the same technique but is made on a ground of leno or small canvas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point de Venise</span>

Point de Venise is a Venetian needle lace from the 17th century characterized by scrolling floral patterns with additional floral motifs worked in relief. By the mid-seventeenth century, it had overtaken Flemish lace as the most desirable type of lace in contemporary European fashion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hollie point</span> Needle lacing technique originating in England

Hollie point is an English needle lace noted for its use in baby clothes, particularly in the 18th century. It is also known as Holy point, because it was originally used in liturgical laces. The Puritans were the first to make common usage of Hollie point beginning in the reign of James I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Youghal lace</span> Needle lace developed in Youghal, Ireland

Youghal lace is a needle lace inspired by Italian needle lace and developed in Youghal, County Cork, Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reticella</span>

Reticella is a needle lace dating from the 15th century and remaining popular into the first quarter of the 17th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valenciennes lace</span> Type of bobbin lace from Valenciennes, France

Valenciennes lace is a type of bobbin lace which originated in Valenciennes, in the Nord département of France, and flourished from about 1705 to 1780. Later production moved to Belgium, in and around Ypres. The industry continued onto the 19th century on a diminished scale. By the 19th century Valenciennes lace could be made by machine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mechlin lace</span> Type of Flemish bobbin 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's clothing, it was popular until the first decade of the 20th century. It was made in Mechelen, Antwerp, Lier and Turnhout. It was used for coiffures de nuit, garnitures de corset, ruffles and cravats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brussels lace</span> Type of bobbin lace from Brussels

Brussels lace is a type of pillow lace that originated in and around Brussels. The term "Brussels lace" has been broadly used for any lace from Brussels; however, strictly interpreted, the term refers to bobbin lace, in which the pattern is made first, and the ground, or réseau added, also using bobbin lace. Brussels lace is not to be confused with Brussels point, which is a type of needle lace, though sometimes also called "Brussels lace".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bucks point lace</span> Type of bobbin lace from South East England

Bucks point is a bobbin lace from the South East of England. "Bucks" is short for Buckinghamshire, which was the main centre of production. The lace was also made in the nearby counties of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire. Bucks point is very similar to the French Lille lace, and thus is often called English Lille. It is also similar to Mechlin lace and Chantilly lace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irish lace</span> Irish textile art form

Irish lace has always been an important part of the Irish needlework tradition. Both needlepoint and bobbin laces were made in Ireland before the middle of the eighteenth century, but never, apparently, on a commercial scale. It was promoted by Irish aristocrats such as Lady Arabella Denny, the famous philanthropist, who used social and political connections to support the new industry and promote the sale of Irish lace abroad. Lady Denny, working in connection with the Dublin Society, introduced lace-making into the Dublin workhouses, especially among the children there. It is thought that it was an early form of Crochet, imitating the appearance of Venetian Gros Point lace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battenberg lace</span> Type of American tape lace

Battenberg lace is a type of tape lace. It is of American origin, designed and first made by Sara Hadley of New York. This American lace was named either in honor of the wedding of Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, to Prince Henry of Battenberg, or from [sic] the widowed Princess Beatrice. It is made using bobbins and needles, or just needles alone.The original Battenberg lace used just one stitich: buttonhole picot. Other stitches that were later used include flat wheel and rings or "buttons".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesh grounded bobbin lace</span> A continuous bobbin lace distinguished from Guipure

Mesh grounded lace is a continuous bobbin lace also known as straight lace. Continuous bobbin lace is made in one piece on a lace pillow. The threads of the ground enter motifs, then leave to join the ground again further down the process, all made in one go. This is different from part lace, where the motifs are created separately, then joined together afterwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paris lace</span> Bobbin lace using point de Paris ground

Point de Paris is a French bobbin lace of the 18th century, with slender trailing designs in a point de Paris ground. It was a simple lace, and did not compete with those of Flanders. It was revived in the late 19th century for trimming lingerie and 'fancy linen'.

Bobbin lace ground is the regular small mesh filling the open spaces of continuous bobbin lace. Other names for bobbin lace ground are net or réseau. The precise course of the threads and the resultant shape of the ground are an important diagnostic feature in lace identification, as different lace styles use different grounds.

References

  1. "Show election". Lace. Retrieved 2012-05-23.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Bath, Virginia Churchill. (1979). Lace. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin Books. ISBN   0-14-046378-X. OCLC   4494296.
  3. Stillwell, Alexandra. (1996). Cassell illustrated dictionary of lacemaking. London: Cassell. p. 164. ISBN   0-304-34145-2. OCLC   34597563.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Earnshaw, Pat. (1999). A dictionary of lace. Mineola, NY: Dover. p. 131. ISBN   0-486-40482-X. OCLC   41518399.
  5. 1 2 3 Gwynne, Judyth L. (1997). The illustrated dictionary of lace. Berkeley, Calif.: LACIS Publications. ISBN   0-916896-86-2. OCLC   40896024.