20

HISTORY OF LACE.

to all laces without grounds of which the various patterns arcunited by brides ; H the term is also applied to the hold flowingpatterns of Flanders and Italy, united hy a coarse reseau ground,and indeed is almost indefinitely amplified.

Lace consists of two parts, the ground and the flower, pattern,or “ gimp.”

The older laces, points, and guipures, are not worked upon anetwork ground; the flowers are connected hy irregular threadsovercast with button-hole stitch, and sometimes fringed with loopsor knots, styled “ thorns ” ; in Italian, “ punti a spina.” Theseuniting threads are called by our lace-makers “pearl ties”—Handle Holme 16 styles them “cockscombs ”—the Italians “legs,”the French “ barrettes ” or “ brides ;” the latter term is that nowuniversally adopted.

To express the honeycomb or network ground, we likewise usethe French term “reseau.” It is also called “fond,” “chain]),”“ treille,” and sometimes “ entoilage,” on account of its containingthe “ toile ” flower or ornament so styled from its flat, closetexture resembling linen, and also from its being often made ofthat material, or of muslin. 16

The flower, or ornamental pattern, is either made togetherwith the ground, as in Valenciennes or Mechlin, or separately,and then either worked in or sewn on (applique.)

The open-work stitches introduced into the pattern are called“ modes,” “jours ;” by our Devonshire workers, “fillings.”

All lace is terminated by two edges, the “ pearl,” “ picot,” 17 or‘•couronne,”—a row of little points at equal distances, and the“ footing ” or “ engrelure,”—a narrow lace, which serves to keep thestitches of the ground firm, and to sew the lace to the garmentupon which it is to be worn.

Lace is divided into two distinct classes, point and pillow.The first is made by the needle on a parchment pattern, andtermed “ needle point,” “ point ii 1’aiguille,” “ punto in aco.”

14 In an inventory of tlio cliurcli of 16 “ Grille',” “ grillage,” is another termtho Orntoire, at Paris, of the seventeenth applied to the ilowers, but distinguishedcentury, are veils for the host: one, “ de from toile' by having little square spaces

, taffetas blnnc gamy d’une guipurethe between the thread (“grillfi,” grating), theother, “ de satin blanc it fleurs, avec uno work not being so compact ns the toile.dentelle de guipure.” Rib. Nat. MSS. 11 “Uno robe et tablier, gnrnis d’unoK. Fr. 8621. dentelle d’Angloterre a picot.”—Lie. de

15 “ Store-house of Armory and 111a- dee.ett de la Ducliecee de Bourbon. Arch,

son,” 1688. Nat. X. 10,064.