34G

HISTORY OP LACE.

The principal branch of the lace trade was the making of“ baby lace,” as those narrow laces were called, most speciallyemployed for the adorning of infants’ caps (Figs. 12G, 127, 128).The “ point ” ground was used, the patterns taken from those ofLille and Arras—hence the laces of Buckingham and Bedford-

Fig. 126.

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Baby " lace. Northampton.

Fig. 127. Fig. 128.

"Baby” lace. Beds. '• Baby ” lace. Bucks.

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shire have often been styled “ English Lille.” Though the fashionin the mother-country has passed away, the American ladies stillhold to the gorgeously trimmed infant’s cap ; and till the break-ing out of the Civil War, large quantities of “baby lace” wereexported to America, the liner sorts varying from five shillings to