A Froth of Victorian Ecru Lace
Recently, on a visit to my Mother, she gave me a bag of antique and vintage gloves to go through that she had acquired through auction as part of a larger lots of items. My Mother knows that amongst the many collections, I collect antique gentlemen’s and ladies’ gloves and accessories. As I was going through the bag, sorting out what was worth taking and what wasn’t, I came across several hand made lace collars, including this ecru one, which was by far the oldest, daintiest and is by far my favourite.
The theme for “Smile on Saturday” for the 5th of November is “lace”. It seems apt that a piece of such fine lace that I only recently acquired gets to take centre stage for this week’s theme. I hope you like my choice and that it makes you smile.
There are so many different lace varieties around the world that as a newly acquired piece, I have yet to identify what type this is. All I can say is that it is Victorian - most likely mid Victorian - and that it is hand made. Looking at the detail in this piece cascading forth in a froth of ecru, it is hard to imagine someone making this by hand. However, when it was made, a hand skilled in making lace made a girl more eligible as a bride, for she was accomplished at a prized domestic art. Hand made lace also harks back to a time when people had not only the skill but the time to make an item such as this, which probably would have taken many months of painstaking work to make. As lace like this was so expensive, it was not unusual for a lady, even a wealthy one, to stich a lace collar to a frock and when the frock became to worn to wear any more, or was to be remodelled, the collar could be unpicked and stitched onto a new gown.
A Froth of Victorian Ecru Lace
Recently, on a visit to my Mother, she gave me a bag of antique and vintage gloves to go through that she had acquired through auction as part of a larger lots of items. My Mother knows that amongst the many collections, I collect antique gentlemen’s and ladies’ gloves and accessories. As I was going through the bag, sorting out what was worth taking and what wasn’t, I came across several hand made lace collars, including this ecru one, which was by far the oldest, daintiest and is by far my favourite.
The theme for “Smile on Saturday” for the 5th of November is “lace”. It seems apt that a piece of such fine lace that I only recently acquired gets to take centre stage for this week’s theme. I hope you like my choice and that it makes you smile.
There are so many different lace varieties around the world that as a newly acquired piece, I have yet to identify what type this is. All I can say is that it is Victorian - most likely mid Victorian - and that it is hand made. Looking at the detail in this piece cascading forth in a froth of ecru, it is hard to imagine someone making this by hand. However, when it was made, a hand skilled in making lace made a girl more eligible as a bride, for she was accomplished at a prized domestic art. Hand made lace also harks back to a time when people had not only the skill but the time to make an item such as this, which probably would have taken many months of painstaking work to make. As lace like this was so expensive, it was not unusual for a lady, even a wealthy one, to stich a lace collar to a frock and when the frock became to worn to wear any more, or was to be remodelled, the collar could be unpicked and stitched onto a new gown.