It is impossible for a lacemaker to make a living from making and selling lace.There are also numerous local lace groups.ĭecline in numbers: Whilst the numbers of lace makers still makes it a viable craft, the numbers of professional practitioners has declined by around 30% since the Red List data has been collected. OIDFA – an international organisation for all who have an interest in lace.Lack of awareness: Lacemakers also struggle with a variety of outdated myths – that lace is difficult, takes a lot of patience, is only good for doilies….On the other hand the teachers who have been keeping alive the traditional bobbin laces tend to be of an age where they are less comfortable with 21st century technology for online teaching, and if they have been shielding may find it difficult to return to face to face teaching when conditions improve. There is likely to be some benefit as more quality information and teaching is made available online this is likely to attract the younger generation. Additional issues due to the Covid-19 pandemic: The long-term effect of the pandemic is unclear.Training issues: There are currently few teachers who specialise in maintaining English lace traditions and we have no scheme in the UK for training lace teachers.Training issues: The imposition by the Adult Education service of repetitive testing has killed off most of the classes that once introduced newcomers to lace skills, severely limiting access for to the craft.There are only a few very keen youngsters. Ageing craftspeople: Many practitioners are elderly and many who once taught no longer do so.It remains a rewarding hobby with a few lacemakers earning some income from teaching and writing. Very few lacemakers sell their work (the time needed to work most pieces means that it is rarely possible to earn a reasonable rate per hour). Market issues: It is more than a century since lacemaking was a commercial activity in the UK.Issues affecting the viability of the craft (Laces marked with a * have specific Irish or UK traditions) Knitted lace: made using knitting needles, Shetland knitting*.Crochet lace: made using a crochet hook, Irish crochet*.Knotted lace: made using macrame and tatting techniques.Carrickmacross*, Limerick*, Princess and Filet lace cutwork, Ayreshire* and other whitework, Ruskin* Fabric-based lace: made by removing threads from a woven background, and working on the remaining fabric with needle and thread, e.g.Other forms of lace cannot be easily detached from their parent crafts – listed below. Honiton (a part lace) made in and around Honiton in Devon.īobbin lace is a discrete craft, considered not to be endangered at the current time.Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire (continuous laces) made mainly in the East Midlands.Stitches and techniques have been borrowed from other traditions for nineteenth century tape laces and for the needlelace, often worked in colour, that has been part of the twentieth/twentyfirst century revival. Needle lace: made using a needle and thread, mainly with variations of detached buttonhole stitch – Hollie Point is the only needlelace traditional to England. See the Lace Guild website for a full history of the craft. The twentieth century saw the revival of handmade lace as a craft undertaken for challenge and recreation. Technological developments continued throughout the 1800s and by 1870 almost every type of handmade lace could be copied by machine, leading to the disappearance of the handmade lace industry in England by 1900. The first machine lace was made in the late-eighteenth century, and was followed in 1809 by a machine which could produce a stable net fabric that could be used as the foundation for new, hand-worked laces including Carrickmacross, Limerick and Tambour. The Industrial Revolution heralded profound changes for lacemaking, bringing about the mechanisation of the craft. The demand for lace continued to grow in the seventeenth through to the nineteenth centuries, with the styles changing to meet the varying demands of fashion. By 1600 high quality lace was being made in many centres across Europe including Flanders, Italy, Spain, France and England. It is believed that lace originated in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century, and rapidly developed from the 1550s onwards. Lace can also be made with a crochet hook, knitting needles or tatting or netting shuttle. There are two main methods of making traditional lace: with a needle and single thread (needle lace) or with multiple threads (bobbin lace).
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