Blonde lace is a continuous bobbin lace from France that is made of silk. The term blonde refers to the natural color of the silk thread. [1] Originally this lace was made with the natural-colored silk, and later in black. [2] Most blonde lace was also made in black. [3] It was made in the 18th and 19th centuries. [2] The pattern, which is generally of flowers, is made with a soft silk thread, thicker than the thread used for the ground. [1] [4] This causes a big contrast between the flowers and the ground. [4] It uses the same stitches as Chantilly lace and Lille lace, [4] and is similarly made in strips 5 in (13 cm) wide and invisibly joined. [1] [4] Blonde lace is not as good as Chantilly lace though, as the ground is not as firm, nor is the pattern as regular. [3]
Blonde lace became very popular, and replaced Mechlin lace. It is very soft, and thus was well suited to the gathered trimmings fashionable during the nineteenth century. [1] Blonde lace was used by royalty, and was worn in the portraits of the daughter of George IV, Princess Charlotte in 1817, and of Queen Adelaide in 1830. [1] In 1805 blonde lace was popular in Paris. [3]
Blonde lace was made in Caen from 1744, in parts of Flanders, in Barcelona, and, in small quantities, in the east Midlands of England from about 1806. [1] It did not suffer when other lacemakers were reduced to the brink of ruin in 1821 to 1832 by the introduction of machine-made bobbin net. In fact, the demand for blonde actually increased, and Caen exported great quantities, by smuggling, to England. [3] It was one of the earliest laces to be copied by machine - in 1833 the traverse warp machine (invented in 1811) made it for a full season, and it was sold without saying it was machine-made, at handmade prices, with no one the wiser. [1] By 1840 blonde lace was out of favor. [3]
There was a lot of blonde lace made in Spain, mostly in the Catalonia region, and especially in Barcelona. [3] It had all the same qualities as blonde lace made elsewhere, with very large flowers. It was used mainly for mantillas and scarves and became part of the archetypical image of a Spanish lady. [5]
Mechlin lace.
Worked with a heavy soft flat thread, the flowers stand out with great effect.