Lace collecting - 1Earth Antiques and Appraisals Magazine

Unveiling a little-known collecting category

More than the sum of its threads, lace has been used for centuries to create beautiful personal and household adornments.

An example of bobbin lace

Contrary to all those crossword puzzles, tatting (a form of knotting) is just one basic manipulation; others include needle weaving, knotting, weaving, braiding, and different forms of stitching with a needle and thread.

History
Examples of handmade knotted nets and decorative knotting date back more than a thousand years; the bobbin lace and needle lace known today probably originated in the 1500s.

By the 1790s, the first machines began making plain nets, and quickly advanced to complex processes. In the earliest surviving lace we find today, linen thread was the most often used fiber. After the cotton gin was invented in the early 1800s, inexpensive cotton thread became more popular. There was also silk lace, but it tended to deteriorate. Some newer lace is made with synthetic fibers.

Guide to Lace and Linens
by Elizabeth Kurella