Handmade lace?

eel

eel

Registered Guest
Is there an easy way to tell if lace trim is handmade? When did they start machine making lace?

I bought a bag of trims and the lace pieces sure look handmade. And it looks like it would be torture.

Gotta figure out how to post a pic from my phone
 
Sorry for the phone quality pics
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They were in the same bag as these beaded parts, guessing 20's and also a 20's beaded top in poor condition
I think the metallic trims are later
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The first machine to make lace dates back over two hundred years and its very difficult to tell with all laces, especially from tiny photo shots like the ones you posted. I suspect yours are all machine made from what I can see but I am not an expert at telling the difference and even the experts sometimes need a magnifying glass to be sure.
 
Whoops, didn't realize how small they were, as I'm doing this on my phone and can expand them on my screen. I suppose it doesn't matter anyway since it's hard to tell. I would like to use them on something of similar time period, so I'll guess 20's or earlier.
 
I'm also leaning toward machine-made based on the photos. I've sold a ton of this stuff, and honestly, lace trim and pieces like this move very quickly...quite desirable in my experience. I wouldn't worry about whether it's hand-made or not. But if you're going to sell it, do some research. If you're putting it on ebay, the market will decide regardless. But do get some good quality, close-up photos. And give yardage in inches and metric.

Just my two cents.
 
It is not always easy to tell if lace is handmade but the yarn used is a clue. For example if the yarn is rayon. Rayon started to be used in lace manufacture from c1915. The type of machine used is also important when identifying lace manufacture. I have found this general reference to be good:

http://www.dressandtextilespecialists.org.uk/Lace%20Booklet.pdf

I think your lace samples are machine.

Here is a great little film from the late 1920's showing machine lace production in a Nottingham (UK) factory and you'll see the clippers - women who clipped the loose threads. This is also a clue when you find larger pieces of machine lace if some of the threads have been missed.

YLznPSTUyQo


http://youtu.be/YLznPSTUyQo
 
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