Bobbin Lace: Flanders
Lace Types A HISTORICAL GUIDE TO EUROPEAN LACES

FLANDERS (a region covering what is now Belgium and part of northern France) was an important centre for bobbin lacemaking from the 16th century onwards. The industry was well organized with skilful designers, aware of the demands of fashion, and innovative lacemakers who were able to work out techniques for the new designs. In the mid-17th century Flemish bobbin lace was the major fashion lace in Europe until changes in fashion led to the dominance of Venetian and French needlelace in the last quarter of the century. Not until the 18th century and further changes in fashion did the classic Flemish bobbin laces emerge and become so successful.

Flemish flounce, early 18th century. The design shows French influence.

At the start of the 18th century fashions favoured the use of fine muslin instead of lace for cravats, ruffles and flounces, which led to a decline in the lace trade throughout Europe. However, it was the skill of the Flemish lacemakers using the incredibly fine Flemish linen thread to produce delicate new laces that brought lace back into favour in the fashionable world. These new laces might look like muslin from a distance but, despite their fineness, there were richly patterned.

Edging, ca 1700. This style of lace is often ascribed to Binche, a town near Valenciennes, but it was probably made throughout an area that included these and other lacemaking centres. Technically there are many similarities between it and the later more characteristic Valenciennes lace.

This was also the time when distinctive techniques first became associated with the lacemaking centres of Brussels, Mechlin and Valenciennes, although lace made with these techniques was also made in other towns.

Part of a Brussels lappet, 1720-30. The spaces between the motifs are filled with plaited bars or fancy grounds.
Mechlin edging, mid-18th century. In the mid-18th century many edgings had designs which could be sewn edge-to-edge, as here, to form a double frill.
Valenciennes edging, 1725-50 with snowball fillings and ‘cinq-trous’ ground.

Brussels was a part lace where the pattern motifs were made separately and later joined together with a variety of grounds. Mechlin and Valenciennes were both straight laces but differed in that the cloth-stitch areas in Mechlin were surrounded and emphasized by a thicker gimp thread, whereas Valenciennes lace was completely flat with lines of tiny holes outlining the pattern motifs and picking out features within them.

Details from three 18th century laces with snowball ground: Brussels part lace on the left with a raised edges around the cloth-stitch motif, Mechlin in the centre with gimp around the cloth-stitch areas, and flat Valenciennes on the right

Despite the differences in technique the designs were usually very similar and often followed changes in the patterning of fashionable French silks. In the early 18th century the laces were quite dense with bars or decorative grounds in the small spaces between the motifs, but in the course of the century the space between the pattern motifs increased and distinct grounds became associated with the different techniques, leaving the fancy grounds relegated to small fillings. Drochel ground, a hexagonal plaited mesh, was used to join the Brussels motifs, while a similar ground with shorter plaits, Eis ground, became the usual ground for Mechlin.

Drochel ground on the left, Mechlin ‘eis’ ground with shorter plaits on the right
Brussels edging with drochel ground, late 18th century
Mechlin edging, first quarter of 19th century

Other plaited grounds were used in Valenciennes lace — Flemish round ground which was most common in the mid- to late 18th century, and the square ground with longer plaits which was most common in the 19th century. With the lighter square mesh extra pairs were added to the cloth-stitch motifs to enhance the contrast with the mesh.

Flemish round ground on the left, Valenciennes square ground with longer plaits on the right
Valenciennes edging with square ground, late 18th century
Valenciennes edging with square ground, second half of 19th century

Valenciennes itself ceased to be a lacemaking centre after the French Revolution, and most 19th century Valenciennes lace was made at various centres in Belgium. The lace was slow to make and always expensive, but its smoothness and strength meant it washed well, so it was popular for underwear and babies’ clothes. Most of the lace was made in the form of narrow edgings and insertions. Mechlin lace did not fare so well in the 19th century — the technique was unsuitable for the larger fashion accessories required in the second half of the century and neither was it ideal for the same uses as Valenciennes.

The lace designs of the late 18th and early 19th century with small pattern motifs largely confined to the edges of the lace meant that for the Brussels part laces it was easier to make the drochel net separately and then apply the motifs rather than working the net to join the motifs. When machine-made net became readily available in the 19th century, that was used instead of the expensive drochel net, which from about 1850 was only used for very special orders or exhibition pieces.

In the course of the 19th century fashions changed, and for most of the second half elaborate, often naturalistic, designs were favoured. Brussels part lace, applied to machine-made net, was ideally suited to the new designs and remained popular for the rest of the century. The lace, known as Brussels Application, was often a mixture of needle and bobbin lace, in some pieces in about equal proportions while in others the needle lace was a simple filling of rings or spots.

Brussels Application edging, last quarter 19th century. Needle and bobbin lace applied to machine-made net.

In the mid-19th century a growing interest in laces grounded with bars, rather than a mesh ground, led to the development of a new bobbin lace called Duchesse in honour of the Duchess of Brabant, later Queen of the Belgians. Duchesse laces are generally divided into two groups — Duchesse de Bruges, which is all bobbin lace, and Duchesse de Brussels, with needlelace fillings or inserts of Point de Gaze lace. The names reflected the main centres at which the laces were made, but both were made elsewhere in Belgium. There was also Dentelle de Bruges made with coarser thread from which the Bruges flower lace that we know today is descended.

Bruges Duchesse flounce, early 20th century
Brussels Duchesse bertha with needlelace insertions, early 20th century
Bruges flower lace, late 20th century. The lace associated with Bruges today.

On my own website I discuss a Brussels Application stole from my collection.

Flemish flounce, early 18th century. The design shows French influence.
Edging, ca 1700. This style of lace is often ascribed to Binche, a town near Valenciennes, but it was probably made throughout an area that included these and other lacemaking centres. Technically there are many similarities between it and the later more characteristic Valenciennes lace.
Part of a Brussels lappet, 1720-30. The spaces between the motifs are filled with plaited bars or fancy grounds.
Valenciennes edging, 1725-50 with snowball fillings and ‘cinq-trous’ ground.
Mechlin edging, mid-18th century. In the mid-18th century many edgings had designs which could be sewn edge-to-edge, as here, to form a double frill.
Brussels edging with drochel ground, late 18th century
Valenciennes edging with square ground, late 18th century
Mechlin edging, first quarter of 19th century
Valenciennes edging with square ground, second half of 19th century
Brussels Application edging, last quarter 19th century. Needle and bobbin lace applied to machine-made net.
Bruges Duchesse flounce, early 20th century
Brussels Duchesse bertha with needlelace insertions, early 20th century
Bruges flower lace, late 20th century. The lace associated with Bruges today.