Lace is a decorative fabric usually delicate, and made from linen, cotton or silk which has been woven into an open web of different symmetrical patterns and figures. Lace may be composed of needlework stitches - known as needlepoint lace - or plaited with the aid of bobbins on a pillow - which is variously known as bobbin lace, pillow lace or bone lace.
The centre of the British lace making industry was, from the 16th century, at Honiton. Quality handmade lace takes roughly ten hours to produce a square inch (2.54 cm) and during the late 19th a wedding veil made of Honiton lace typically sold for the equivalent of a year's average salary. Hand made lace is usually a cottage industry, with specialists producing different motives and other skilled specialists joining together the individual motifs and backgrounds into a finished item to the customer's design or requirements. With the introduction of lace making machines, the lace industry was all but destroyed and replaced by poor quality mass-produced nets such as are hung in windows. Research Lace
Abbreviations
Costume
Research Lace