Honiton lace

“ Honiton
has always easily ranked first amongst our British laces, although by many not considered equal to fine Bucks. Like the Midland lace, it has been always made with Flanders thread, and therefore has maintained its popularity because of its wear and its colour. The early Honiton workers copied "Brussels" lace, but because of their inability to produce an artistic design it has never been anything but a poor copy. ”

“ It seems impossible to get the very fine, silky, pure flax thread in the home market. A greater part of the lace made at the present time is wasted labour by reason of the coarse cottony thread used.
The evolution (if it may be termed so) of Honiton lace is briefly this. The bone or bobbin lace before mentioned at first consisted of a small and simple imitation of the early Italian pillow laces—mere narrow strips made by coarse threads plaited and interlaced. They got wider and more elaborate as the workers gained experience. ”

“ Mother has a few private customers herself, and perhaps they might be glad to hear of someone who can make Honiton lace so beautifully as Molly Jenkins."
"The work is not so well paid for as it should be. Since machine-made lace has come into general use, and can be bought so cheaply, the lace-makers have had a bad time. I remember when I was young, even little children used to be seen sitting outside the cottage doors in the villages about here with their lace cushions on their laps."
"Oh, do you think I could learn to make Honiton lace, Aunt Mary?" Marigold asked eagerly. ”

“ The history of Honiton lace is more than ordinarily interesting, partly by reason of the doubt as to whether it really was a lace of English invention, or brought by the Flemish workmen to England. Some writers assert the former, but the stronger probability is that the art was brought from Flanders by Protestant immigrants, who fled from persecution. ”

“ The superior finish of the Honiton sprigs between 1790 and 1815 was mainly due to this, but it was fatal to all development of the artistic faculty and to general deftness. During this period Honiton produced the finest laces in Europe. What greatly conduced to the improvement of Honiton lace was the arrival of Normandy refugees at the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1793. The Normans were quicker and sharper than the Devon workers, and they stirred them up to great advance in their work. They taught them to make trolly lace, which is worked round the pillow instead of on it ”

“ The present Queen also had her wedding-dress of Honiton lace, and it cost a thousand pounds.
Unhappily, design sank very low. Perhaps the lowest stage of degradation in design was reached in 1867, when a Honiton lace shawl sent to the Paris Exhibition from Exeter received a prize and commendation. Nothing can be conceived worse. ”

“ Bobbin-lace.— (Ceylon.)
The specimens of Indian pillow-laces, wrought with white and black threads, in the India Museum, are apparently made in single pieces, and not as in Honiton laces, by separate flowers, which are subsequently placed together for the ground to be worked in between them. [264] "A missionary taught a few Chinese women to make silk lace from the wild silk of this part of China," reports Consul Bullock from Chefoo (at the request of the Nottingham Chamber of Commerce) , but the small quantity of lace so produced is sold to Europeans only. The Chinese do not care to buy it. ”

“ Lydia Maynard, of Honiton, "in token of six pairs of ladies' lappets of unprecedented beauty, exhibited by her." About this time we read {405}in Bowen's Geography [1149] that at Honiton: "the people are chiefly employed in the manufactory of lace, the broadest sort that is made in England, of which great quantities are sent to London." "It acquired," says Lysons, "some years since, the name of Bath Brussels lace." ”

“ Honiton lace, a lace made at Honiton in Devonshire, remarkable for the beauty of its figures and sprigs; Imitation lace, any lace made by machinery; Mechlin lace, a lace with bobbin ground and designs outlined by thread or flat cord; Spanish lace, needle-point lace brought from Spanish convents since their dissolution—but probably of Flemish origin: cut and drawn work made in convents in Spain, of patterns usually confined to simple sprigs and flowers: a modern black-silk lace with large flower-patterns, mostly of Flemish make: a modern needle-point lace with large square designs ”

“ This is very different to the work of the old Honiton lace-worker, who made every inch of it herself—first the sprays and scrolls, then worked the ground round it, and received, it is said, from the middleman (who purchased it for the town market) as many shillings as would cover the lace offered for sale.
We are glad to say, however, that very praiseworthy efforts are being made to introduce better methods and more artistic designs in the many lace schools which are being formed in various parts of Devon. ”

“ The pillow has to be frequently turned round in the course of the work, so that no stand is used, and it is rested against a table or doorway; and formerly, in the golden days, in fine weather there would be rows of workers sitting outside their cottages resting their "pills" against the back of the chair in front.
The bobbins used in Honiton lace-making are delicately-fashioned slender things of smooth, close-grained wood, their length averaging about three and a half inches. They have no "gingles," and none of the carving and relief inlayings of the Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire bobbins ”

“ Honiton lace thread, No. 8 or No. 12 (No. 8 for beginners) , nine pairs of bobbins, one pair bobbins of Mecklenburg thread No. 12, three pairs of leaders, one Mecklenburg thread bobbin next each of the side leaders. Work the third pair of leaders across, twist three times plain stitch (the plain stitch is worked with the leaders at each side left and right) , twist three times, insert pin, work back, twist three times, one plain stitch, twist three times, pin. ”

“ Hayman, of Sidmouth. (Fig. 156 is from one of the honeysuckle sprigs selected.)
Fig. 155.
Honiton Guipure.
To face page 410.
{411} The Honiton lace-makers show great aptitude in imitating the Brussels designs, and [1160] through the efforts of Mrs. Treadwin have succeeded in reproducing the ancient lace in the most wonderful manner. Fig. 158 is a lappet in the Brussels style shown in the International Exhibition of 1874. Mrs. Treadwin produced admirable specimens after the pillow-made lace of Genoa and Flanders, and also a reproduction of the Venetian point in relief. ”

“ This crochet collar, in imitation of Honiton lace, is composed of sprigs and edging in crochet sewed on Italian or Brussels net. It is a very simple style of collar, and may be made very rapidly.
Materials.—Cotton, No. 70. Crochet hook, No. 24, eagle card-board gauge.
The Edging.—16 ch. close in the 6 for a loop, in which work + 5 ch., miss 1, sc. in 2nd + 4 times; 5 ch., sc. on the close of the loop. Turn the work on the wrong side, and do under every chain of five 2 sc., 5 dc.; 2 sc.; repeat from the 16 chain as often as may be required for the length. ”

“ Good patterns, good thread, and good work have been thrown aside, the workers and small dealers recking little of the fact that they themselves were ruining the trade as much as the competition of machinery and machine-made lace, and tarnishing the fair name of Honiton throughout the world, among those able to love and appreciate a beautiful art. ”

“ The application of Honiton sprigs upon bobbin net has been of late years almost entirely superseded by the modern guipure (Fig. 155) . The sprigs, when made, are sewn upon a piece of blue paper, and then united either on the pillow by "cut-works" or "purlings," or else joined with the needle by various stitches—lacet point, réseau, cut-work, and buttonhole stitch (the most effective of all) . Purling is made by the yard. The Honiton guipure has an original character almost unique. The large pieces surpass in richness and {410}perfection any lace of the same kind made in Belgium. ”

“ Half stitch is used largely for the lighter parts of Honiton lace, and is shown mixed in the rose, page 43.
Devonshire Turn or Wheel
To wind the threads on the bobbins a turn or wheel is used. No. 10 shows a Devonshire turn. The thread or cotton is always wound from right to left, and a loop is made to prevent the bobbin from unwinding. On gentle pressure the thread unwinds, but will hang in place perfectly if the loop is made properly. All the bobbins should be kept at the same length from the pillow to which they are attached.
[Pg 19]
No. ”

“ At Beer, where fishing is the staple industry, in bad fish seasons the women can earn more than the men; and at Honiton in the hard winter of 1895 the lace-makers kept themselves and their families, and were spared applying for relief—all honour to their skill and self-helpfulness. ”

“ The persecution of the Protestants when the Huguenots fled to England, bringing with them their arts of silk-weaving and lace-making, led to the introduction of English lace. Devonshire apparently received a contingent of laceworkers quite distinct from those who settled in Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire, and from the first stages showed far finer methods and designs. With the exception of "Old Honiton," England cannot boast of anything very fine, and even this is merely a meaningless meandering of woven tape-like design for the greater part. ”

“ One day, while she was mending for an acquaintance a point lace collar which had met with an accident, there came to her this thought: "If any woman can make that lace, I must be able to do so also." Fine laces had always been dear to her heart, and she possessed a few simple pieces of Valenciennes, English thread, and Honiton.
Like all well-onlered Boston girls, she went first for information to the Public Library. There were many volumes on the history of lace, and a few about how to make it, most of the latter being in German, French, Italian, or Russian. ”

“ No. 48.—Third Method of Making Picots Or Dots.—This method has been fully described in connection with the making of Raleigh Bars at Nos. 31 and 32 (page 15) , and requires no further description at this point. All dots and picots render work much more effective, and may be introduced at will by the worker.
In making modern lace, the various kinds require appropriate braids. There are three classes of these braids—those for Battenburg lace, those for plain Honiton and point, and those for the newest kind of lace, which is called the "Ideal Honiton." ”

“ Fowler and her school at Honiton, and Miss Radford at Sidmouth, it would be easier to say what the heads and hands of the Devon lace-workers could not do than to enumerate the many beautiful stitches and patterns they achieve; needlepoint or pillow, tape guipure or vrai réseau—there are able fingers to suit all tastes. [1168]
Mrs. Fowler, of Honiton, has made a spirited attempt to teach some young people. [1169] She employs women and girls all the year round, who work under the Factory Acts. ”

“ The shawls, dresses, flounces, veils, etc., are made in strips and united by a peculiar stitch. Great pains are taken in Bayeux in the instruction of lace-makers, so that the town now leads in the manufacture of large pieces of black lace. Fig. 10 represents a sample of this lace of the finest quality and of rich design.
Each country has furnished its special style of lace—Italy its points of Venice and Genoa; Flanders its Brussels, Mechlin, and Valenciennes; France its point d'Alençon and its black lace of Bayeux. England has also produced its unique Honiton, and Spain its silk blondes. ”

“ For the strictest styles, plain linen, cambric, and Swiss muslin are worn; but when silks or fringed dresses are put on, fluted ruffles, edged with plain narrow lace, on collars and open sleeves, are not out of taste, or edges of needle-work in scallops and points.
Laces, or very thin muslin embroidery, will be worn this summer; cambric, whether plain or embroidered, being seen only in morning-dress. We speak to those who "dress for dinner." There is a new style of lace, the Maltese, which is very heavy and apparently durable, somewhat resembling Honiton, at about half its cost. ”

“ Appliqué is the term given to this mode of joining Honiton sprigs. The ground is composed of Brussels net laid over the pattern prepared as above stated. Every outline of the lace is carefully sewn to the Brussels net; the net is afterwards cut away as shown in illustration No. 29.
It is advisable that ladies should receive one or two lessons in lace-making of Mrs. Mitchell, who is a quick and clever teacher, and whose charges are extremely moderate. Some ladies very soon master every class of lace work, but a lesson will frequently prevent much loss of time and patience.
[Pg 53]
No. ”

“ The lace manufacture now extends along the coast from the small watering-place of Seaton, by Beer, Branscombe, Salcombe, Sidmouth, and Ollerton, to Exmouth, including the Vale of Honiton and the towns above mentioned. ”

“ To face page 416.
{417} A beautiful county and a beautiful art have come down to us hand in hand. Let us do our best to prevent the one being marred and the other lost, and keep them both together to be a joy and a pleasure for all time.
JAPAN.
The versatile Japanese have copied the Honiton method of making bobbin lace. The Government have encouraged a school at Yokohama for pillow lace making, under the supervision of an English lady, where they turn out lace of a distinctive Japanese character. ”

“ When one stitch is completed, the two left-hand bobbins are dropped and two bobbins taken from the right hand to make with the two leaders the four bobbins necessary for each stitch. Care must be taken that the bobbins are not twisted, but that they lie each in its proper place. In beginning work across from left to right of the pillow and back again.
Nos. 8 and 9.—Maltese Cross and Stem Work.
No. 8 is a Maltese cross entirely executed in whole or plain pillow lace stitch. This is a modern Honiton design.
No. 9 is an enlarged illustration of stem work and leaves.
[Pg 17]
No. ”