Re: [lace] fine linen thread -- history

[Jean Barrett]

On 17 Nov 2004, at 19:47, Alice Howell wrote:
In my reading and study of lace history, the commercial viability of 
very fine linen thread was lost in 1790 when the cotton gin was 
developed, making cotton thread commercially viable and much cheaper 
to produce than the linen.  The linen supplies that were already in 
the warehouses were used up by 1830.  After that, the only extremely 
fine threads available were silk, and later, manmade fibers.

Hi Alice,
While the development of the cotton gin undoubtabley enabled fine 
cottons to be spun it didn't kill out fine linens quite as immediately 
as you say. I bought Fine linen DMC threads (150, 200, 300) in the 
1960's. Likewise I have fine linen hanks from Harris of Cockermouth 
which date probably from the 1930's, and Knox's linen was produced 
until the 1960's I think and I have 150/2, 300/2 reels from them.
Jean in Cleveland U.K.
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