"The Paris Point", by Martine Piveteau - Book Review Here is information from a book written under the direction of Mick Fouriscot, published by L'inedite (_www.editionslinedite.com_ (http://www.editionslinedite.com) - not in English) in France, 65 pp Hardback with color/pricking patterns/working diagrams, 2008, ISBN 978-2-35032-137-0. I purchased from Holly Van Sciver at the IOLI convention, $35. Perhaps this book is out-of-print at the publishers. I could not find it on their web site.. Finally! A French book with English and Italian, too! The many books from Mick Fouriscot that have been offered in the past have been only in French. I wish they would realize that more books would be sold, if translations were available. We want to know the background and history of French laces, so I hope more such books will be published in France. Please express this wish to the book vendors at next year's OIDFA Congress in Normandy, France. There has been discussion recently on Arachne about Paris Point, and so I thought sharing some of what is in this book would be helpful, and some of you might like to buy the book. It is thought this lace was made in Paris and later in Ile-de-France before the 17th C. (1600's), but they find documentation only from the first quarter of 1600's. That makes it a early bobbin lace. Current research results find the first time "lace" (dentelle) appeared in written documents was in 1598. Louis 13 confirmed the patent statutes of mercers and extended their trade to "passements, laces, nets, and cutwork" in 1613. Perhaps for economic reasons (Paris being an expensive place to do business, even then), the making of this lace seems to have moved out to villages surrounding Paris. There are a number of suppositions about what happened historically. Today's Point de Paris is described as "a continuous lace with a hexagonal ground formed by the crossing of two equilateral triangles. Gimp threads enclose the cloth stitch motifs." There seems to be a slightly later connection to Chantilly, since that place's first buildings were commissioned around 1680-85. Chantilly lace was for many years characterized by the kat stitch, also called fond chant. This is a ground characteristic of Point de Paris. Eventually, lacemakers settled around the chateau of Chantilly. In the 18th C. Chantilly lace detached itself from up-to-then traditional patterns (such as Point de Paris) and the influence of foreign laces. It found its own identity, and specialized in fine black silk lace that combined the kat stitch (Trenne ground) of Point de Paris and the five-hole-mesh (cinq trous) of Lille ground. Lace changed over the centuries, and the above summary gives such an example of what lace historians today believe occurred between the 17th C. and 21st C. to the original Point de Paris. Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center
- To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003
