Stevie Your question requires a long answer. Partly there is a problem of what the terms mean When modern lacemakers think of "Flanders" lace they usually think of the lace Ilske described in her email: a straight lace with 5 hole ground, gimp surrounds the cloth stitch motifs, 2 pairs enter the clothwork at each pin. And that does describe revival era Flanders lace (c. 1890-1920).
However, if we go back to the 18th century it gets complicated. As I understand Santina Levey, she says that the 18th century laces called "Mechlin" have that name because that is the major city. But laces were made in all the villages around and in Flanders. So, for 18th century laces Flanders and Mechlin are 2 words for the same laces. These had gimp. But the ground used changed over time. In the early 1700s the laces could have had any of these grounds: 5 hole, Valenciennes, Paris, Mechlin, snowflakes, half stitch snowflakes (It is called 12 thread armure in older books.) As time went on most of the grounds ceased to be used, and 5 hole became more common. http://lynxlace.com/bobbinlace18th.html But then during the period 1790-1820 the laces changed in style considerably, and had short repeats near the edge, with substantial clear net between the motifs at the headside and the footside. The ground was often decorated with square tallies or small gimp motifs. The grounds used were either Mechlin ground or point ground. During the 19th century all those other complex grounds disappeared until the revival era, when new designs for the old style were created. http://lynxlace.com/bobbinlacenapoleonic.html Gimp seems to have been used at least from the 18th century. Some Pottenkant laces (mostly Antwerp 1600s) have gimp, some don't. Parallel with this were the straight laces without gimp. She says Valenciennes and Binche were 2 towns very close together, and she doubts that the laces made in those towns or near them differed in any significant way. So one could call them Val/Binche. The grounds used during the 1700s followed the same sequence as Mechlin/Flanders: early on 5 hole, Paris, Val, snowflakes, half stitch snowflakes were all used. But in this case Val ground is the one that persisted into the 19th century. As to why Brussels didn't use five hole ground, I could only offer a guess. In any part lace the focus is on the motifs, and you want the background to virtually disappear. Five hole ground is visually striking and would detract from the visual impact of the motifs. In the early 1700s the motifs were quite large, with very small gaps between them. The gaps were bridged by zigzag braids. Brussels laces from the 1700s, with grounds instead of braids, that I have seen, had either Mechlin/Brussels ground (similar except for the number of half stitches in the stack) or Val ground. Lorelei - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
