Although many of the history books quote Mrs Bury Palliser in her theory
that the Huguenots and Flemish introduced lace into England, the dates
don't tie up - see the primary evidence in books like the late Dr John
Yallop's History of the Honiton Lace Industry, and there is also
evidence to suggest this in J R Planché's book A History of British
Costume (published in 1836, so pre-dating Mrs Bury Palliser). The theory
put forward by Dr Yallop was that lace was brought into England by
merchants travelling by sea from Milan, the English ports being on the
way to the low countries via the English Channel. This seems entirely
reasonable. Some of the refugees did come to live here, but no doubt
added their knowledge to that of the existing workers, rather than
introducing it.
As the lace described in Planché's book, worn by Henry VIII and his
court, consisted of bands of gold lace appliquéd onto a (usually) velvet
doublet, and various portraits show it to be placed along seam lines, I
would suspect that the early laces were insertions rather than edgings,
so would have footsides along both edges. Which edge became the
predominant footside was probably then down to either the designers (who
I think could well have been predominantly male) or the teachers - and
could have depended on whether they were left or right handed. I suspect
that one of the reasons left handed children up to our generation were
made to use their right hand is down to superstition, fear of
witchcraft, etc., and as a right handed person I've always found it
easier to work with the footside on the right. When I was teaching, I
gave my students the option after working insertions, to choose which
was more comfortable to them - and most chose the right.
Why it should be different in other countries possibly also depends on
their culture.
The main theory put forward was that prickings were copied by rubbing
over the back with a heel ball, which of course would reverse the
pattern if then pricked directly from the rubbing.
In message <801F04D4C69442CAB9D946502BB778A0@Cecily>, Lyn Bailey
<[email protected]> writes
Where did the original Bucks and Beds lacemakers learn? If it was from
Flemish fleeing the Inquisition, or Huguenots escaping French
persecution, might they change the location of the footside to
differentiate English lace from the lace they made back home?
--
Jane Partridge
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