In my studies of lace history, the old very-fine threads ceased being produced about 1800. The cotton gin was invented about 1790. It let cotton be produced in great quantity at a much cheaper price than fine linen. For comparison, if a spool of cotton were $10, a spool of linen would be $100.
Combine that with the fact that cotton thread is smooth and runs through machine gears without binding. Linen thread tends to have some thicker spots in it. The new lace machines used the smoother, less expensive thread for multiple reasons. Also, the newest thing is the fashion fad, so cotton lace (especially machine made) was in vogue. It didn't matter that it was cheaper, thicker, and possibly not quite as pretty as handnmade -- it was the "in" thing. By 1800, the linen thread was no longer in demand, and the supplies in the warehouse were not moving. The long, thin variety of flax was no longer planted. The thread supplies that they did have on hand were gradually used so there were no more available by 1830. Eventually, even the seeds to the special flax variety were gone. Alice in Oregon -- where I just won State Fair Best in Division for my lace lappet, made from the OIDFA lappet book we got a few years ago. - 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/
