Museum Notebook: The special place of lace in our history

Lace-making machine 'Princess Torchon Lace Maker'. Whanganui Regional Museum Collection

While we associate lace with opulent lingerie and luxury, the lace we know today has largely been machine-made since the 1900s.

It was then that the laborious craft of hand-made lace was made redundant in favour of the speed and convenience of the modern industrial age.

Developed over many centuries, but particularly important in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries right up to the late 1800s, the wearing of handmade lace was a statement of wealth and the wearer's status, particularly in Venice, Flanders, the Netherlands, France and Spain.

The more luxurious the appearance the more clearly one's place in society was indicated. Trends in the latest fashions were set by royalty, noblemen, and in the richness of ecclesiastical vestments.

The finest of threads, including silver and gold, were used in gloves and sashes, collars and cuffs, ruffs and inserts in sleeves and bodices. Artisans formed guilds to protect their techniques while smugglers and refugees from wars shared their new concepts and techniques.

This can be seen most clearly in contemporary portraits from Elizabeth I and her courtiers who wore high stiff collars and ruffs. Collars eventually became softer and flatter and much more comfortable to wear around the neck and shoulders as in Goya's royal portraits and, later, the lightweight dresses and shawls of Jane Austen's time were developed. Wedding dresses from this time were so fine that it was said they could be drawn through a wedding ring.

In the Whanganui Regional Museum's collection is a lace-making machine called the Princess Torchon Lace Maker produced by the Torchon Lace Company in Melbourne.

Covered with brown velvet, the loom has a velvet-covered cylinder, a set of wooden bobbins, a reel of lace, a set of paper patterns and an instruction book in an envelope.

Lace-making pillow with work in progress and Practical Lace Making booklet, 1936 Edition. Whanganui Regional Museum Collection

The collection also holds a lace-making pillow, with a work in progress, and a sprigged cotton cover over a linen lining. The pillow is filled with dried grass stuffing. Wheel-shaped, with half a finger length turning holes in the centre on either side, there is also a lime green strip of card with a "pricked" pattern pinned to the cushion with brass pins. Each pin is inserted into one of the pattern holes. There are also wooden bobbins which are wound with white thread, arranged for further working.

While handmade lace is recognised as being intricate, the craft of it has never really disappeared. Making this lace is easy if you know how, and today the New Zealand Lace Society has 28 separate groups who celebrate the making and appreciation of this delicate craft.

• Mary Laurenson is a volunteer at the Whanganui Regional Museum