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I don't know much about French lace, but what I do know is on this page. Please contact me to point out mistakes!
Language: French
Paintings of French lacemakers: (click on links to see pictures)
Girl Making Lace, Savoy, France by Estella Canziani (1887-1964) - detail above.
La Denteliere (the lacemaker) by Claude Joseph Bail (1862-1921)
Those paintings show details of lace equipment used in France.
French lacemaking terms:
La Denteliere: lacemaker
from "Manuel de Dentelle aux Fuseaux":
Demi-point: half stitch
Point entier: cloth stitch (French)
From "A Text Book on Cluny and Torchon Laces" by M.E.Woodward:
Point matte: cloth stitch
Point: cloth stitch and twist
I am not sure if these are French terms or not. Half stitch is described as "half point".
Fond simple: Bucks Point net
Fond clair: Bucks Point net
Cinq trous (five hole): rose ground
Fond a la vierge (virgin ground): rose ground
Fond de mariage (wedding ground): honeycomb
Point de Paris (Paris stitch): kat stitch
Fond chant (Chantilly ground): kat stitch
oeil de perdix (patridge eye): ringed snowflake ground
fond de neige (snowflake ground): ringed snowflake ground
(I am not quite sure about these! They are Binche lace grounds - see Belgium lace.
vrai reseau: a ground similar to Brussels ground
Valenciennes is in northern France, close to the Belgian border. It was famous for lace. This lace was made with very fine thread, and lots of bobbins. Valenciennes ground is made with four pairs per pin, with short plaits between each pin. See below.
Fond d'orge (barley ground): spider and line ground (I think).
Toile: solid cloth stitch
Grille: solid half stitch
Point de filet: solid half stitch
Passee de filet: solid half stitch
Kat stitch is also called French ground.
There is a particular headside fan described to me as a French fan. I don't know if this is an accurate name. Click here to see a photo and how to work such a fan. A similar headside is called a Cluny edge (I think). Cluny lace originated in France. It appeared in the nineteenth century in Le Puy and Mirecourt in Lorraine, reputedly using designs from the Museum of Antiquities at the Hotel Cluny, Paris. Click here to see examples of Cluny lace in my lace collection, and see below, but those probably aren't French. Cluny lace was also made in the English Midlands, see English lace.
Cluny lace
Valenciennes is in the north of France, close to the Belgian border. It was famous as a lacemaking area. Kipling's poem Smuggler's song refers to "a dainty doll, all the way from France, with a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood."
Valenciennes lace
© Jo Edkins 2017 - return to lace index