Ipswich lace display in The SmithsonianHistorical marker acknowledging the production of bobbin lace in Ipswich Massachusetts
Ipswich lace is a historical fashion accessory, the only known American hand-made bobbin lace to be commercially produced. Centered in the coastal town of Ipswich, Massachusetts north of Boston, a community of lacemaking arose in the 18th century. Puritan settlers to the area likely made and wore lace as early as 1634, because Sumptuary laws from the early colonial records indicate this activity. In fact, the earliest known record of the act of lacemaking in the region comes from a court case in 1654 associated with the home of Governor John Endicott. An indentured servant in the household accused the governor's son Zerubbabel with assault, which occurred while she was working at her lace cushion.[1] Earliest known records of the commercial production indicate that lace produced by local women was used to barter for goods in the 1760s, as denoted by ledger account books belonging to local merchants.[2] These laces were sold in the region from Boston to Maine.
Although some references presume that Ipswich lace represents an offshoot of the styles of British laces such as that known today as Bucks point lace, and originated with English immigration,[2][3] other evidence points to continental influence. Bucks point is theorized to have developed from Mechlin, Lille, and other lace styles brought to England with Huguenot refugees. Early Buckinghamshire region lace may be different from the characteristics of this lace in modern understanding. A key observation is that the footside of Ipswich lace sits to the left during production, contrary to English laces typically created with a footside to the right.[4]
Ipswich bobbin lace is similar to European bobbin laces of the 18th century such as Mechlin and Valenciennes, but developed characteristics and patterns of its own over the production period. They were made as borders and insertions to be added to clothing or household items. It is a continuous lace, meaning that the threads continue from the beginning to the end of the pattern, as opposed to non-continuous laces, where the threads that are used for the motifs (dense, decorative parts) are not the same threads as those used to make the fillings and grounds (the open parts connecting the motifs).[5] The motifs in Ipswich lace are mostly surrounded with a thick gimp (outline) thread. Most of the motifs are constructed with the half stitch (Cross-Twist), and the ground of small meshes connecting the motifs consists of either some variation on the Torchon ground or the Kat-stitch, also called Paris ground. A decorative edge of two-threaded picots (loops) are very common. The Point ground (cross, twist, twist, twist) as used in Bucks point and other similar laces were not used as a ground in the Ipswich laces, only as a decorative filling.
^"Colonial Massachusetts Paternity Cases: The Endicott Story, Part II". GenealogyBank Blog. 2021-03-12. Retrieved 2023-10-18.
^ abCotterell, Marta (1999). Benes, Peter (ed.). "Laces of Ipswich, Massachusetts: An American Industry 1750-1840". Annual Proceedings (Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife). 22. UPNE: 82–99. ISBN 1-58465-163-6. OCLC 41178040.
^Powys, Marian (1953). "Lace-Making in New York State". New York History. 34 (2): 224–233. ISSN 0146-437X. JSTOR 23153315.
^Miller, Marla R. "Review: The Laces of Ipswich: The Art and Economics of an Early American Industry, 1750-1840". eh.net. Economic History Association. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
^Earnshaw, Pat (1984). A Dictionary of Lace (2nd ed.). Princes Risborough, Aylesbury, Bucks, UK: Shire Publications. ISBN 9780852637005.
Ipswichlace is a historical fashion accessory, the only known American hand-made bobbin lace to be commercially produced. Centered in the coastal town...
categories, needlelace and bobbin lace,: 122 although there are other types of lace, such as knitted or crocheted lace. Other laces such as these are considered...
Pillow Lace. Herron Press. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-4067-4562-7. Retrieved 2008-05-10. Raffel, Marta Cotterell (January 2003). The Laces of Ipswich: The Art...
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