Machine Lace in Costume 1860-1890

By 1860 lace, which was used as trimming for costume in considerable quantities, was usually made by machine. All the types of machine-made lace whose pedigree could ultimately be traced back to hand-made lace of the "pillow" or "bobbin" type, that is, with a plaited, not a knotted or looped texture, had been invented and were being profitably manufactured by the middle of the nineteenth century. The type of lace that was available was one determining factor in the character of what was used; the chunky "chemical" lace that was to be so fashionable by the 1890s only starts to appear in the 1880s, and then not very frequently, so that chunky imitations of needle-made lace and crochet hardly feature at all in fashionable costume 1860-90.