Some interesting laces collected by Elwyn Kinnane, a Lucas "girl".Colour photograph of lace as collected by Elwyn Kinnane who worked at the Lucas Factory in Ballarat.lace, kinnane, dressmaker, lucas' girl, elwyn kinnane

Two lengths of cream/beige crocheted lace.lace

These laces belonged to Mrs.J. Pardew. Edward James Pardew died in 26/9/1927 aged 92. He came to Orbost from New Zealand in 1886 and selected 720 acres of hill land in the Brodribb area. He was a member of the first Orbost Shire Council. His daughter had a fruit & meat shop in McLeod Street. He was an inaugural vestryman of St James Church of England.Lace is an ornamental openwork fabric created by looping, twisting, braiding or knotting threads either by hand or by machine.This item is aesthetically significant and has a connection to an early Orbost settler.Twelve pieces of assorted laces on card - 3 cards.lace haberdashery cotsume accessories pardew-edward

Cream coloured lace edging.fashion and textiles collection - kew historical society, textiles - lace

Piece of very finely constructed coffee-coloured lace probably removed from the bodice of a dress.fashion and textiles collection - kew historical society, textiles - lace

Two lace cuffs and aa strip of lace sewn onto black felt. lace accessories

A long round piece of hand-crocheted lace. It is a white/ cream colour and may have been an edging for a round tablecloth.lace handcraft

Australian women of the late 19th to mid 20th century focused on the home and its decoration was important. Embroidery and crochet work was an affordable way to personalise and add aesthetic value, and examples of embroidered and crocheted pieces could be found in most Australian homes, decorating or protecting furniture. Embroidery and crochet work provided a much needed creative outlet for someSeven pieces of lace of fine cotton possibly dyed or stained. All but one are straight edged. .1 is scalloped.lace handcraft crochet needlework

At just 20.6cm in lace length and 27.5cm wide, this section of Torchon machine made lace is quite possibly a sampler for future purchases being a mixture of edging and insertion pieces. Torchon lace is a bobbin lace which is coarse and strong and was made all over Europe a characteristic of which was that the design and the ground were made in one continuous piece as opposed to motifs joined by brides. In 1809 John Heathcoat created a machine made net which didn’t unravel when cut and by 1870 every type of hand made lace had a machine made copy. Hand made lace as an industry virtually disappeared by 1900 and these machine made pieces were comparatively cheap.The Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929. This lace collection was owned and contributed to by four generations of Amess women.Cheap Torchon machine lace Packaged with note: "Scraps of lace found jumbled with this collection"janet amess lace collection, lace, churchill island, amess

This machine made net (76cm x 38) is trimmed on the edge with a tamboured design in the style of Limerick lace. Machines were so proficient in copying handmade lace that it is very difficult to tell if the trim is done by hand or by machine. Tambour lace was the earliest form of Limerick lace and was worked in chain stitch onto machine made net using a very fine crochet hook, so fine in fact that some practitioners used a sewing needle with the eye cut out and the pointed end inserted into a wooden handle.The lace industry in Limerick was started by Charles Walker in 1829 Many Irish women who learned the craft worked from home but Walker knew that he would get more consistent and cleaner work if he could oversee the work being done so he built a factory for the women. Limerick lace lost popularity after Walker died in 1842 but was revived in the late 1880s and continued to be made into the 20th century but never reached the heights of the Walker period. If this pattern is machine made it would have been made using a Bonnaz machine which was later called a Cornely machine. Antoine Bonnaz (1836 – 1915), a silk machine engineer, produced the first successful industrial chain stitch machine. His patent was finally acquired by Ercole Cornely in Paris who developed a hook shaped needle that could make a line of chain stitches. Initially these machines were only available in northern France but they were so popular that they were eventually exported to the rest of the world and are still being produced today. This lace edging is quite fine and would only be about a centimetre in width and so would be subtle in effect, perhaps to be used on undergarments or as a fichu for day wear.The Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929. This lace collection was added to and refined over the course of three successive generations of women.Machine made net, trimmed with tamboured design in style of Limerick lace.Note in package "LIMERICK LACE TRIMMINGS"lace, janet amess lace collection, churchill island, amess

The 8 pointed Maltese Cross is blatantly evident at the centre of the piece being worked in cloth stitch and the plaited tallies or “wheat ears’ form the floral surrounds. At 32cm in length it could be applied to a low necked bodice and form a v shape at the waistline however this beautiful piece appears to have been attached to the bodice at the neckline. It would have been quite elegant on a dark coloured bodice. This type of bib collar may have been originally joined to another section of lace to attach it around the neckline.The Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929. This lace collection was owned and contributed to by four generations of Amess women.Bobbin Silk, Maltese Silk, hand made bobbin lace. Packaged with note: "Lace collar Maltese Lace"janet amess lace collection, lace, churchill island, janet, amess, bobbin, maltese, silk, embroidery

This is a machine made copy of a Brussels lace applique or Brussels Point border which has most likely been cut from a larger piece, perhaps a wedding veil or a net for a baby’s cradle. There are two main types under the Brussels lace heading, one is Brussels Pillow lace which is a bobbin lace and the other is Brussels Point lace which is needle run. Belgium or Flanders was one of the premium lace making centres in Europe for two reasons, one that the flax grown in the region was of a very high quality and secondly the highly skilled lace workers living in the area. The flax harvest and linen production was jealously guarded and along with neighbouring Holland which in the 16th century was joined to Belgium as Spanish Netherlands, there were many flat areas to lay out the linen for bleaching in the sun. The flax was spun into the finest linen thread in rooms kept damp to prevent the thread from becoming too brittle and the one ray of sunlight allowed was directed onto the thread. The quality of the linen made Brussels lace extremely popular for centuries and it kept pace with the changing fashions of Europe. Not all of the lace labelled as ‘Brussels’ comes from that area, the name has been given as a type rather than a source and there are many types of lace under that name. Because of the quality and the standard of the linen used, Belgian lace was one of the last types of lace to be imitated in the 19th century by mass production machinery. Because of the close chain stitch evident in this piece, a Cornelly machine may have been used to embroider this design onto machine made net.Churchill Island has a large lace collection, which was added to by three successive generations of the Amess family - Jane, Janet, and Unity. The Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929. Jane was wife of Samuel Amess, who was the first Samuel Amess to own Churchill Island. The examples of lace are notable for their variety, and provide respresentative examples of techniques from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Length of lace trim, with finely worked sprays of flowers intertwined with foliage and abstracted branches.Package with note "LIMERICK LACE TRIMMINGS"lace, janet amess lace collection, churchill island, amess, trim

At 38.8cm on its widest edge this delicate lace collar would sit nicely across the shoulders with the collar points extending approximately 10cm onto the bodice. It is a fine example of hand embroidered Limerick lace and the variety of stitches used is clear to see. Limerick lace originated in Ireland with tambour lace which was applied on to net using a very fine hook with chain stitch. A later development was run lace where the design was marked out on net using a needle with cotton thread. The design was then filled using darning and decorative stitches. The darning and buttonhole stitches are quite obvious in this piece. According to the British lace historian, Pat Earnshaw, there was one Limerick lace collar that was decorated using 47 different filling stitches. In addition, needlerun forms were often combined with tamboured outlines to add further contrast.Churchill Island has a large lace collection, which was added to by three successive generations of the Amess family - Jane, Janet, and Unity. The Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929. Jane was wife of Samuel Amess, who was the first Samuel Amess to own Churchill Island. The examples of lace are notable for their variety, and provide respresentative examples of techniques from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Hand embroidered Limerick lace collar, with three straight edges trimmed with an oval motif, and a fourth semi-circular with simple reinforcement.Packaged with note: "Limerick Lace Collar"lace, churchill island, janet amess lace collection, limerick, collar, clothing, amess

Fichu is a term used replacing the kerchief or neckerchief and comes from the French. It was worn over the shoulders to preserve modesty for low necklines or to conceal the bodice hooks or laces used for closing. This hand-made Maltese lace fichu is exquisitely worked in silk. Judging by the photos provided it is quite large and would possible used to cover evening décolletage. It appears to be around 30cm in width and about 70cm in length and being silk would be quite warm for the lady wearing it and indicate social status and wealth. Maltese lace became very popular after being displayed at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. It began as a needle lace but Lady Hamilton Chichester imported lace makers from Genoa in the mid 1800s and converted the needle lace patterns to be worked on bobbins which made it quicker. The lace is worked on long thin lace pillows and usually includes the 8 pointed Maltese Cross in the pattern, it is made in narrow widths which are sewn together to make bigger pieces such as in this fichu. Another feature of Maltese lace is the “wheat ears” or in this case petals made of plaits or tallies. There is so much work in this piece as all of the flowers are worked so close together that they appear to be solid fabricThe Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929. This lace collection was owned and contributed to by four generations of Amess womenBobbin silk Maltese silk bobbin lace 6 petal tallies. Lace fichupackaged with note "Fichu Maltese Lace c 1865"janet amess lace collection, lace, churchill island, janet, amess, bobbin, maltese, silk, embroidery

This lace front is another example of Pusher lace using matte black silk called grenadine. The head opening has yet to be cut out and the panel itself was most likely made for a specific garment possibly in a contrasting paler colour to show off the leafy pattern The Pusher machine is a variation of Heathcoat’s Bobbinet machine and was so called for the rods which pushed the carriages through the machine. There appears to be an outline on the leaves which would have had to be worked either by hand or by embroidery machine.Churchill Island has a large lace collection, which was added to by three successive generations of the Amess family - Jane, Janet, and Unity. The Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929. Jane was wife of Samuel Amess, who was the first Samuel Amess to own Churchill Island. The examples of lace are notable for their variety, and provide respresentative examples of techniques from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Rectangular section of lace with intricate leaf design and a matte circular section. Designs are reinforced with multiple layers of stitching.Packaged with note: "Black lace "Front" with neckline hole"churchill island, lace, janet amess lace collection, amess, machine

A mob cap was worn over the hair when indoors working and a hat could be placed over it when going outdoors. It was quite reasonable to receive visitors while wearing a mob cap. This cap has been labelled as a ‘boudoir’ cap to be worn over curlers or to keep a lady’s hair in place overnight. It is made of cotton and has beautiful torchon lace inserts with the same lace trim around the edge. This torchon lace is a handmade bobbin lace using soft cotton thread.in a simple design of filled diamonds alternating with spiders. These caps were worn by women in Georgian times and called a ‘bonnet’. The term ‘mobcap’ may have come from the Dutch or French languages but the name was cemented during the French Revolution when most of the revolutionary women were wearing these caps. During the Victorian era they were mostly worn by servants or nurses.Churchill Island has a large lace collection, which was added to by three successive generations of the Amess family - Jane, Janet, and Unity. The Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929. Jane was wife of Samuel Amess, who was the first Samuel Amess to own Churchill Island. The examples of lace are notable for their variety, and provide respresentative examples of techniques from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. white cotton mob cap, with central lace section in the form of a crossPackaged with note: "White cotton handmade lace mob cap"lace, lace collection, churchill island

This is an elegant chemise formerly owned by the grandmother of Mrs Janet Amess and dated approximately 1850. It is made of Limerick lace embroidered on to square net (which is now unprocurable) and it opens at the front. The chemise was an undergarment worn against the skin and underneath the corset therefore fine fabrics were favoured. Limerick lace originated in Ireland with tambour lace which was applied on to net using a very fine hook with chain stitch. A later development was run lace where the design was marked out on net using a needle with cotton thread. The design was then filled using darning and decorative stitches. The Limerick lace industry began in the Irish city of Limerick and blossomed in the first Golden Age of Irish lace making (1820 – 1860) before the onset of the depression and the Potato Famine. The handwritten note included with this garment clearly illustrates their ongoing interest and the value that the Amess ladies placed upon the history of lace garments.Churchill Island has a large lace collection, which was added to by three successive generations of the Amess family - Jane, Janet, and Unity. The Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929. Jane was wife of Samuel Amess, who was the first Samuel Amess to own Churchill Island. The examples of lace are notable for their variety, and provide respresentative examples of techniques from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries.Limerick lace, open at front. Square net.Packed with note"Real Limerick Lace undergarment" and two notes in Janet Amess' writing see 0036lace, churchill island, janet amess lace collection, limerick, square net, amess, garment, undergarment, clothing

Another delicate item, this bed jacket has been made with machine made cotton net which has seams joined with bobbin tape. The hand appliqued motifs on the back of the jacket are possibly Princess lace which is a type of tape lace made in Belgium in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There are two types of Princess lace, one is where the tape shapes are sewn on to net and the other is where the shapes are linked together to form a type of guipure lace. This could be an example of the former known as an applique lace. Unfortunately one of the cuffs has become detached. Packaged with note: "Limerick lace bed jacket Janet Amess 1860 from Kel Bright collection with separated cuff" Packaged with note: "Machined lace bed jacket. Janet Amess 1860The Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929. This lace collection was owned and contributed to by four generations of Amess women.Motifs hand sewn on to machined net; bobbin tape on seams (NGV) Princess machine lace machine made motifs hand-applied Packaged with note: "Machined lace bed jacket. Janet Amess 1860. From Kel Bright Collection with separated cuff".janet amess lace collection, lace, churchill island, janet, amess, bed, jacket, garment, clothing, hand, sewn, bobbin, machine

Lace doily owned by a member of the Piesse family of Kew. Later owned by Margaret Hollis (nee Piesse) of Castlemaine.Lace doilylace, doilies

At just 21cm in length and 27.5cm wide these machine lace pieces are most likely a sampler. Four of the pieces are insertion pieces, and the last is an edging piece. These samplers made ordering much more satisfactory than ordering from a catalogue. The Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929. This lace collection was owned and contributed to by four generations of Amess women.Machine embroidery Noten packaged with panel "scraps of lace found jumbled in with this collection"janet amess lace collection, lace, churchill island, embroidery, panel, amess

This narrow (3.3cm) piece may have been used to embellish the bodice or the waistline of a garment. Chemical lace is a late 19th century form of machine lace made by embroidering the lace pattern onto a sacrificial fabric which has been chemically treated to dissolve when immersed in a solution which will not harm the lace. However, the composition of the solution was not environmentally friendly so this method of lace making has all but disappeared in many countries. Chemical lace can be distinguished from needle lace by a slight fuzziness of the embroidered threadsThe Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929. This lace collection was owned and contributed to by four generations of Amess women, see above.Narrow length of chemical lace janet amess lace collection, lace, churchill island, chemical, amess

Lace tablecloth owned by a member of the Piesse family of Kew. Later owned by Margaret Hollis (nee Piesse) of Castlemaine.Square linen tablecloth bordered with a wide band of machine-made lace.tablecloths, lace

This unusual lace is a chemical lace most likely produced on a Schiffli machine. Chemical lace which is sometimes referred to as Schiffli lace is a form of machine made lace. The design is embroidered on to a sacrificial fabric which has been treated to disintegrate or dissolve away leaving the delicate pattern seen here. This design is somewhat like a miniature Tudor design and is quite delicate and decorative. Schiffli machines came into use in the late 19th century and nowadays the lace is made on a multi head or multi needle Schiffli machine. The pattern is designed to form a series of interlocking threads that can stand alone when the sacrificial fabric has been removed. This lace would make an elegant edging to a collar or cuffs among many other uses.The Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929. This lace collection was owned and contributed to by four generations of Amess women.Chemical lace in a miniature Tudor stylejanet amess lace collection, lace, churchill island, chemical

The Fashion & Design collection of Kew Historical Society includes examples of textiles dating from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Some of the textiles, were used as items of clothing, others as items of household decoration, or simply as travel souvenirs. These textiles were created both domestically and internationally. Predictably with the growth of an ethnically and culturally more diverse community in Kew after the Second World War, textiles, clothing and objects in the collection inevitably reflected this diversity. This form of bobbin lace is made in Malta. It is a guipure style of lace. Maltese lace is worked as a continuous width tape lace on a tall, thin, upright lace pillow called a "Trajbu" and the Bobbins are called "Combini" . Bigger pieces are made of two or more parts sewn together. Lace made in Malta was originally needle lace, from the 16th to the 19th century, when the economic depression in the islands nearly led to the extinction of lacemaking there. But in the mid 1800s, Lady Hamilton Chichester sent lacemakers from Genoa to Malta. They used the old needle lace patterns and turned them into bobbin lace, which was quicker. It was not long after its introduction that the Maltese lace developed its own style from Genoese lace. Maltese lace was shown at The Great Exhibition of 1851 and it became popular in Britain. The style was copied by lacemakers in the English Midlands, and it was one of the sources for Bedfordshire lace. Maltese lace usually has the following characteristics which are useful for identification: It is usually made from cream silk. There is often the 8 pointed Maltese cross as part of the pattern, worked in whole or cloth stitch.The pattern may also have closely worked leaves known as “wheat ears” or “oats”. These are plump and rounded in shape, rather than the long narrow leaves of other types of bobbin lace. Maltese lace edging. It shows the Wheat ears, characteristic of Maltese lacelace, maltese lace, lace tape

This piece is amachine made copy of Valenciennes bobbin lace with many-legged spiders and a simple oval and circle pattern. Again it is worth noting that hand-made Valenciennes lace was very costly and time consuming (e.g., a pair of ruffles valued at £160 would take the lace maker ten months of fifteen hour days to complete) therefore the advent of machine made copies was welcomed although the Barmen made lace was more expensive that that made on the Leavers machine. Valenciennes was a lace making town on the French- Flemish border which in 1780 had 4000 lace makers but due to the revolution of 1789 the number was reduced to 250. It was initially Flemish but was claimed by the French, however the centre for Valenciennes lace eventually diverted back to Ghent and Ypres in Belgium. Due to its lightness and neatness Valenciennes lace, although very expensive was simpler to produce than Mechlin lace, and was never used for expensive garments. Instead it was applied to bed linen, lingerie, and the fichu (a woman's scarf wrapped over the shoulders and fastened in front).This lace was favoured by Queen Victoria, the Empress Eugenie and others as a trim on undergarments. The basic undergarments were stays, shift (smock, chemise or shirt), petticoat and drawers although drawers were not in general use until the mid-19th century when the tendency of the fashionable crinoline to become airborne or to tilt itself at embarrassing angles made a covering garment for the nether regions essential. Drawers were just two cylinders for the legs, joined at the waist with the lower ends frilled or trimmed with lace.Churchill Island has a large lace collection, which was added to by three successive generations of the Amess family - Jane, Janet, and Unity. The Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929. Jane was wife of Samuel Amess, who was the first Samuel Amess to own Churchill Island. The examples of lace are notable for their variety, and provide representative examples of techniques from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Machine made Valenciennes lacejanet amess lace collection, lace, churchill island, amess, machine

This elegant lace is machine made with a spotted background above a floral pattern. It is reminiscent of a fine needlepoint lace. This type of lace remained popular into the 20th century being used mainly to decorate women’s clothing. Due to its open appearance it was used to embellish and be worn over clothing of a different colour.The Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929machine made lace spotted and floral pattern same as 0005.1churchill island, lace, janet amess, lace collection

Here we have a delicate example of chemical lace which is 7.6cm x 48cm. This is an interesting method of lace making where the lace is embroidered onto a sacrificial fabric which has been treated (initially chemically treated) to dissolve in a chemical solution on completion without damaging the lace. The chemicals used were not environmentally friendly and consequently this method of lace making has developed to use water soluble base fabrics or fabrics which will disintegrate with the application of heat. A remnant of the sacrificial fabric can be seen on the top of this piece. Originally chemical lace was made on a home embroidery machine but is now also known as Schiffli Lace and made on a Schiffli machine. This machine was invented by Isaak Grobli in 1863 using the same principles as the newly invented sewing machine except that the bobbin of the sewing machine was replaced by a shuttle shaped like the hull of a sail boat, hence the name ‘schiffli’ which means ‘little boat’ in Swiss-German. The Schiffli machine uses two threads and makes a stitch similar to a closely spaced zigzag stitch on a domestic sewing machine. Over time the number of needles and shuttles increased until the present day when some machines can be up to 18 metres in length and use over a thousand needles. Previously the pattern was followed by hand using a pantograph arm where the operator followed the design pattern but the development of computer technology has meant that software designed to drive Schiffli machines can now create a wide variety of stitches and lace designs. The Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929. This lace collection was owned and contributed to by three generations of Amess women - Jane, Janet and Unity (Bright - donor). Jane was wife of Samuel Amess, first Samuel Amess to own Churchill Island.Length of lace trimPackage contains note: FICCHU c1860/70 (hand made) [not associated with this item]churchill island, lace, janet amess lace collection, amess, trim

This is a broad (6.5cm) machine made lace with an undulating garland pattern for a length of 93cm. Lace was always an expensive luxury item and was time consuming in its manufacture. With the advent of machine made net in 1809 and the eventual development of more detailed machine made lace, which by 1870 could imitate all types of handmade lace, it could be made much more quickly and in larger quantities and was therefore cheaper and more accessible to everyone. This piece resembles a fine needlepoint lace such as Alençon. The Amess family owned Churchill Island from 1872 to 1929 Broad machine made lace trim with wavy patternchurchill island, lace, janet amess lace collection, amess, trim