Historical information

This beautiful piece has been hand embroidered with coloured thread onto a machine made net. The net would most likely have been made on a stocking frame or Heathcoat’s Bobbinet machine and the intricate handwork appears to be a mixture of needle run and tamboured embroidery. Needle run lace is simply outlined in thread and then filled in by darning and other stitches. Tamboured lace is made with a very fine metal or bone crochet hook making chain stitch with the net stretched out over a frame.

Limerick lace from Ireland is just such a lace where the stitches used on the machine made net vary considerably. According to Pat Earnshaw, a British lace historian, there was one Limerick lace collar that used 47 different filling stitches. The lace industry in Limerick was started by Charles Walker in 1829 when he brought 20 girls from England to set up a lace making school. 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.

This delicate example is from the 1920s and was cut from a larger piece which was most likely attached to an item of sleek underwear.

Significance

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. Jane was wife of Samuel Amess, who was the first Samuel Amess to own Churchill Island.

Physical description

Machine made net with coloured hand embroidery. Cut from larger piece