Historical information

At 11cm in width, this lavishly embroidered lace would have been used as a trim or an insertion piece for evening wear, perhaps as a trim on the bodice of an off the shoulder evening gown. It comprises two layers: a strong base possibly machine made and a fine top layer luxuriously embossed with sequins and bugle beads which was possibly done by hand. It appears to have been made using matte black silk which was known as grenadine and used on the Pusher machine which could only make the pattern and the net. The outline had to be put in by hand. Nottingham stopped making Pusher lace in the early 20th century but it continued to be made in France.

Significance

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.

Physical description

length of black beaded trim with two layers: machine made lace with hand-stitched overlay of sequins and jet cylindrical beads in abstract designs.

Inscriptions & markings

Packaged with note: "Black beaded trimming (hand beaded)".