Part 3

An interesting fact about American lace is that it has been so little commercialized. At Ipswich “Aunt Mollie” Caldwell called once a week at the houses where the pillow lace was made, took it to Boston by stagecoach, and brought back the tea, coffee, sugar, French calico, etc., needed by the makers; but the lace-bark tree grew at its own sweet will in Jamaica, the Indians made their lace for use or adornment when the spirit moved them, and in the intervals of hard household work our young women relieved the pressure by making for their own or a friend’s costume, or for decoration, some dainty bit of lace or embroidery not to be bought in shops. (It has been impossible to refrain from adding samples of embroidery to the lace selected for illustration, as the two have been so much combined.) The same spirit has presided over American lace-making to this day.

An excellent further illustration of the principles in which the American lace-makers of many years ago were trained is to be found in a set of six little manuals for all kinds of needlework, published in New York in 1843:

_J. S. Redfield, Clinton Hall, Corner of Nassau and Beekman streets. Publishes, and has for sale, wholesale and retail, the following popular books_:

LADIES’ HAND-BOOKS.

A series of hand-books for Ladies, edited by an American Lady—elegantly bound with fancy covers and gilt edges. Imperial 32mo.

No. 1. Baby Linen—Containing Plain and Ample Instructions for the preparation of an Infant’s Wardrobe; with engraved patterns.

“Indispensable to the young wife.”—_World of Fashion._

No. 2. Plain Needlework—Containing Clear and Ample Instructions whereby to attain proficiency in every department of this most Useful Employment; with engravings.

“It should be read by every housekeeper, and is highly useful to the single lady.”—_Ladies’ Court Circular._

No. 3. Fancy Needlework and Embroidery—Containing Plain and Ample Directions whereby to become a perfect Mistress of those delightful Arts; with engravings.

“The directions are plain and concise, and we can honestly recommend the volume to every reader.”—_New La Belle Assemblee._

No. 4. Knitting, Netting, & Crochet—Containing Plain Directions by which to become proficient in those branches of Useful and Ornamental Employment; with engravings.

“A more useful work can hardly be desired.”—_Court Gazette._

No. 5. Embroidery on Muslin and Lacework, and Tatting—Containing Plain Directions for the Working of Leaves, Flowers, and other Ornamental Devices; fully illustrated by Engravings.

“It should find its way into every female school.”—_Gazette of Education._

No. 6. Millinery and Dressmaking—Containing Plain Instructions for making the most useful Articles of Dress and Attire; with engraved patterns.

“In this age of economy, we are glad to welcome this practical book.”—_La Belle Assemblee._

The first volume opens with a rhapsody on the birth of an infant, followed by minute directions for the cutting and making of its little garments. In the next volume, on “The Art of Plain Needlework,” we find an

INTRODUCTION:

To become an expert needle-woman should be an object of ambition to every lady. Never is beauty and feminine grace so attractive as when engaged in the honorable discharge of household duties and domestic cares. The subject treated of in this little manual is one of vast importance, and to which we are indebted for a large amount of the comforts we enjoy; as without its aid we should be reduced to a state of misery and destitution, of which it is hardly possible to form an adequate conception. To learn, then, how to fabricate articles of dress and utility for family use, or, in the case of ladies blessed with the means of affluence, for the aid and comfort of the deserving poor, should form one of the most prominent branches of female education. And yet experience must have convinced those who are at all conversant with the general state of society, that it is a branch of study to which nothing like due attention is paid in the usual routine of school instruction. The effects of this are often painfully apparent in after life, when, from a variety of circumstances, such knowledge would be of the highest advantage, and subservient to the noblest ends, either of domestic comfort or of active benevolence.

The records of history inform us of the high antiquity of the art of needlework, and its beautiful mysteries were among the earliest developments of female taste and ingenuity. As civilization increased, new wants called forth new exertions: the loom poured forth its multifarious materials, and the needle, with its accompanying implements, gave form and utility to the fabrics submitted to its operations. No one can look upon the NEEDLE without emotion: it is a constant companion throughout the pilgrimage of life. We find it the first instrument of use placed in the hand of budding childhood, and it is found to retain its usefulness and charm even when trembling in the grasp of fast declining age....

In the first chapter of the same volume we read:

To secure economy of time, labor, and expense ... the lady who intends to engage in the domestic employment of preparing the linen necessary for personal and family use, should be careful to have all her materials ready ... before commencing work. The materials are ... well known.... We shall therefore proceed at once to give plain directions by which any lady may soon become expert in this necessary department of household uses, merely observing, that a neat work-box well supplied ... should be provided, and ... furnished with a lock and key....

The lady being thus provided, and having her materials, implements, &c., placed in order upon her work-table, to the edge of which, it is an advantage to have a pincushion affixed by means of a screw, may commence her work, and proceed with it with pleasure to herself, and without annoyance to any visiter [_sic_] who may favor her with a call. We would recommend, wherever practicable, that the work-table should be made of cedar, and that the windows of the working parlor should open into a garden, well supplied with odoriferous flowers and plants, the perfume of which, will materially cheer the spirits of those especially whose circumstances compel them to devote the greatest portion of their time to sedentary occupations. If these advantages can not be obtained, at least the room should be well ventilated, and furnished with a few cheerful plants, and a well-filled scent-jar.

These suggestions are followed by directions for making underclothes and bed linen and by pictures of various stitches, so carefully described as to be quite clear to anyone. There follows the

CONCLUSION:

The space already occupied leaves us but little opportunity for concluding remarks: but we can not dismiss the little manual we have thus prepared, without a word or two to our fair countrywomen, on the importance of a general and somewhat extensive acquaintance with these arts, in which so much of the comfort of individual and domestic life depends. Economy of time, labor, and expense, is an essential requisite in every family, and will ever claim a due share of attention from her who is desirous of fulfilling, with credit to herself and advantage to others, the allotted duties of her appointed station. To those who are at the head of the majority of families, an extensive knowledge of the various departments of plain needlework is indispensable. The means placed at their disposal are limited—in many instances extremely so; and to make the most of these means, generally provided by the continual care and unremitting attention of the father and the husband, is a sacred duty, which can not be violated without the entailment of consequences which every well-regulated mind must be anxious to avoid....

Volume 3, on “Fancy Needlework,” contains in the fourth chapter the following injunction, an evidence of the honesty of feeling of the time:

In working a landscape, some recommend the placing behind the canvass [_sic_] a painted sky, to avoid the trouble of working one. As a compliance with such advice would tend to foster habits of idleness and deception, and thus weaken that sense of moral propriety which should, in all we do, be ever present with us, as well as destroy that nice sense of honor and sincerity which flies from every species of deceit, we hope the fair votaries of this delightful art will reject the suggestion with the contempt it merits.

In Volume 5, “Embroidery on Muslin,” we are given directions for all kinds of embroidery, including that on net. The directions last named read in part:

This is the most difficult and delicate, but at the same time, the most beautiful of all white embroidery.

... The designs can be varied, and we strongly advise all who have a taste for drawing, to improve it by designing new and elegant combinations; they will thus be perfecting themselves in the art of design, while they are adding additional attractions to the elegant ornaments of attire.

[Another method of executing designs on net is] by sewing round the edges of each leaf, &c., in glazed cotton, and on the inside of each, darning with fine cotton, doubled, leaving the centre of the flower vacant, which is afterward to be worked in herring-bone stitch, extending from one side to the other. Sometimes, instead of darning, the leaves are worked in chain stitch, which is done in rows to the extremity of the leaf, &c., and the cotton is turned back, and the process is repeated, until the whole space is occupied.... One beautiful variety is formed by filling up the centres of flowers with insertion stitch.

Then follow directions for making bobbin lace. And finally, in the Conclusion, we read:

In the foregoing pages we have endeavored to impart a knowledge of one other branch of those interesting and delightful occupations, in which female activity and skill appear so preeminently beautiful; and we trust we have succeeded in rendering our description so clear and lucid, as to preclude any serious danger of their being mistaken. We hear much in the stories of the olden time, of the potency of the magician’s wand, but it would be indeed presumption to affirm, that any magic ever exercised a more potent sway over trembling nations, than the apparently insignificant needle has exercised, and does exercise, over the most cherished interests of civilized man. As the compass has conducted, by its mysterious influence, the bewildered mariner to the port of safety; so the needle, under the guidance of female skill and affection, has ever been the pole-star of human hopes; and its important fabrications have, in all ages, led the way to increased civilization, assurance, and happiness. With such a fact before us, who would not breathe the wish, that the influence of female skill and taste might be still more widely extended, and that fairy fingers might still guide the mighty helm, which is to direct the storm-tossed vessel of society into a haven of plenty, security, and peace.

In the sixth and last volume are given directions for millinery and dressmaking, from which we quote as follows:

CONCLUSION.

In the foregoing pages, we have imbodied, in a concise but intelligible form, a mass of information, which experience and observation have convinced us was much needed by thousands and tens of thousands of those who are the glory of the land that gave them birth, and who, amid their scanty and limited means, are most laudably ambitious to appear, in the truest sense of the word, respectable. To those, and to the affectionate mothers and devoted wives, who are anxious to make the most of the means placed at their disposal, we trust that our labor, and it has been truly a “labor of love,” will prove an acceptable offering....

In whatever light we view it, the needle is an object of the most fascinating character. It is a home friend; and while it confers upon us all unnumbered blessings, it is a source both of utility and pleasure, that is within the reach of all. In joy and in sorrow, in health and in sickness, in life and in death, it is our companion, our solace, and our helper. Thus, ever ready to obey our guiding will, let us be sure to profit by its silent but eloquent instructions. As the needle turns not to the right hand or the left from the occupation assigned, so let us pursue, with undeviating footsteps, the appointed path of duty; and as it ever points with strict fidelity to the attracting magnet, so let us in all our works, whether useful or ornamental, turn to HIM “in whom we live, and move, and have our being.”

There is something calculated to afford high delight to the heart which expands at the prospect of any increase in the sum of human happiness, in the fact that, since the commencement of the present century, much more attention has been paid to the subject of dress, by the mass of society, than had been previously bestowed upon it. This is one of the most favorable signs of the times, since it is closely, and in some respects inseparably, connected with the elevation of the mental standard, and the development of those higher powers by which human nature is so prominently distinguished above the animal creation. No one who has paid the least attention to the subject can doubt, for a moment, the close alliance which subsists between the honest pride of appearance and the desire to secure the highest attainable amount of intellectual culture and improvement; and no one really possessing a heart can refuse to rejoice in this undeniable mark of general progression. We are sensible, that if not under proper guidance, this desire to attain a more respectable and elevated position in society may degenerate into a mere love of show and finery. But we are disposed to look on the bright side of things, and to come to the conclusion that elements are now at work which will produce not only a refined and elevated taste, but a correct and well-regulated judgment. We consider it the peculiar glory of our age, that woman is acknowledged to be fully capable of, and worthy to share in, the most exalted intellectual pursuits. To her, as well as to the boasted lords of the creation, the treasures of art are freely opened; and she is invited in the society of those most loved, to walk through the glorious paths of knowledge, and to drink with them full draughts from the opened fountains of enlarged information.

To render herself worthy of this her improved and still improving condition, is the duty, and should be the pride, of every female. And when it is considered how much a neat and becoming mode of attire adds to the attractive force of woman’s charms, it will be at once seen, that to attain that object with the least unnecessary sacrifice of time, labor, and expense, is a matter of no mean consideration; and that any effort tending to this end, however humble, is deserving of the countenance and encouragement of all who are desirous of co-operating in the designs of the benevolent Creator, and who, recollecting that He himself has declared that “it is not good for man to be alone,” are desirous of investing the fair forms of those intended for our comfort and delight with every personal and mental excellence, calculated to render them worthy of the highest esteem and most devoted affection of the wise, good, and accomplished among mankind.

These quotations taken from writings of the time give something of the characteristics and surroundings of the young women who made the laces of the colonies and of the early 19th century. The surroundings were unusual, and the results in lace compare favorably with those in the silver and furniture of the same period.

That lace-making in America attained an artistic excellence realized by few is conclusively proved by the illustrations which follow.

_PLATES_