When I mention Nottingham England, what comes to mind? I’d hoped you’d say Robin Hood. I’d like to skip forward a few hundred years and share what I know about Nottingham Lace.
To be honest, I was not very familiar with Nottingham Lace–usually when I think of English lace, I mentally default to Battenburg. But I was at a yard sale a few weeks ago (before the craft supply diet started, I promise! I wasn’t cheating!) and I came across a rather interesting lace tablecloth with a ‘made in Great Britain’ tag. The owner told me that she’d purchased the tablecloth from the Nottingham Lace Market while on vacation several years ago. I got a pretty good deal for it, in case you were wondering.
Let’s go back to Robin Hood, since he’s from Nottingham. If we try to be historically accurate, Maid Marian would’ve knitted Robin’s green tights by hand (assuming they both existed). Everyone handmade their own hosiery until 1589 when Reverend William Lee (of Nottingham) invented a machine called the stocking-frame (legends abound as to why he invented the machine; let’s just agree he was awesome and move on). He struggled for the rest of his life to make his machine successful, but was repeatedly denied a patent because the royals were afraid it would jeopardize the hand-knitting industry. Despite his apparent failure, by the end of the century hosiery manufacturing was the primary source of revenue in the city.
As Rev. Lee’s invention spread, the new profession of frame knitting was born, and Nottingham was a central hub for the booming new hosiery industry. Framework knitters generally worked from home and sold their wares to “Bagmen” (named for the bags they used to transport the stockings), who distributed and sold the finished garments.
Handmade lace had been popular for centuries already, and as soon as Mr. Lee’s stockinette machine became popular, lots of inventors were scrambling to find some way to alter Mr. Lee’s design to produce lace. It still took nearly two centuries for any machine worth mentioning to be created.
In the late 1770s, a man named John Rodgers (of Nottingham) modified Mr. Lee’s stockinette machine to create net, which is the foundation to many lace pieces. *I will mention here, that several other men have been credited with this particular modification; but I’ve chosen to name Mr. Rodgers, because he is credited in many more publications than any other individual. My sources do agree that this modification, whoever was responsible for it, was made between 1770 and 1780.*
This modified machine created lace-like pieces, but they were still quite plain–extremely simple net (think tulle). These pieces weren’t finished the second they came off the machine’s pins. The factory machines produced ‘brown net,’ a coarse unfinished structure for lace. A piece was still in ‘raw’ form and had to be washed, bleached, and dyed before going to the consumer. Workers would take the raw net home for processing and would embroider designs by hand onto the net before passing it onto a merchant for distribution and sale.
Because it was based on the stockinette knitting machine, Mr. Rodgers’ machine produced net with open knitted loops, and so the ‘lace’ was not very durable and lost shape easily.
Bobbin lace, which is made by twisting several threads together, is sturdier and will withstand use much better. Twisting thread (bobbin-style) rather than looping it (knitting) had more possibilities for design adaptation as well. Handmade bobbin lace still won out.
John Heathcoat created the first machine capable of duplicating twisted bobbin lace in 1808. Mr. Heathcoat “bobbinet” machine, combined with other enhancements courtesy of the Industrial Revolution, caused Nottingham’s population and industry to explode. People flocked to the city to work, and as the crowds grew, factories, warehouses, and slums sprang up on top of the fleeing gentry’s homes. The lace warehouse district of Nottingham became known as the Lace Market. Oh, boy, did things get interesting fast! Even though Mr. Heathcoat had a patent on his machine until 1823, there was a rush to improve his machine and expand upon his idea.
John Leavers modified Mr. Heathcoat’s machine (but did not market his own machine, as he didn’t want to infringe on Mr. Heathcoat’s patent). For specifics on his modifications, see page 11 of this research book.
John Livesey combined all existing improvements into one super-machine, and in the mid-1800s produced a machine that could legitimately be used in factories to mass-produce lace. Mr. Livesey’s machine was able to adapt to different styles, and allowed more and more elaborate pieces.
To give you some perspective of how brilliant these machines were, the basic motions and methods from Mr. Heathcoat, Leavers, and Livesey’s machines are what we still use today in modern machines.
Well, we’re right at the peak of the Industrial Revolution, which (oddly enough, haha) coincides with the peak of Nottingham lace production, so it seems like a good place to stop for today. I’ll be back later this week with more information on the fantastic history of Nottingham lace!
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