500 Years of Lace History ft. Elena Kanagy-Loux

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In this episode, I interview textile and lace historian Elena Kanagy-Loux, on 500 Years of Lace History, an incredibly exciting and fascinating topic! Elena moves from the 1400s until the 1900s, explaining how lace and lacemaking have evolved and developed throughout the world during those time frames. It was such a pleasure to facilitate this conversation, and I learned so much from listening to Elena and her incredible knowledge about historical fashion and lacemaking.
If you'd like to follow Elena on social media, her channels can be found here:
/ erenanaomi
/ erenanaomi
Thank you so much for watching and see you all in two weeks for another video!
Public domain pattern books for early lacemaking:
archive.org/details/early-mod...
Due to a character count limit, image sources can be found here:
www.vbirchwood.com/sources/50...
#500Yearsof #Lace #HistoricalFashion

[@VBirchwood]

To find out what Dan and Lara found whilst mudlarking and get 50% off your first 3 months of History Hit, be sure to use this link and enter code VBIRCHWOOD at checkout: access.historyhit.com/checkout/subscribe/purchase?code=vbirchwood&plan=monthly Thank you so much to History Hit for sponsoring this video!

[@kirstenpaff8946]

I find it fascinating that lacemaking was spread through books, since it implies a fairly high level of female literacy among the working class.

[@VBirchwood]

Very true!

[@MissingRaptor]

I recall that at some point girls had to go to lace making school to learn lace making during the Victorian/Edwardian eras. I imagine that it was common for them to learn some basic literacy as well.

[@kirstenpaff8946]

@@MissingRaptor Yes, it was definitely common for girls to receive at least a basic education (reading, writing, etc.) at public schools by the late 19th century. I was referring to the part of the video, however, that discussed the spread of lacemaking through books in the 16th and 17th century, a time period when literacy was less common.

[@raquelnunes9793]

@@kirstenpaff8946 i imagine there be also a few learning from the book and then teaching it to others in the community.

[@iwonaluzny4759]

​@@MissingRaptortd

[@b1laxson]

Oh what a tangled weave we weave when first we weave lace

[@Noel.Chmielowiec]

Elena seems like a person who could talk about what she loves for hours, and I could listen to her for said hours. It's fascinating that needle lace evolved from embroidery, as a resource saving technique. I absolutely loved this video, as much as I love wearing lace ❤

[@VBirchwood]

So glad you loved the video! ❤️

[@Noel.Chmielowiec]

​@@VBirchwood In fact it was quite a nice surprise, because earlier I thought about mending my lace dress and there you are with amazing video about lace ❤

[@MaryMangan]

I think she's the top ambassador that we have for lace. She's a powerhouse and deep, besides being incredibly talented at the artwork.

[@maryseman7019]

@@VBirchwood My grandma taught me to shuttle tat. What kind of lace is that?

[@MossyMozart]

@@maryseman7019 - It sounds like "tatting". The shuttle my mother used was made of metal, about 3-1/2 inches long, shaped a bit like an elongated football, with a bobbin that would pop out of the middle where the thread was wound. On the end of the shuttle, there's a hook.

[@marief9858]

I love that she points out there is no way a mother with a home and children and laundry is going to be making lace in her 'off time' even as a modern Mom who wants to learn lace, I'm purposefully waiting until my kids get significantly older before I even attempt it just due to time and not wanting to be mad when my kids try to help me.

[@jrelliott6550]

Just my two cents.... don't wait! If you enjoy it after all, you'll have years of experience at that point. You'll always be able to find 5 minutes here and there to make a stitch, and when the house is empty and quiet you can dedicate all the time to creating.

[@marief9858]

@@jrelliott6550 I do agree with you! I work full time often traveling so I prioritize my hobbies off of ones that the kids either enjoy being involved with or enjoy the final product of (the love sewing with me and picking out costumes or patterns for clothes, and the like the little crochet characters we make together) that is why I say something like lace making they aren't interested in so I can wait to do that when they are doing their own thing and don't want as much time with Mom and I'm not chasing / ferrying them around as much! Who knows maybe when they reach highschool they might be more interested in lace making with me!

[@saraa3418]

I started knitting as a way to craft safely around my kids when they were little. It wasn't mentioned in the video, but knitted lace exists and can be as simple or complicated as you want. I've knitted toys, clothes, accessories, and doll clothes for my kids and they wear them happily until they fall apart.

[@marief9858]

@@saraa3418 I do crochet lace as well, I can't wait to learn tatting though!

[@ragnkja]

@@marief9858 Tatting is a very nice and compact hobby that can be done in quite small increments. A ring now, a chain then, and it all adds up, and each tiny element can be made in just a couple of minutes.

[@cindyfrye3026]

I'm surprised that knitted lace was not covered. Shetland lace is beautiful and struggling to be passed on to younger generations. Queen Victoria started the interest in it originally.

[@craftinghome]

My great grandmother used to make a bit of extra household income from supplying knitted lace to the local haberdashery. Apparently she didn't refer to any patterns, she'd learned them and kept all the information in her head, so she could produce yards and yards of it.

[@cindyfrye3026]

@@craftinghome My Aunt makes knitted baby blankets, kitchen washcloths and hand towel sets, and other stuff for the annual church auction fund raiser. A lot of times, she just makes it up as she goes along. I bet your great grandmother did some of that too.

[@afafaakaka562]

There are also traditional knitted Orenburg lace shawls made out of goat down. A full size one, which I guess is about 1*1 meter in size, is so thin and delicate it can be pulled through a wedding band

[@MijnWolden]

I find it heartbreaking as a Flemish spinner and crafter that we had such highstanding textile industry, both our lace industry and wool industry, that also produced super luxurious cloth sold all over the world, and now it is practically non-existent. Lace is made as a tourist trap in Brussels and Bruges mostly now...

[@VBirchwood]

It’s definitely extremely heartbreaking. I hope efforts for it to be revived continue.

[@Jo-Anne.Clarke]

Is anyone familiar with the term Flemish Fingertip Lace? A grandmother born at the turn of the century in now Belgium, would not teach it to my friend, her granddaughter. Her rationale was very personal. If you don’t know it, you’ll never be able to earn a living by it. I’ve searched Fingertip Lace and have never found the term. My friend was born in Belgium during WWII.

[@belleplummer2924]

I had the privilege of attending a demonstration of bobbin kace making by an elder Flemish woman who Saud that she learned the craft from her family's servant and had to practice on the sly as her mother thought this activity was not for well-off girls from good families.

[@simpleshoes]

My great aunt who was born in Belgium and emigrated to Canada could make lovely bobbin lace. I always wanted to learn how to do it from her but never found the time and I really regret it.

[@mariakjartansdottir3135]

My grandmother was going to teach me bobbin lace making, but we didn't find time to do it. It's still on my list to learn and I still have some very old supplies from my grandmother ❤

[@joccoakirkpatrick2183]

I did not think I'd spend an hour learning about lace, but this was really cool

[@VBirchwood]

A pleasant surprise! 🥰

[@user-by2nu5bb1y]

Absolutely fascinating. Of particular interest to me was the economic effect on women, positive & negative. Convents were a perfect example of both...a huge number of women were incarcerated in convents for lack of sufficient marriage dowry, but without that available option...tragic.

[@joannebishop3295]

Her enthusiasm is contagious!

[@therewillbecatswithgwenhwyfar]

I do NOT need another hobby! I do NOT need another hobby! I do NOT need another hobby!

[@EmilyKresl]

But the sounds of the bobbins clacking is so soothing 😂

[@janetgies8698]

I have longed for this Lace History Lesson for 40 years. I will be watching this again and sending it to the ladies in my Antiques Club. ❤😂🎉. She speaks so well! 👏🏻🤍

[@moniqueleigh]

As someone who's been making lace regularly since at least 2001, I'm so sorry that she had difficulty finding the various websites that shared techniques and patterns back then. I know when I first tried to learn tatting (around 1998-ish), it was very difficult to find anything online at first (and all I had to learn were some.... rather poor illustrations). Within a couple of years, I had found several forums and email lists of tatters and other lace-makers who helped me figure out what I was doing wrong. And LOTS of videos, which were invaluable! By 2004, at least, websites with patterns were starting to pick up and be found by search engines even if you weren't a member of the forums. I still need to find a few extra hours/weeks/years to learn ALL THE TECHNIQUES! lol - 'Til then, I'll just have to enjoy my tatting, knitting, & occasional crochet.

[@maryannraley]

I learned to tat in the mid-80's, but was taught by a friend. There was an American magazine called "The Workbasket" published starting in the 1930's that had tatting patterns. It's now available on line in one of the pattern archives. I have some of my great-grandmother's tatting, made from thread almost as fine as sewing thread. I aspire to manage that.

[@VioletFem]

I love Elena!!!! So glad you interviewed her.

[@VBirchwood]

She's amazing! ❤

[@AshLG]

Usually I have videos like this on in the background while I'm doing something else, but there was so much incredible information that I had to give it my full attention! I love Elena's work and it was incredible to hear her speak in so much detail

[@VBirchwood]

So glad you enjoyed it Ash! I felt really captivated by everything Elena was saying too and had hoped others would feel the same! ❤️

[@kerriemckinstry-jett8625]

Awesome educational video! Thank you. I'm one of those weird people who likes knitting lace more than pretty much any other kind of knitting. I love using size 0, 00, or 000 needles and crochet thread to create elaborate lace doilies. One of my grandmothers used to crochet doilies. Not many people use them these days. I love seeing how people use lace in clothing, though. 😊

[@SimpleDesertRose]

Sorry I'm late for the party, youtube failed to notify me and I was off on my weeks. However I did get a lot out of this video! Elena is such a wealth of knowledge. My danish great grandmother used to do some amazing needle lace. After this video it makes so much more sense now about the story that her family sold lace to pay for their passage to America right around the time she was born in the late 1890's. She taught her daughter and tried to teach her granddaughters as well, but they never had any desire to do anything with it. There were other things that are now considered crafts that she tried to teach them they they had no intrest in either. By that time, the world had changed and didn't appreciate things like lace as it did back in my great grandmother's day. She used to knit and crochet too but today we only have a few throw blankets that she made that survive. At the time they were customers made knock offs of what was popular at the time that she could still make with her arthritic hands. Sadly she didn't live long enough to teach me anything. She tried to teach my mom to knit and crochet but my mom never had any intrest. It saddens me to think of all that was lost to history not only with the passing of my great grandmother but all the unnamed women throughout history who had this unique skill that was such a big part of history at one time. However, it's also good to see that people are striving to bring the quality handmade items back. I guess you could say that it's sort of a renaissance of these skills if you will. Than you so much for having these 500 years videos. They have been so informative!

[@lysem4392]

Same here, in a way. My paternal grandmother knew how to spin wool, and I would have been thrilled to learn! I'm sure she would have been doubly thrilled to show me, but my mother did not even want me to ask my grandmother. She didn't want me to "bother" her. I still regret this opportunity passed by both my grandmother and myself.

[@iainmc9859]

Fascinating. There are certain crafts/livelihoods that have a level of commitment and intricacy that deserve more recognition, lace making, dry stone walling, miniature painting to name but a few. Tying my own laces is a mental stretch for me some mornings 🤔

[@MossyMozart]

@Iain Mc - I know exactly what you mean!

[@karladenton5034]

Excellent interview and a very knowledgeable guest! I know that there's no way to even briefly mention every technique in an hour long lecture, but I'd like to give a shout out to knitted lace. The famous Shetland 'ring' shawls are on my 'bucket list' goals as a knitter.

[@vincentbriggs1780]

That was fascinating! I don't know much at all about lace, and it's wonderful to hear her talk so passionately about it. The steam train lace at 43:40 is SO COOL!!! I also really love the little Paraguayan needle lace circles. The Met has some handkerchiefs made with those, and they're just delightful.

[@lysem4392]

I agree about the lace steam train! Tenerife lace doesn't do it for me, but tastes vary, and that is fine.

[@KateandBree]

I love that Elena shared quotes from a disabled nun. Being disabled myself, I knew a bit about this myself but I loved hearing someone who was abled to talk the practice of aristocrats sending disabled women to convents and this was cruel; it was much kinder than some of the alternatives, but it was still a cruel practice. Before I was born, my mom had the opportunity in Germany to watch some Bamberg (where I was born) tatters tatt some lace. She never saw hands move so fast! My great-aunts could tatt and bobbin lace; I'm sad this wasn't passed down to any of us girls.

[@rudetuesday]

The variety of books over at Internet Archive is so good. I'm spending more time with at least a couple of them. Thanks for this video. I really enjoyed seeing the different types of lace and hearing about materials.

[@VBirchwood]

The variety is really amazing over there, so many priceless resources! Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@laurawilliams7782]

This was very educational. I'd love to learn more about lace traditions outside europe that were mentioned

[@TheGabygael]

as a belgian who had most of his ancestors being weavers and spinners around the kortrijk's region and even a set of great great grandmothers who were lacemakers from antwerp, and as a hobbyist who's become obsessed in linen goods and historical textiles (the movement and drape of most historical textiles was exquisite and it's probably why most reenactors' dress tend to look bland imo) it saddens me to realise that the skills i really want to learn about would have be common less than 200 years ago. I guess i wouldn't want their lives and the price to pay for this knowledge would have been being forced into this trade at a time when it would be not a secure one, but i guess i found what subject i could focus on in my craft and research going forwards. Sucks that i couldn't make those super transluscent flemish linen veils seen in 16th century portraiture

[@ragnkja]

For those finest veils you need spinners who can make the thread to make the lace from.

[@MossyMozart]

@Gabriel Hanssens - I saw a video not long ago about various olden arts. It mentioned the fine linen that was made long past and how there is currently a group of people in India who are trying to revive the flax variety used and to revive the techniques of spinning and weaving with it. It may be a while before this is again re-established (if ever) and will probably be very expensive, but it could be coming in your future.

[@Lara-jp4xk]

I've watched a video about history of lace made in Croatia. One region used agave plant threads for it, and the threads looked way thinner than the ones made of cotton (or linen?).

[@aicirtkciub9167]

I never knew I could watch an hour long video about lace ! Really cool interesting history and beautiful stunning designs. I always wondered about the beautiful lace worn by Elizabeth 1.

[@johnnzboy]

What a pleasure to listen to the knowledgeable Ms Kanagy-Loux.

[@sillybeeful]

My goodness this is a tour de force… what a wealth of eloquent knowledge. Fantastic use of contemporary images as well. Thank you both 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥃🥃🥃

[@The_Crafting_Gamer]

I am a bobbin lace maker from Denmark and we have a lot of history with it

[@prettywiltsforthee4763]

Let me tell you this was amazing! The length intimidated me but time flew by so fast! I actually already knew Elena and followed her on insta after i discovered her work for "Threads of Power" in my reels so this collab took me by extremely pleasant suprise.

[@VBirchwood]

Really glad you enjoyed the video! I debated on releasing such a long video, but had the same feeling that Elena’s words were so riveting that people simply had to hear the entire presentation. Each section carries such a plethora of knowledge.

[@MossyMozart]

@@VBirchwood - And you were correct!

[@soniatriana9091]

What an intriguing & impressive insight into the Lace making history. How sad that parents sent their daughters away to Convents because of the custom of paying dowries for their daughter’s wedding. And to learn that orphanages were owned as a Lace making business!! Thank you Elena! Your passion & extensive knowledge is impressive! It’s nice to know you are much appreciated by the Academic Society!! Bravo to you!! What a beautiful field to study!!

[@lisar9800]

Thank you so much for this interesting video and making clear to me that I can also do bobbin lace. I grew up in a region in Germany, that is also quite known for Bobbin lace, passementerie and wooden Christmas decorations. I began doing it at the age of 6 in primary school and was in an after school club that taught it. There would be three adults who watched over little girls all doing our bobbin lace. Now that I think about it I did soooo many things and I can still do it, even the sing sang to remember the various patterns in which you can make the lace. I never thought of it as special, just some culture thing which I stopped once I went to secondary school. Now that I know that I'll have to ask my mother where my pillow and my pillow stand went, buy some thread and make my own lace I never found on the internet. Thank you so much!

[@enariva669]

Will definitely think of lace differently now, so interesting to hear about the women who made it centuries ago

[@VBirchwood]

Super fascinating, right?

[@anthonygeorge3689]

So, I'm watching this a second time a year later. This was the video that kickstarted my dive into lacemaking, falling in love with the punto in aria at first sight. I went first into crochet, then into knitting, and now *finally* I'm on day four or five of learning punto in aria. It took a whole year to get here, and this video comes back across my feed to remind me where I got started 💜

[@jclark2752]

37:45 Imagine making or wearing a gown So Outstanding that people are Still Marveling at it 300 Years Later!

[@EagleRue]

Makes me want to get my bobbin lace pillow out again and start back!

[@cthulhuhalloween5956]

My great-great grandma, great grandma, grandma, mom, and me crochet/crocheted. It is believed that my great-great grandma learned to crochet by watching her mom. Growing up I was only taught how to chain and “add on”, which I later learned was single crochet. During covid I really focused on and taught myself the stitches and how to crochet various things. At the moment I’m the only one in my family who still crochets.

[@katmandudawn8417]

My college roommate had learned tatting from her grandmother. I don’t know the difference between tatting and lace making but what she did involved bobbins. I inherited a trove of lace from my grandmother, great aunt and great grandmother. The family was wealthy enough to travel to Europe some. I think some of the lace was bought over there. There is one piece that has a fabulous Pan playing his pipes. Most of the lace had been used then salvaged for further use. I used some of the lace to make a lovely christening gown that I dressed 2 of my children in for their baptisms. I wanted to use some of the family lace for the new generation. It doesn’t look like there will be any further generations but I still love how the christening gown turned out and live the connection through the ages. This was very interesting. I am a long time embroiderer myself.

[@s.maskell7134]

Lacemaking was a cash product which was rare in the 'lower classes'. Same with those who plaited straw for hats. Or girls who could make rugs in Persia .Or the production knitters. It made those skilled more valuable.

[@matiasthered]

This episode was so good. I have followed Elena on Instagram for awhile and it was so interesting to listen to her talking about lace. 😊

[@VBirchwood]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@happydays1607]

I am from Czech and learned lacemaking when I was 13 :) .. still have bobbins and sometimes make some samples ...so nice to hear the history in such detail :)

[@claudiaaugusta8453]

I love this wealth of detail information!

[@catherinejustcatherine1778]

What an extensive lecture. Thank you both for putting so much time and effort into this video. Handmade lace is so awe-inspiring.

[@mariellouise1]

When I was at the Victoria and Albert Museum I pulled out drawers of lace but I had to stop because I was swept with a very strange feeling that these represented so much work and distress of the individuals who made them.

[@agnieszkaglowacka3724]

What an excellent and valuable video! Thank you!

[@essiroiha9781]

This was so interesting, thank you! I learned so much.

[@kelkanta]

learning lace history (500 years?! woah) from ms. Elena Kanagy-Loux was awesome! perfect listen while hand stitching lace

[@YasuTaniina]

As an American who has a mom that taught me how to tat, the few people I've met that have even heard of tatting all know that it uses a shuttle and knots. I've never heard anyone use tatting as a general term for lace

[@dt5092]

Fascinating interview and so well produced! I loved the early examples of lace from the Americas.

[@VBirchwood]

Thank you!! It was quite the edit 😅

[@savinathewhite]

I would love to introduce you to the lacemakers in Offida, Italy, who are my friends. Their traditions go back centuries, and the lace is still made today using the patterns from that time period!

[@lacybookworm5039]

What about knitting lace shawls?

[@lindahoward3410]

Shawls were made in Nottingham, many of my ancestors worked in the lace industry and my great great great grandfather designed lace shawls and was quite famous for it at the time.

[@dawsie]

I’m loving the 500 years of history, so glad you have done this subject I just love lace, I have been teaching myself on lace making, at the moment I am working my crochet lace which is a design I made, unlike needle & bobbing lace, I have to follow the rules of crochet but I love the challenge. I have tried tatting but for some reason my fingers turn into all thumbs 😹😹😹and my brain hates it but I love some of the works from tatting, it’s just I’m not able to get my head and hands to work together to make anything in the tatting method 😹😹 when I found crochet lace well I hit the ground running and been loving it since I found it a year ago all because I was looking for lace for a gown I have designed. I found I had to learn how to make my own lace as I just could not find anything I like in a my budget and also made from natural fibers. I found plenty of acrylic, polyester and nylon lace perfect in design but I am making my new clothes from only natural fibers as the man made ones just keeps getting me zapped every time I go to get things of the supermarket shelf or push the buttons for the elevator 😹😹opening doors with metal handles and at the age of 60 and 8 days🙀😹😹 I’m just fed up with it😹😹 I will have to look into some of those online lessons for lace making I just love learning new talents to add to my growing list of skills.

[@jeannegreeneyes1319]

Great interview! Thank you for covering this subject and having Ms. Elena Kanagy-Loux as a speaker. 💗🕸💖

[@kzen9]

This has been the best hour I’ve spent on KZbin in a while! Thank you for this very educational video. I love history & textiles so this was a beautiful combination of those 2 loves ❤. I hope to see more from your channel soon & your expert, Elena, was excellent in instruction as well as in storytelling that brings history to life.

[@aeropsia]

I'm really glad you mentioned how lower class women have always worked both in and out of the home. I hate the stereotype of barefoot women being chained to stoves without any marketable skills. It's just ridiculous.

[@OcarinaSapphr-]

I completely agree. And there's more than enough of a record of the reality there, to push back against inaccuracies & outright falsehoods. The dairy & the stillroom were areas that were traditionally the preserve of women- the former because it was believed men didn't possess 'the temperament' for it (I imagine that changed later on, with industrialisation, but that wouldn't hit until the later 19th c, so 'til then...) & the latter because it involved traditionally 'women's work' - dairy maids were essentially able to 'write their own check', for how in demand they were. Whether you were a farmer's wife, or even the lady of a grand estate- both had a vested interest in making their dairy production as successful as possible, because any profits from it traditionally belonged to the woman of the house- milk, cream, butter (be it 'sweet', ie. fresh, salted, or flavoured with herbs- sage, thyme, or parsley were popular options) cheese- fresh (fresh cheese could also have herbs in it), or aged - that's a lot of potential- to not only feed your family in lean times, but also make decent money- & cheeses could be traded over remarkably large distances, with distinct regional variations. Even better, the design of dairies was such that it kept even temperature year-round, & thus was the best place imaginable to be in, in the heat of summer- & was not necessarily uncomfortably cold, come winter. Stillrooms was where women in the past *really* came into their own- & learning about them, frankly shattered my childish ideas that women (especially noble women) were mostly stuck in the birthing chamber when they weren't cooking or sewing. And I've become somewhat obsessed with them; learning about them also helped to break down other absurdities that I believed, the old myths- you know: how food in the past was bland, rotting, & everyone stank - true, some recipes from the past _could_ be unusual (I've even seen a recipe or two that I couldn't be *_paid_* to eat), & even somewhat monotonous- but they ate seasonally, so while there was something of a regular pattern, you also could have a lot of variance within that; in spring & early summer, there was a ton of greens & dairy to eat- & veal was also on the menu, because they needed to kill a young calf or two for the rennet#, in order to later make cheese- production of which was fully in swing, come summer-proper (the grass actually changed throughout the year, so that impacted on the milk, & thus what they were doing & when). # Vegetarians & vegans might balk at that- there were 'vegetarian options' to use in place of the rennet; lemon juice or nettle juice- but they were not as effective, & might otherwise be considered a false economy- though if you lacked for a calf, they stood available. In spring & summer there was naturally a mass of herbs & flowers to be gathered all season long (& you didn't have to be a great lord with huge amounts of lands to do this; from wild gathering in the hedgerows & moors, to simple cottage gardens) - & along with the fruits & vegetables of the harvest, there was also preserving of the majority of the crops - be it in brine, vinegar, oil, syrup/ sugar (sugar first came to England in the Middle Ages, but was acquired with increasing ease over the course of the 16th & 17th c- 'til its' peak in the 18th & 19th centuries; it had different grades that varied in price & purpose, much as salt* did), honey, & spirit. [plenty of things were also smoked, dried, & salted- this was mostly proteins though] The stillroom was where most of the most expensive items of a household's 'grocery list' were stored (meat was a world unto itself); spices, dried fruit, sugar, & wine- along with aqua vitae & brandy, if one could afford them- most people put a little aside for some luxury, come the Christmas season- which lasted from Christmas Eve, until 12th Night. Servants rarely entered it - except to perhaps grind spices or sugar- or be doled out only that which was needful for a recipe, under the watchful eye of the lady of the house. And what's so fascinating about the stillroom is: part-kitchen adjunct, part-science lab; in ages when most women were rarely considered intelligent enough for 'proper' education & denied so many opportunities we modern women often take for granted - it was where the women of the house crafted & recorded blends for things like perfumes & other toilet articles, medicines, various kinds of cleaners, & items like furniture polish, potpourri- both wet & dry (the latter's more known to us in the modern day- but wet potpourri can apparently last up to two years, provided it's sealed when not in use) & pomanders- to say nothing of the cordials, liquors & liqueurs (courtesy of an alembic), confections & preserves that gave the space its' name - in an age before the availability of things like commercially available cleaners, pre-prepared goods & more- it's hard to imagine that this cherished women's space _wasn't_ worth its' weight in gold. The Renaissance, Tudor, Elizabethan, Jacobean, Stuart, & Georgian wife & women of the house could while away many an hour while concocting various mixes & blends, recording their efforts in a 'receipt book' that was a treasured heirloom to be passed down- filled with instructions on things as variant as: how to sugar violets, create a skin soothing splash, to whiten lace, to make wash balls** for her delicate items that could never enter the laundry maid's Grand Wash- & many other such novelties. A wife could be known for the quality of her hypocras or confections, when visitors came calling- a household for the fact that they'd regularly burnt chafing pans of deodorizing herbs on clearing out a sickroom, or the fact that they regularly scattered sweet smelling natural insecticides to discourage all manner of creepy crawlies. Just like now, some people were more house-proud than others, & the use of all such items were sadly, by no means universal... And even more sadly, it was in the latter of these ages, that women were changing inexplicably; by the Regency, Victorian & Edwardian eras, the stillroom was shunned, as ready-made products proliferated, slowly but surely- & commercial cookbooks took the place of handwritten receipt books - it was relegated to the offices of poor relations & stillroom maids, home to little more than storage for jams & jellies... In 1813's *_Pride & Prejudice_* , when Mr Collins asks 'to which of his fair cousins the excellence of the dinner was owed', Mrs Bennett responds, 'with some asperity that they were perfectly able to employ a good cook- & that her daughters have nothing whatever to do with the kitchen...' Such an answer would have dumbfounded their forebears, who took an immense pride in their ability to do things like cook, brew, spin, & preserve- for not only the activity & occupation, but secure in the knowledge that their own familiarity & experience would enable them to detect inefficiencies within their households. The attitude of those like Mrs Bennett meant an ever-increasing number of generations of girls & women of the ever-increasing middle classes lost tasks with which to occupy their time & minds- given the increased 'surplus' of women, created by the devastating casualties of the Revolutionary era - being educated to predominantly be wives & mothers, when they might never even get the opportunity. For women of the gentry & the rising middle class, the only 'suitable' occupations for them- should they _not_ marry, were as teachers (if they possessed the education for it, in the first place) or governesses (with a smattering of 'accomplishments' to impart to their charges), companions, & dressmaking, or millinery - of course, like any market- it becomes a problem when it gets saturated, as it surely must have... Fortunately, education & employment opportunities eventually rose as the Victorian era wore on, until there was something of a universal requirement (though the standards varied wildly). *salt was the one essential for everyone, regardless of class or wealth, that _had_ to be bought for cash- it could be local (natural brine springs, or the coast), or imported - the coarsest grade was used for cleaning, & the finest, cheese-making; this was another industry where women could dominate (salt could be mined in places, & mining was often [though not always] a man's job)- the brine springs had what were called 'walling yards', where the brine was evaporated down- & the women who attended them were known as 'wallers', from whence comes the surname Waller. **I found a Tudor or Elizabethan era recipe for it, so- yeah... Sorry for my long-winded post, lol

[@IsabellaSchicho]

I love this so much. I just started taking bobbin lace classes. My love and admiration for lace and the craftsmanship have grown so much.

[@carolyng5235]

Wonderful video! Informative and interesting, with a charming and talented guest. I love the 500 years of . . . series!!

[@VBirchwood]

Glad you enjoyed the video Carolyn! 😊

[@jennylawson1980]

When I was a child I wore lace to my aunt's wedding, I remember feeling like I could have lived during the height of the lace making industry. It made me feel like a princess. Lace tells a story, it has a deeply imbedded history. Ive been doing embroidery work, since I was three when I was taught by my great grandmother and grandmother for 40 years, now I have advanced into tapestry and thread painting work, some of the stitches are the same in lace and it's beautiful when the different forms of thread art can come together 😊 Wonderful lesson, beautiful history and ty for keeping lacemaking alive. 😊

[@debcarroll8192]

Fascinating! Thank you!

[@eiszapfenkobold]

Love her lace content and overall fashion style.

[@lauraoergel6003]

This is so fascinating!!! I love the addition of experts to your own wonderful style!

[@JayCWhiteCloud]

This was really good...Thanks for sharing it...!!!...I had to save it...!!!

[@VBirchwood]

Hope you enjoy watching! 😊

[@juls_krsslr7908]

This was so interesting! Thank you and Elena for making this video!

[@johannageisel5390]

Oh, that was fascinating! Thank you for having this lady on.

[@sunriseeyes0]

Thank you so much for having this presentation! I’ve finally started learning crochet because I want to make lace 💗🙏🏽🧶

[@kjmav10135]

Wow! I love somebody who just geeks out on a topic. Elena is SO knowledgeable! Fascinating!

[@Rombododecaedron]

This is just a phenomenal lecture! Thank you and Elena for this exciting content!

[@jcristi321]

Excellent presentation! Thanks so much.

[@jeanninecook6661]

Fascinating! Thank you for this video. I truly enjoyed it.

[@alexisconnergaming6793]

I saw a video a few weeks ago about some ladies that were making fishing bets by hand and then hand embroidering them. I'm glad I found this video because I find these techniques super interesting 🥰

[@lisascenic]

Thank you so much for this fascinating discussion of the history of lace.

[@alessandramonteriggioni815]

Thank you both for making this video. I enjoy dabbling in Punto en Aria and wanted to know more about the history. Am so grateful for the additional resources and information. Again thank you!

[@wandagrayson646]

I love seeing this. I was just telling someone today about the immense emotional connection people have with tatting. While it’s never been in vogue on the scale of crochet or knitting, when I was teaching, i had people who were passionately attached to inherited pieces that was never replicated with knitted or crocheted pieces. I would have people come to the classes with bits made by an ancestor saying they wanted to learn to tat, even when they’d never done any needlework before. I just love lace of every kind!

[@vanessareagan3497]

It’s so nice to have a person like Elena speak about lace - she makes a subject which could potentially be boring coming from someone who doesn’t have the same passion for lace. She’s very interesting, knowledgeable and talented. Queen Victoria’s youngest child Princess Beatrice was a collector of historic laces and is said to have owned a piece of fabric from a gown of Catherine of Aragon.

[@rowenazuercher5363]

!!! I'm so excited about this video!! So glad you did this interview:)

[@VBirchwood]

Hope you enjoyed it!

[@bierjip1]

Great interview!

[@karenturner-wensel9536]

My forster video of yours. I am super excited to learn all this and I am really looking forward to checking out History Hits!!!!!

[@BethAge95]

Fascinating to see how many different styles of lace there were and still are! Thank you for sharing your expertise, Elena, and thank you for giving this room on your platform, Varsi! Another craft I would like to do and don't know how to find the time for :D

[@karenfitzpatrick6256]

I loved this video! Elena is so knowledgeable and a great speaker. I learned so much! Thank you

[@annwilliams6438]

What an incredibly interesting interview by a fascinating lady. Thank you.

[@debstrong3272]

Amazing introduction to lace history. I was so informed & loved the interview. Thank you.

[@cynthiaLibrarian]

I love the concentrated info. I saw someone do bobbin lace at a local textile exhibition. This is a lost art and not appreciated. Grandmas' lace veil is just netting to them. Thanks for bringing this to the general public!

[@jangeston2644]

Such an interesting history! Thank you

[@DreamseedVR]

As somebody who used to live down the street from the lace museum. I cannot recommend enough that people make that pilgrimage and go visit it in person and support them and buy stuff from them. Because it is the willy wonka's factory of lace and you will never see anything so beautiful in your life lace related

[@SandraHaueter-tl1go]

Wonderful video- I will watch this again and take notes! I’ve studied textiles and textile arts for years and still found new information in this video! Many thanks!

[@isabellaferretti7279]

Absolutely riveting, and has really helped me to understand a little more about lace types. Love the mention of the fishing nets. Am going to have to listen to this over and over again. Great sponsor for this too!

[@VBirchwood]

Thanks so much Bella! ❤️

[@katienewell7350]

This was an awesome video!!!

[@partyfiesta1557]

You’ve made my day! Such an amazing video. Thanks a lot. Hugs from Provence, Adrien

[@nat6098]

My only problem with this video is now I really want to try bobbin lace even though I already have a bunch of other hobbies. I guess I could always add it into the cycle of hobbies where I get tired or uninspired by one so I move onto the next so after a while I'm feeling good enough to go back to the first.

[@Nanabanana464]

Fantastic lecture, thank you so much!

[@pchabanowich]

Elena is at least a 'national ' treasure - this is a brilliant interview, thank you from my heart.💐

[@RainyDayBricks]

This was great 👍 I love this whole series, thank you ☺️

[@VBirchwood]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@francescafantauzzi4704]

Thank you so much for this video! Thank you thank you thank you, I love it. Incredibly interesting and beautifully done, lacemaking was something that always interested me, but now I actually want to start doing it. So inspiring!

[@AmaltheaVimes]

Yaay! How exciting! This video has been great fun to watch! Last year I visited St Galen to see the Textile museum, and saw the hand-cranked embroidery machine (and the little old lady who runs it!), it was fascinating! Unfortunately missed your beautiful red lace piece - the museum was between exhibits at the time. The second large lace machine shown in the video here, the one with the small metal bobbins (shuttle bobbins, like in some of the old shuttle-bobbin sewing machines), was (with other machines and lace examples - this was a better museum, IMO, and the fella at the desk was super nice and informative!) at the Saurer Museum, in Arbon, Switzerland, directly on the shore of the Bodensee. It is a cool museum with both awesome old textiles machines, AND old-timey Swiss vehicles! It is set up in the old-style - which means that there are plenty of wonderful smells (oils and machines!) and lots to see! No minimalism boring "modern" museum set up! There is also a little cafe in the building, and it's just a really nice place to go. The floor is tiled with wood blocks, and makes a satisfying noise when walked upon. I hope this museum never changes.

[@madelinegrudens]

I absolutely loved this interview and I'm so in love with lace fabric and lace making! This was fascinating and so was Elena and her wonderfully informative presentation. I'm following you both now!!! Thanks for sharing 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

[@Lillkatzino]

Incredibly cool video! Now I need to dive down another rabbit hole

[@robinmarks5638]

Oh this is wonderful! So interesting! Thank you!

[@Cellottia]

What a magnificent breadth of knowledge Elena has! The whistle-stop tour of European laces and lacemaking brought together most of the bits and pieces that I know about lace, but Elena obviously knows much more than she could cram into one video interview; Id love to spend a week with her because she's considered and is knowledgeable about so many aspects of this subject... A wonderful choice of guest, V., thank you!

[@CrystalMouse1]

Spotted bobbin lacing in the film the Scarlet Letter’ with Demi Moore

[@ecologicaladam7262]

Wow... what can one say? That was just fantastic! Thank you so much from the UK :-)

[@dianespears6057]

The words fascinating and excellent keep showing in comments and rightfully so. Amazing history talk. Thank you.

[@oanagrossu1532]

EXCELLENT INTERVIEW+SUBJECT MATTER, THANK YOU