Point de Gaze

Point de Gaze (sometimes Point de Gauze) is a needle lace from Belgium named for the gauze-like appearance of the mesh ground. It was made from the early to mid 1800s to sometime bertween 1914 and the 1930s.

Point de Gaze Jabot, 19th century, Brussels, Belgium

Etymology

The word lace is from Middle English, from Old French las, noose, string, from Vulgar Latin *laceum, from Latin laqueus, noose; probably akin to lacere, to entice, ensnare.[1] This type of lace takes its name from the fact that its ground mesh is very loose.[2]: 87 At one time, the French names of bobbin and needle laces were preceded by the word "point."[2]: 86 

Characteristics

Point de Gaze is made of open, twisted buttonhole stitches[3] of very fine thread.[4] The buttonholes connect through each other, yielding a light, gauze-like ground fabric. This type of lace uses floral designs,[4] with both garden and wild flowers evident.[5]: 151  Also found are ferns and leaves. These floral designs frequently included borders, scrolls, and other non-floral elements.[5]: 151  Either cotton or linen thread can be used to make it. It was used to make clothing (dresses, shawls, and flounces) as well as accessories, such as handkerchiefs, parasols, and fans.[2]: 87 

Origins and history
Point de Gaze lace handkerchief, 19th century Flanders

Point de Gaze is a type of needlepoint lace that originated in the area of Brussels, Belgium. It was constructed from the middle of the 19th century until approximately the start of World War I in 1914[5] : 149  or until the 1930s.[4] One source indicates that its manufacture started earlier, in the 1830s.[2]: 87 

The Schiffli machine, which used net to mimic the gauze-like texture, was able to imitate the production of hand-made Point de Gaze lace.[4]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Point de gaze.
  1. "Show election". Lace. Retrieved 2012-05-23.
  2. Bath, Virginia Churchill. (1979). Lace. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-046378-X. OCLC 4494296.
  3. Stillwell, Alexandra. (1996). Cassell illustrated dictionary of lacemaking. London: Cassell. p. 164. ISBN 0-304-34145-2. OCLC 34597563.
  4. Earnshaw, Pat. (1999). A dictionary of lace. Mineola, NY: Dover. p. 131. ISBN 0-486-40482-X. OCLC 41518399.
  5. Gwynne, Judyth L. (1997). The illustrated dictionary of lace. Berkeley, Calif.: LACIS Publications. ISBN 0-916896-86-2. OCLC 40896024.
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