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23rd January 2025
Nottingham and Calais lace made on huge Leavers machines replaced the traditional hand-made lace from cottage industries in places such as Honiton and Brussels. This was made either with multiple threads on bobbins on a pillow as here in The Lace-Maker (Mrs Newell Making Lace) (c1920, The Higgins) by Charles Spencelayh (1865-1958) or using a needle and single thread method. Despite a short revival thanks to Queen Victoria's wedding dress, by 1870 almost every type of handmade lace could be copied by machine, leading to the almost total disappearance of the handmade lace industry in England by 1900. Today, organisations such as the Lace Guild are keeping the skills alive, but on a very small scale.
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