Looking at Lace in France and Belgium, and Tapestry Embroidery in England and Wales

Lovely Lace

 I love lace. But white lace doileys look old fashioned. You can dye them colours. Use them as collars, neck fillers or dickeys.

Lace can be made with strong thread, fine thread, or a mixture.

Black lace can be worn as a sophisticated evening fashion. 

It can add delicacy and distraction at a funeral or time of mourning.

You can create lace with a crochet hook. 

Or several bobbins (long heavy holders of thread which are hung down from a hump and moved around in a fan shape, semi circular or circular, like weaving, to create the patterns.

A third type of lace is machine made lace.

See more at lace museums on Holland and Belgium.

You can buy huge table cloths entirely of lace, or lace trimmed tablecloths and matching napkins. 

The History of Lace

A queen, Catherine de Medicis, took lace from Italy to France. (The country of Belgium was created by Queen Victoria's family to console a aspiring king of England who was bypassed and had to be made king of somewhere. I learned that they chopped a piece off France and a piece off Holland and made Belgium, which at first went well. However, reading Britannica, it appears that the whole area was bounced around like a football between France, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain. It now has a clear identity, but three languages, French, Belgian and German for the German speaking  minority in the East, with French in the capital Brussels, as well as the EU and NATO providing employment.  Belgian lace.

Lace in Bayeux, France. Apart from the medieval buildings, and museums, the tourist can enjoy Belgian chocolates, such as the Godiva brand, Belgian waffles, Belgian chips/frites, and Belgian beer. 

Lace in Bayeux, France

Northern France has lace in Bayeux. A second kind of exquisite fabric to admire. Not just the Bayeux tapestry, featuring embroidery. (Hastings has a rival tapestry about the same event.)

Tapestry in Fishguard, Wales

 Wales has another long story-telling embroidery, celebrating local heroes, and heroines., Fishguard's tapestry tells about the time when Welsh women wearing tall back hats and red cloaks resisted an invasian by French soldiers in boats.

Fasion & Lace Museum, Brussels, Bemlgium

Useful Websites

Brussels, Belgium

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion_%26_Lace_Museum

France

https://www.rfi.fr/en/culture/20221224-crafty-bayeux-artisans-give-traditional-french-lace-a-modern-touch-normandie-handcrafts

Calais

https://www.cite-dentelle.fr/en/

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