Valenciennes

The date of the introduction of the manufacture of this lace is unknown, although it existed before the time of Louis XIV., under whose reign it flourished and reached its climax between 1725 and 1780. Valenciennes lace is made entirely on the pillow, of simple combinations, with one kind of thread for the pattern and for the ground. (See engraving.) No lace is so expensive to make from the number of bobbins required. The flax used is of the finest quality, so fine that the lace-makers worked in underground cellars to keep their work from the air, and scarcely completed an inch and half of lace in a day.