Lace

Lace is cloth made of holes: an openwork built directly from thread by looping, twisting, plaiting, or knotting, with no woven ground beneath. It split early into two great hand traditions, needle lace built stitch by stitch with a single thread and needle, and bobbin lace plaited from many threads wound on bobbins over a pillow. Venice, Flanders, and later Honiton and Chantilly made fortunes on it, and a yard of fine lace could cost more than the gown it trimmed. The machine net of the early 1800s and the Jacquard-driven lace looms of Nottingham eventually made lace cheap, ending its reign as portable wealth.