Queen Victoria's wedding gown was made, are rapidly
decreasing in numbers, so that there are few persons now living who
understand the construction of this exquisite "pillow" lace. The costly
point and Honiton and the dainty Mechlin and Valenciennes of bygone days
can only be produced by trained lace-workers, whose skilful fingers
weave bobbins of cobweb-like thread to and fro over the "pillow"
necessary to antique methods; and for this reason fine lace-making is
practically beyond the skill of the amateur. Besides, some of the
threads in the very filmy laces are so fine that they cannot be
successfully manipulated except in a moist atmosphere, such as that of
Great Britain; and even there some of the more exquisite specimens must
perforce be made in underground rooms, since it is only there that the
proper degree of moisture can be obtained. In dry climates these
gossamer-like threads would roughen and break at almost the slightest
touch.

Referring to the known origin of some of the earlier laces, a writer
upon the subject says:

"They say it was a woman, Barbara Uttmann, who invented pillow lace in
the 16th century. Women have ever been patrons of lace-making. Victoria
has kept the Honiton laces in fashion, and it was the Duchess of Argyle
who introduced lace-making in Scotland. The Countess of Erne and Lady
Denny and Lady Bingham began it in Ireland, and Lady De Vere gave her
own Brussels point for patterns when the first Irish point was made at
Curragh. It was Elizabeth of Denmark who introduced lace-making in that
country, and the Archduchess Sophia who started lace schools in Bohemia.
"Now at least I can have laces," said Anne of Austria, when Louis XIII.,
her husband died, and her court was famous for its cleanliness and its
Spanish point. Colbert had three women as coadjutors when he started
lace-making in France. It was because Josephine loved point d'Alencon
that Napoleon revived it. Eugenie spent $5,000 for a single dress
flounce, and had $1,000,000 in fine laces."

Victoria's favorite, Honiton, is not considered a particularly beautiful
lace, although its weaving is so tedious and difficult. "Real Honiton
laces," so says an authority, "are made up of bits and bits fashioned by
many different women in their own little cottages--here a leaf, there a
flower, slowly woven through the long, weary days, only to be united
afterward in the precious web by other workers who never saw its
beginning. There is a pre