French

"An ancient legend claims that the origins of lace lie in the so-called “trina delle sirene” – mermaid’s lace – an aquatic plant given by a sailor to a beautiful Venetian girl. She was so struck by its beauty that she wished to recreate it, thus giving rise to the art of lace-making." Though the art of creating fine lace has nearly vanished, we may still hold onto those who treasure their craft, and continue to help create and shape an incredible and beautiful part of history. Lace can be found in many different forms, whether a sweet vintage handkerchief, a stunning gown from the runway, beautiful bed linens that have been passed down for generations, lacy undergarments, or a custom wedding gown, each stitch drawn in love. And so, today we celebrate a history delicately woven of lace, as seen so beautifully in tales, memories, signs of love and life, embedded lovingly into each and every thread; we will discover secrets of lace making, intriguing moments in history, and close with a few lovely places around the world to find the perfect lace pieces . . . A LITTLE ABOUT | LACE The process of creating and executing lace is certainly not an easy feat: there are hours and much skill involved, though the end result is so beautiful, it is very much worth the extraordinary effort. By definition, lace is a net-like ornamental fabric made of threads, either by hand or by machine. The holes may be formed by the removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric; the lace is then created when a thread is looped, twisted or braided to other threads, independently, from a fabric that backs. At present, lace is often made with a cotton, linen or silk thread, but when it was first invented, was originally made of primarily linen, gold, silk, and even silver [some artists today still enjoy making lace with a fine copper or silver]. Though perhaps not as favorable as cotton, linen or silk, today lace can be purchased in synthetic fibres as well.