Flea Market Item 26-312

Vintage French Bobbin Lace — Original 25 Metre Card

A wonderful piece of old French haberdashery — a substantial length of fine cream lace still wound around its original blue card.

The original paper label reads “DENTELLE AU FUSEAU”, the French term for bobbin lace, together with the pattern number 330/8 and “25 Mètres garantis” — 25 metres guaranteed.

The narrow lace has a delicate geometric design with tiny openwork squares, fine bars and a softly looped scalloped edge. Closely woven sections alternate with more open areas, creating a beautiful rhythm along the length. The fine thread has mellowed to a soft ivory rather than a stark white, giving it all the character of old French mercerie.

Although labelled dentelle au fuseau, the very regular construction suggests this was commercially manufactured lace made to imitate traditional bobbin-lace structures, rather than 25 metres individually handmade by a lacemaker. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, French manufacturers were producing large quantities of extremely convincing machine-made lace for dressmaking, lingerie and household linen.

The survival of the original card and French trade label makes this particularly desirable. It is not simply a piece of old lace but an evocative piece of French haberdashery history.