The English origin of the word lace owes something to the French lassis or lacis, but both are connected with the earlier Latin laqueus.Early French laces were also called passements; the name applied to ornamental open work formed of threads of flax, cotton, silk, gold or silver, and occasionally of mohair or aloe fiber, looped or plaited or twisted together by hand: (1) with a needle, when the work is distinctively known as needlepoint lace; (2) with bobbins, pins and a pillow or cushion, when the work is known as pillow lace; and (3) by steam-driven machinery, when imitations of both needlepoint and pillow laces are produced. Lace making implies the production of ornament and fabric concurrently. Without a pattern or design the fabric of lace cannot be made. The publication of patterns for needlepoint and pillow laces dates from about the middle of the 16th century. Before that period lace described such articles as cords and narrow braids of plaited and twisted threads, used not only to fasten shoes sleeves and corsets together, but also in a decorative manner to braid the hair, to wind round hats, and to be sewn as trimmings upon costumes.
