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Archeologists have uncovered human-made ceramics that date back to at least 24,000 BC in Czechoslovakia and were in the form of animal and human figurines, slabs, and balls.These ceramics were made of animal fat and bone mixed with bone ash and a fine claylike material. After forming, the ceramics were fired at temperatures between 500-800°C in domed and horseshoe shaped kilns partially dug into the ground with loess walls.
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Almost 10,000 years later, as settled communities were established, tiles were manufactured in Mesopotamia and India. The first use of functional pottery vessels for storing water and food is thought to be around 9000 or 10,000 BC. Clay bricks were also made around the same time.
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Glass was believed to be discovered in Egypt around 8000 BC, when overheating of kilns produced a colored glaze on the pottery. Experts estimate that it was not until 1500 BC that glass was produced independently of ceramics and fashioned into separate items.
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Fast forward to the Middle Ages,when the metal industry was in its infancy. Furnaces at that time for melting the metal were constructed of natural materials.
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When synthetic materials with better resistance to high temperatures (called refractories) were developed in the 16th century, the industrial revolution was born. These refractories created the necessary conditions for melting metals and glass on an industrial scale, as well as for the manufacture of coke, cement, chemicals, and ceramics.
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Although there is no set date on when lace was invented we know that it was around in the 16th centurary as you can see in this painting of Queen Elizabeth I, in a high-profile 16th-Century laceophile, showing off one of her huge and highly fashionable ruffels.
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Heres a painting by Van Dyck of two males wearing lace around the neck and across the sholders aswell as full body armour.
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In seventeenth-century France, lace became extremely important among Louis XIV's courtiers and, because of France's fashion dominance, thus all the courts of Europe. Courtiers wore flat band collars of heavy Venetian lace that showed off beautifully against the lavish fabrics then in fashion. French courtiers spent loads of money
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The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840.
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Despite the continued production of handmade laces, the real story of nineteenth-century lace is the development of fine machine laces that could compete with the handmade ones. The first lace machines, developed during the eighteenth century, actually produced fine net, which was then hand-embroidered to resemble lace. It was not until the early nineteenth century, when the jacquard was attached to the net machines, that patterns became possible. Improvements to the earliest lace machines, such
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Another major development occurred in the second half of the 19th century, when ceramic materials for electrical insulation were developed
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The Memoirs of a Highland Lady by Elizabeth Grant references “shepherd’s knitting” which is slip stitch crochet.
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The earliest known recorded crochet patterns where printed in 1824, and yet there is a great deal of evidence pointing to the fact that woman particularly have been recording and sharing crochet patterns since well before then.
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The first printed crochet patterns were from 1824 and were typically luxury patterns for purses of gold and silver silk thread.
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Irish crochet lace becomes a way to make money in Ireland during The Great Irish Famine.
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This strengthens cotton making it more durable to crochet with.
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This is the first time that we see patterns that include working through both loops (it was previously only through the back loop) and the first time that we see rows worked back and forth with turning (previously it was worked right to left and the yarn was cut off at the end of each row). This is starting to look like crochet as we know it today!
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Plus the Industrial Revolution means that more women have leisure time to fill. This results in more crochet work done as a hobby.
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By the middle of the nineteenth century, when lace became a standard fashion element and no longer a luxury good, a renewed interest in historic laces began. Those who could afford to started to collect historic laces and put together large collections of examples dating from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries.
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After the boom in the 1700s, lace lost popularity until the late 1800s.
As you can see the woman in this photo is dressed head to toe in lace. -
Queen victoria wearing lace in 1897/
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From 1900 to 1930 women were also busy crocheting afghans, slumber rugs, traveling rugs, chaise lounge rugs, sleigh rugs, car rugs, cushions, coffee and teapot cozies and hot-water bottle covers.
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1910 – 1920 – The Edwardian fashion style means that crochet work is now more detailed textured.
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During the 1920s and 1930s bolts of machine lace were produced and became a fashionable fabric out of which designers such as Gabrielle Chanel began to construct luxurious evening dresses.
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A photo of a flapper girl in the 1920s, when the new lengh made the silhouette.
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After the war there was a resurgence in home crafts and crochet became alive again after it had been mostly forgotten by the general public.
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n the 1960s and 1970s crochet took off as a freeform means of expression that can be seen today in three-dimensional sculptures, articles of clothing, or rugs and tapestries that depict abstract and realistic designs and scenes.
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1960’s and 1970’s – We’ve all seen the granny square items from this time! This is also when freeform crochet begins to be popular.
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Lace developed into a purely feminine fabric that, because of advances in technology, became widely used in lingerie, evening wear, and as accessories. The invention of machine techniques, the increasing development of new hand techniques by which to create lacelike fabrics, such as embroidered nets, crochet, and tape lace, and decreasing expectations among consumers led to lace and lacelike fabrics' widespread availability.
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Lace continues to enjoy a place in fashionable dress and especially in lingerie. Its light, delicate, feminine qualities make it a fashion perennial, even into the twenty-first century, when the September 2003 issue of Harper's Bazaar proclaimed lace "fashion's most romantic fabric"
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2007 – Ravelry launches. Crochet and social media merge. By 2010 Ravelry had one million members.
