To know more about lace

Silk hands: the blonda (black silk bobbin lace)
The blonda is the name in Spain and France of this lace made with bobbins and point ground lace. This lace is made by silk. At the begins the silk was crude color, they called blonde that in French meands blonde. At last XVIIIè century they made in black or several colors. Some people believe that the first blonda were made at the North of Paris. We can talk about blonda from 1760, Caen and Rouen were the principal centers. Pat Earnshaw said that one of the most important kind of blonda was the Xantilly, this lace was made with black silk, flowers dessings, and the Bayeux blonda.

Black silk lace vel. Balmes - Viñas Colection. Marès Lace Museum

In Spain, the blonda was the most important lace because, the mantilla (Spanish vel) was made by blonda. The women were dressing mantillas from XVIII to begins XX century. Catalunya and Almagro (Ciudad Real) were the most important lace centers. For to made the blonda the lacemakers use two kind of silk, a thinner thread and another thickness for the diferent dessigns.