Lace making from Belgium - Luxury to Legacy
Learning about the history & techniques of Belgian lace from the 16th century
All about lace!
Fashion & Lace Museum Brussels
One of the absolute highlights from my visit to the Fashion & Lace Museum in Brussels was diving into the rich history of Belgian lace. More than just fashion, lace was once a powerful symbol of status, a driver of female-led economies, and a testament to extraordinary craftsmanship.
Lace as Luxury
In the 16th century, lace emerged simultaneously in Flanders (now part of Belgium) and Venice. From the very beginning, it was reserved for the elite — worn by the wealthy, never the poor. The style, colour, motif, material and technique determined the type and value of the lace. Bruges town became the true lace capital, and to this day you’ll find an entire museum there dedicated to the art of lace-making.
A City of Threads
By the 18th century, lace production in Brussels had become a booming industry. Merchant-manufacturers oversaw vast networks of women who transformed fine thread into intricate, hand-made lace. At its peak around 1750, more than 9,000 women — nearly one-fifth of the city’s population — worked in lace-making.
How Was Lace Made?
There were two main techniques used to create lace, both extremely labour-intensive and requiring high precision:
Bobbin Lace
Made by twisting and crossing threads wound around small wooden bobbins, worked over a pattern fixed to a pillow with pins. A professional designer would first determine the pattern and the various shades of white to be used. This was then transferred to a stencil by a pattern-maker, before the lace makers carried out the detailed execution — often in sections by multiple hands.
Needlepoint lace
This technique evolved from embroidery. It involved stitching by hand directly onto a drawn pattern using various stitches and shades of white thread to create both the motif and the background. The process was slow, delicate, and entirely manual.
As a fun side note: in the 19th century, it wasn’t uncommon to use coffee, tea, or even onion skins to dye lace for a slightly aged, antique look.
Mechanisation and Decline
With the arrival of mechanised production in the 19th century, lace machines could produce fabric up to 6,000 times faster than by hand. Handmade lace became too expensive to compete, and by 1844, thousands of lace makers had left Brussels. The once-thriving industry rapidly declined.
A Living Craft
And yet—lace didn’t die.
Today, Brussels lace survives through the work of contemporary textile artists who are reclaiming it not as a symbol of aristocratic wealth, but as a medium of creative expression. Lace has become a bridge between craft and concept, heritage and modernity.
Because in the end, lace tells a story — of hands, of history, and of transformation
