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Luneville Embroidery

Detail of a piece of Luneville beaded embroidery. Detail of a piece of Luneville beaded embroidery.

Luneville embroidery is an umbrella term for various types of tambour embroidery, originating from the French town of Lunéville (Lorraine, France), where in the late eighteenth century a number of embroiderers had settled. Around 1810 they invented a form of tambour embroidery, using a very fine tulle cloth, which was decorated with chain stitch. Luneville embroidery may thus be classed as a form of embroidered net lace.

By 1865 a local embroiderer called Louis-Bonnechaux Ferry started to add beads and sequins onto his work (broderie perlée et pailletée), still using a tambour hook (in this case named the crochet de Lunéville). The innovation caused a boom in Luneville work, as French fashion required more and more heavily beaded garments and trimmings. This trend quickly spread to other parts of Europe (compare Lier lace). The First and Second World Wars of the twentieth century however, plus a change in fashion, led to a decline in the popularity of Luneville embroidery and many embroidery companies vanished.

The economic changes in the 1950's brought new opportunities, as beaded bags became popular again. In the latter half of the twentieth century beaded haute couture garments became fashionable and many of these creations were and continued to be made in Lunéville.

See also the TRC Needles entry on the Conservatoire des Broderies de Lunéville.

Sources:

Digital source of illustration (retrieved 6th July 2016).

GVE

Last modified on Wednesday, 31 May 2017 13:51