Items made with human hair were mostly intended as sentimental reminders (births, marriages and deaths). Human hair is also said to have been used to support the extremely fine picots of some Venetian and French styles of needlepoint lace, where the more commonly used horsehair was too thick.
See also the TRC Needles entry on the sixteenth century Lennox point tresse.
Source: EARNSHAW, Pat (1984). A Dictionary of Lace, Aylesbury: Shire Publications Ltd, p. 77.
V&A online catalogue (retrieved 29th June 2016).
GVE