You don't have to travel to Europe for French or Spanish lace. It's all available right in New York -- in specialty fabric and trimming shops. You'll find them among the many shops catering to the historic garment district of New York, as described in http://www.examiner.com/x-18522-NY-Jewish-Bridal-Examiner~y2010m3d8-Selecting-the-fabric-for-your-gown.
While French usually signals higher prices, when it comes to lace, it actually designates a machine-made imitation, so don't be fooled by the name. If you are buying a gown from a salon and the saleswoman stresses it is made of regal satin and trimmed with real French lace, she is selling you on something made of synthetic fabric and machine-made lace with rather grandiose names. Know what the names, in fact, signify so you understand what you are getting and are not duped.
Lace is a staple of wedding attire, often trimming the gown and veil of the bride. Prices vary a great deal from machine made run of the mill type lace to specialty imported varieties. You can certainly see some that will run upwards of several hundred dollars a yard, but there are also laces that are affordable enough even to use over a full ball skirt and train. Below are some terms for you to use to impress your dressmaker or bridal gown saleswoman. You can also refer to them when shopping for exclusive linens that are often trimmed with Battenburg lace or may be described as Dotted Swiss.
The following is a brief lexicon of lace:
Alcenon: French needlepoint lace with floral design.
Battenburg: satin background behind a renaissance pattern lace, often trimmed with sequins or beads. Edges are scalloped.
Chantilly: fine mesh lace featuring a floral pattern with edges outlined in silk thread, usually scalloped
.
Dotted Swiss: features small flocked fabric circles.
French: machine-made fabric that mimics handmade French lace.
Guipire: a bold style of lace that usually features large patterns.
Schiffli: intricate embroidered floral pattern.
Spanish: flat rose pattern
Venise: heavy damask lace, often with floral patterns.
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