The queen attended the awards in a cream cap-sleeve midi dress that featured ornate, detailed floral guipure at both the neckline and sleeves as well as the hem. Guipure Example of Guipure lace with a Torchon edge Cunningham Lace, advert, 1907, Irish International Exhibition Guipure lace is a type of bobbin lace. It connects the motifs with bars or plaits rather than net or mesh.

Understanding the Context

Guipure is a French word. As Jackson describes, guipure of the Renaissance period was finer and more expensive, created with bobbins on pillows. By the nineteenth and twentieth century, imitation laces, made using crochet techniques or automated machinery, were also being called guipure. Guipure lace is a unique type of lace that doesn’t have a mesh background.

Key Insights

Instead, it connects bold floral or geometric motifs with sturdy bars or plaits, creating an open, “netless” design. The name “guipure” comes from the French word meaning “tape,” which refers to the thick threads that outline and connect the patterns. In English, guipure translates to “open work” or “cutwork lace,” perfectly describing its distinctive construction method. To give you a hint, pay attention to the guipure weave structure. Its elements often feature a complex shape that requires a thoughtful approach in the planning of their interconnection with bars or plaits: the fabric should remain elegant, yet not lose much in durability.

Final Thoughts

guipure in American English (ɡiˈpjʊr , French ɡiˈpyʀ) noun Origin: Fr < guiper, to cover with silk < Frank * wipan, to wind, akin to whip Guipure noun a term used for lace of different kinds; most properly for a lace of large pattern and heavy material which has no ground or mesh, but has the pattern held together by connecting threads called bars or brides