Torchon Lace
TORCHON lace is an exception to the rule about names. Torchon is not a town in France, but the French word for a duster! It was not highly regarded as a fashion lace in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; hence the rather derogatory name. In Britain Torchon is often the first bobbin lace learnt, but there is nothing at all second-rate about it today. It is a straight lace with a type of mesh ground different from that found in Bucks Point.
The edging and matching insertion shown here come from a sample book in the Lace Guild collection (GF.9.2005). The book is one of several from the same source, which include Bucks Point and Bedfordshire edgings and insertions, in addition to the Torchon samples.