The Barmen lace machine makes perfect copies of torchon lace and the simpler hand-made bobbin lace. Its bobbins imitate the movements of the bobbins of the hand-made lace maker.
History The Barmen machine was developed in the 1890s in the Prussian city of Barmen, now part of Wuppertal, Germany, from a braiding machine. The Barmen laces were derived from solid braids later pieced with openwork.
Design of machine
The Barmen machine has its spindles arranged in a circle, each one carrying a large bobbin of thread. These can pass each other, so their threads twine together in a complex way. The threads run towards the centre, where the finished lace appears, rising upwards. The machine can only make one width at a time, and has a maximum width of about 120 threads. The lace is made as a cylinder. When finished, threads are removed to allow the flat strip to appear.
Uses Barmen machines can make laces, trimmings, elasticated and rigid braids, cords and ric-racs. Barmen lace is still produced in Britain by Malmic Lace Limited, which is based in Nottingham.
See also
Lace machine Timeline of clothing and textiles technology
References
External links
Video of a Barmen machine in action. Lacemaking machine