French knitting

Millet 1814 Knitting French girl

Jerome´s sister Susan was French knitter.

Trying to find out what kind of profession that was you learn a lot .

Did you know that French knitting was used to decorate uniforms sometimes with gold thread.Used to  make buttons and even socks.

The long cords were rolled and stiched on the uiforms.

The knitting was also used as a kind of lacemaking.

A machine was invented  to make lace.

Back in 1812, at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, a machine to make lace was invented in England by John Leavers. The basis of his machine was the Elizabethan "stocking frame", invented c.1589 by a Nottingham vicar,Rev. William Lee, to help his wife knit stockings. It worked a bit like "french knitting", where children make a knitted tube by winding wool round nails on top of a cotton reel.

In the meanwhile in france making fine lace became an important craft industry - it was hand-made by thousands of craftspeople in their own homes or in small workshops. 18th centurysmugglers took French lace into England, to avoid heavy import taxes. 

In the mid-18th century, the British government was fighting colonial wars against France in North America and India. Money was needed to pay for wars, so heavy taxes were levied on imported luxury goods like lace, brandy, gin, coffee and tea. At the same time, sailors along the Channel coast had fallen on hard times, and were glad to earn good money smuggling these goods across the channel from France and the Netherlands.
Napoleon banned the export of lace to England in 1808 and some of the skilled labourers went to England to try their luck there.

knitting Madame in 1814.


18th century

Knitting on frames, the precursor to modern knitting machines, became popular in the 1700s. Jeremiah Strutt of Derby invented the Derby Rib Frame in 1759. Samuel Betts improved on this and created a mechanism that allowed for knitting lace. In 1768, spurred by the popularity of brocade waistcoats, Crain and Porter created a color change mechanism. This eventually led to the development of punch cards for color changes, a system which some knitting machines still use today.