ID Number: L.T498.1969.0.0

ID Number: L.T501.1969. 0.0

About the project In June 2001 Leicester City Museums Service and its partners successfully gained a grant from the New Opportunities Fund to develop a website celebrating the history of the East Midlands knitting industry.  The Knitting Together…

The design is typical of a frame from Saxony, Germany. A box rail with two drawers for holding needles is located in front of the bench and the frame includes decorative wooden inlay. The machine was presented to Leicester Museum in 1849 by John…

White silk square net made on Thomas Frost's machine. ID Number: NCM 1878-252/29

The earliest machine-made lace was made on the stocking-frame by transferring stitches to make a net. These two borders have a simple geometric pattern in plain knitting, net in transfer stitches and outlines put in by hand. They are part of a…

The barely visible decoration at the ankles is done by transfer stitches. According to a label of 1851 they are "5 thread, 34 gauge hose, made in the year 1790, cotton spun by Sir R Arkwright." Sir Richard Arkwright (1732 - 1792) invented a…

Called 'double pressed point net' this net had the appearance of hand made net and was much firmer than 'single pressed point net'. It was invented in about 1784. Both sorts of net were embroidered by machine to imitate handmade lace. This piece…

This piece of lace, made by Robert Frost in about 1769, is one of the claimants for the earliest surviving piece of machine-made lace. Robert Frost used a carved roller to motivate the ticklers which transferred loops to one side or the other to…

Originally from John Dovey's workshop in Calverton, Nottinghamshire. This wide frame was capable of producing a single piece of fabric for cut-up work or the manufacture of shirts. The machine has had three owners who each stamped their own mark on…