The Guild of Irish Lacemakers was founded in 1987 to assist practicing Lacemakers, especially those making the traditional Irish Laces. To-day the Guild encompasses all the laces known in Ireland and many from abroad.
Although most of the lace originally made in Ireland was the result of philanthropic ladies starting small businesses to create local employment there were exceptions. The nuns in the convents taught lacemaking to teach a skill to the young ladies in several Irish towns. The convent in
Yougal, Co. Cork, was among the places where nuns developed their own style of lace and taught it to the local people to help them survive during the potato famine of the 1840’s. Another exception was the lace industry in Limerick which was started as a commercial enterprise in 1829 by an Englishman, Charles Walker, who based his enterprise on the lace industry located in Nottingham. Mr Walker and twenty four of his workers came from Essex.
www.lacemakerslace.oddquine.co.uk/history.html Carrickmacross lace was first inspired by Italian Appliqué Lace in the early part of the 19th Century and developed in the neighbourhood of Carrickmacross during the Great Famine of 1845-1847. Mountmellick Embroidery also started in the nineteenth century.
Irish lace has been worn by Royalty on several occasions. When Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark married his Australian fiancee Mary Elizabeth Donaldson in Copenhagen on May 14th, 2004 her veil was made from 100-year-old Irish lace.
