Spider Net
When I saw this entry from November 1, 1811, I wondered whether it was something similar to mosquito netting. It’s not, it turns out Spider Net is a type of lace. The Pocket Dictionary of Dry-goods, Etc by George W. Bible, Daniel P. Bible from 1896 defines Spider Net as “A very light texture in which the figure of that insect or any other figure might be wrought. It was made in England about the beginning of the present century.” According to Economic and Social Change in a MIdland Town: Victorian Nottingham 1815-1900 by Roy A. Church notes that “‘spider net,’ according to John Blackner, was worn ‘by women whose reputation was little better than its own: and they used it for no other purpose than that of giving a bewitching appearance to the bosom, while they falsely assumed its concealment.’”
