Moderator's Lace

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland traditionally wears court dress with lace jabot and cuffs. In the past each Moderator has been presented with a personal set of lace made in Chingleput, India, by mission-taught workers there. This source of lace came to an end in 1981 and the Moderator was reduced to wearing machine-made lace.

By chance the Edinburgh Lace Club offered to make a set for the Moderator at this very time. The club was quite young, and it was decided it would be nice to work the lace as a communal effort by as many members as felt able to work the chosen pattern, a Bucks pattern (Pamela Nottingham – Old Bucks pattern no 4) which suited all eight volunteers, was decided on. Each cuff was to be made up of four three-foot lengths (41 repeats) and the jabot four five-foot lengths (70 repeats). Only one on the four lengths required were pricked with ground only on either side of the pattern. The lengths required for each piece had a foot; only one a picot edged head. The lengths were pricked with ground only on either side of the pattern. The lengths were joined with a racroc stitch as in Chantilly lace, hopefully to be as inconspicuous as possible. Belgian linen thread 140/2 was used throughout. The two shorter pieces were finished and joined in two continuous circles for the cuffs, and the others as one length for the jabot. They were then given to the moderator’s tailor who mounted them on detachable cotton bands to fit the suit. The work took about twelve months to complete.