They were worked by nuns on the island of Madeira in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The trimmings were used as edgings, flounces and insertions.
See also: Madeira embroidery
Source: CAULFEILD, Sophia Frances Anne and Blanche C. SAWARD (1882), The Dictionary of Needlework, London: L. Upcott Gill, p. 339.
GVE