April 8, 2014
Burano Lace
This little oval with flowers has a mesh background with the flowers and leaves outlined and then filled with variations on the buttonhole stitch. This particular type of lace is often called Burano.
February 4, 2014
When I was first researching lace I had the hardest time figuring out what to use for the gimp, horsehair and wire.
Then it dawned on me that the people who were making the lace used whatever they had available.
Duh!
Blush!
Finally, I figured out enough to really start making sense of lace!
So after I made a huge bobbin pillow I figured out how to makes things really work.
I use a needlepoint pillow, a square of poster boards, or one of my hoops to hold the fabric that I tack the pattern on.
I use a sewing thread in a contrasting color to couch down the outline of the design using either gimp, wire or horsehair.
Did that get your attention?
Gimp is this.
Chinese Knotting Cord at 8mm from Bead Smith. It is perfect for the edge of just about any design.
The wire I use is from Panacea Floral Cloth Covered Spool Wire, 32 gauge at Michaels. I generally don't have to wrap it, but if I do I use whatever thread I will be making the lace with.
The horsehair was particularly difficult because it comes from the horse's tail. I just was not well enough acquainted with any horses that cared to let me examine their tails. ;) If I had ever seen one that looked like he/she would have cooperated I can assure you I would have waded in.
But then it occurred to me that what the lacer did was simply use a fine, springy filament that would cause the lace to stand up around the wrist or face.
So I went and got me some Fireline from Bead Smith. It is called braided bead thread and it's about 0.010 inches in diameter.
Burano Lace
This little oval with flowers has a mesh background with the flowers and leaves outlined and then filled with variations on the buttonhole stitch. This particular type of lace is often called Burano.
I generally like to outline the major elements of any design before I place any of the background reseau. The outlining can be done any way the stitcher prefers. The techniques for this have been covered previously in this article.
I have included another example of lace that has been partially stitched. This lace is not Burano, but it sure looks like it! I will explain the differences later as we go along.
It is always a problem getting a design onto the fabric. Prickings were made and these were dusted with chalk. The chalk sifted through and the different designs were outlined with thread as has been discussed previously.
I have made a design for you to practice with plenty of open space for reseau. You can use a perle cotton or silk perle thread for these designs. Remember these threads constitute the ground of the lace, they should be substantial enough to hold up while being washed. You would not normally use a gimp thread.
This drawing is copyrighted and all Rights are Reserved. Please refer anyone who would like a copy to this site for a copy of it.
I will be back to discuss reseau and how this lace might be stitched, or what the designer intended. Lace could not be held together without the background mesh.
If you would like for me to make patterns of these other drawings please request it. At this time I cannot answer your comments or requests, but I will be happy to draw the patterns if requested.
For the record, I do a large amount of research in books that are out of date and are no longer covered by the copyright, so you are free to make copies of the photos, except where noted otherwise. I will be adding the bibliography back on the website at www.americanfolkarts.com as time permits.
February 4, 2014
This is the back side of the pricking for the design above. I used two sheets of 100 weight cardboard that were taped together before I pricked the design. Generally I tape the design on too. I use a good variety of tape like 3M blue label easy release, so it doesn't shred the cardboard when I remove the design.
When I was first researching lace I had the hardest time figuring out what to use for the gimp, horsehair and wire.
Then it dawned on me that the people who were making the lace used whatever they had available.
Duh!
Blush!
Finally, I figured out enough to really start making sense of lace!
So after I made a huge bobbin pillow I figured out how to makes things really work.
I use a needlepoint pillow, a square of poster boards, or one of my hoops to hold the fabric that I tack the pattern on.
I use a sewing thread in a contrasting color to couch down the outline of the design using either gimp, wire or horsehair.
Did that get your attention?
Gimp is this.
Chinese Knotting Cord at 8mm from Bead Smith. It is perfect for the edge of just about any design.
The wire I use is from Panacea Floral Cloth Covered Spool Wire, 32 gauge at Michaels. I generally don't have to wrap it, but if I do I use whatever thread I will be making the lace with.
The horsehair was particularly difficult because it comes from the horse's tail. I just was not well enough acquainted with any horses that cared to let me examine their tails. ;) If I had ever seen one that looked like he/she would have cooperated I can assure you I would have waded in.
But then it occurred to me that what the lacer did was simply use a fine, springy filament that would cause the lace to stand up around the wrist or face.
So I went and got me some Fireline from Bead Smith. It is called braided bead thread and it's about 0.010 inches in diameter.
I got the colors Crystal and Smoke. One is clear and the other gray.
Now all I needed was a pattern. Oh boy, are there patterns, the very first lace that was done with bobbins, but it was not nearly as popular as the kind that could be made with a threaded needle. This was before the 1600's.
I saw a piece of needle made lace from the Tamir region west of China that was used to make a hat with felt. It was about 5,000 years old. But then that is west of China.
There are literally hundred and hundred of patterns. There are books of patterns! They are so simple to do, it is almost insulting to try and explain them. Hence the explanation of supplies
Back in Europe they simply took the idea of braiding and started making lace the same way as they had done with the bobbins by weaving back and forth between the couched edges with a threaded needle. They tacked or couched the gimp and horsehair down around the outside edge of the lace.
Just gimp was temporarily tacked on the inside edge of the lace, that would be the side attached to the garment.
Then they took a threaded needle and simply wove back and forth between the edges. They added threads in the middle parallel to the couched edges if they needed to make wider lace for the design and just cut those away when the design narrowed again.
The only problem anyone had was figuring out a neat way to get around the pattern without having to cut the thread too many times. And really, that helped them stay awake, because it was about as interesting as a bowl of oatmeal, maybe a bowl of cold oatmeal.
And of course poking holes in the pattern was a just plain fun. So I tried these really large tacks. They are about 2 inches long. They are very easy to hold as you punch out your design on a piece of paper. I use cork board under my push pin, but a folded towel would work.
Well, that's it! I will be more than happy to share some patterns with you. I will have them posted later on my website at the Stitch Dictionary.
Look for them under Lace Patterns, Woven in a month or so. Thank you so much for stopping by. Linda
The Mystery Sampler will be posted a band a month here in what's new.
The chart for the second band is at
Click on the link to see the charts.
I used Creme Linen 32 count, 30 inches long by 8 inches wide
Be sure you leave three inches of cloth at the top of your project for finishing.
I also used two strands of blue floss like DMC 792, ecru perle #8 and #12.
There will be finishing instructions at the end of the posts for all the bands.
