Lace By Human Hand

Lace can be hand-made by many techniques. The most familiar of these are crocheting, knitting, or tatting, somewhat common pastimes even today. Less common are the different forms of bobbin laces and needle-made laces, crafts which have faded from public knowledge with the advent of machines that could produce many times the amount of lace that a human craftsperson could per day.

Bobbin Lace is a woven fabric made by the twisting of numerous threads of linen or cotton. The thread is wound onto wooden or bone bobbins that are then spangled with glass beads to give them weight and prevent rolling. The work surface is a firm pillow (traditionally filled with fine, clean sawdust) into which the lacemaker inserts pins to space the threads as the work progresses. When the work is completed and the pins are removed, the lace holds its shape!

One of the basic forms of bobbin lace is called Torchon Lace. Despite its seeming intricacy, the fundamentals of this lace can be mastered with about 6 months of study and practice.

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