Bobbin Lace Explained

I make bobbin lace. (see pictures, don't forget to click on the picture to see the next one) I have been trying for some time to figure out how to explain it to the uninitiated. It is kind of like asking a fisherman to explain about fish. It is one of two kinds of lace that were prevalent in the 18th century. Today it is made by machine and seen on our garments. Making it by hand allows for more individual choices. Everyone has their favorite parts. Some people like the tools, some the product and some the process. I like it all. Which is why I have been doing it since 1981. I have demonstrated making lace in public and know many of the questions the general public asks.

Bobbin lace is not tatting. Tatting, knitting and crocheting, are all single thread techniques. That means that you can trace the path of one thread throughout the entire pattern and it completes it. Just one thread is used. Bobbin lace, weaving, and macramé are multi thread techniques. There is no way that the work could be done by just one thread. Take a magnifying glass and look. It will take you a long way towards identifying what kind of lace is in front of you. Unless your mother or grandmother, used a pillow and bobbins, she probably did not make the same kind of lace that I am writing about. The answers for crossword puzzles involves tatting.

Bobbin lace involves manipulating threads that are wound onto bobbins around pins that are stuck into a pattern on a very firm pillow. You do not have to be artistic to make bobbin lace. You can copy patterns from books. Your creativity can be expressed in the colors or threads that you use. If you make a mistake, you can undo it without too much trouble, if you have not removed the pins. - I can make lace backwards and forwards. I have also designed some original patterns. Some are more difficult than others. Some are more fun. It can be a craft, or it can be an art. That is up to the lace maker. If I am making lots of something, I consider it a craft, but that is a personal opinion.

It is not a dieing art, since there are hundreds of ladies all over the world who make lace and come to the annual convention of The International Old Lacers Association, where they take classes and buy books. For every lace maker that I know who goes to convention, I know at least ten who do not. I cannot imagine that the average is different for others. Some of the ladies that I know who make lace are very good at it and some are still learning. I might be both. After all, I have been doing it for a very long time, but I find there is always more to learn, and I do forget things sometimes.

If you are Italian bobbin lace making began in Italy. Otherwise it may have been first made in Flanders. No one knows for sure. It began in the fifteenth century and the first solidly dated pieces come from the 16th century. The first laces were "ecclesiastical lace" - that means made for the church. Perhaps that is the first lace that survived. Remember that we used to wash with soap made from lye. They also used to "freshen" dirty lace with white, lead based powder. I enjoy telling people those kind of horror stories.

Different styles of bobbin lace are associated with different countries. I have a theory that as the wars waged throughout Europe, lace makers moved to get away from them, even to America. As they moved they took along their techniques. As they encountered other lace makers, they learned different ways to do things that were easier or looked nicer. They were often trying to make a living, and would do whatever was easiest, or quickest that worked. Today different styles of lace have the names of places attached to them. Some use very similar techniques but have different names.

There are lace makers who swear that the only real bobbin lace is the lace made in the style of that from her particular heritage. While it is an interesting concept, it is just so disrespectful of other lace makers. Some lace makers say that the only lace is bobbin lace. Again I find that it is disrespectful of the time and care that someone put into her particular lace making. I quite simply can't tat or crochet. I have tried tatting, and I just can't get it, although needle tatting is possible. I also find that the circles made in tatting are too confining. If I don't know how to crochet, then people who see me demonstrating will believe me when I say that bobbin lace is easy. Therefore I do not learn.

This is probably as much as, or more, than most people want to know about bobbin lace and I have barely scratched the surface. Books have been written about the tools used in making bobbin lace or particular types of laces. For more information and examples you can visit the Pittsburgh Lace Group's web site www.pittsburghlacegroup.org or the web site of IOLI www.internationaloldlacers.org. I will be working on more about bobbin lace soon.