Chapter 28

Fig. 764 shows how to fill in a round space with net stitches. It will be observed that the loop which begins the row, has the thread of the loop with which it terminates, wound round it, which thread then passes on to the second series of stitches. In the same manner you pass to the third row after which you pick up all the loops and fasten off the thread by working back to the braid edge over all the rows of loops, following the course indicated by the dotted line.

Fig. 765 shows how to finish a row of loops with wheels worked upon three threads only. In the first row, you make a wheel over each bar; in the second, you make a bar between every two wheels; in the third, the wheels are only made over every second bar; a fourth row of bars which you pick up with a thread completes the interior of the circle, then you work along the bars with overcasting stitches, fig. 766, to carry the thread back to the edge of the braid where you fasten it off.

NEEDLE-MADE PICOTS (figs. 767, 768, 769).—The edges and outlines of Irish lace are generally bordered with picots, which as we have already said can be bought ready-made (see fig. 692). They are not however very strong and we cannot recommend them for lace that any one has taken the pains to make by hand.

In fig. 767, the way to make picots all joined together is described. You begin, as in fig. 762, by a knot, over which the thread is twisted as indicated in the engraving.

It is needless to repeat that the loops should all be knotted in a line, all be of the same length and all the same distance apart.

Fig. 768 represents the kind of needle-made picots which most resemble the machine-made ones, and fig. 769 show us the use of little scallops surmounted by picots, made in bullion stitch.

One or two rows of lace stitch fig. 736, or the first rows of figs. 749, 750, can also be used in the place of picots.

IRISH LACE (fig. 770).—English braids or those braids which are indicated at the foot of the engraving must be tacked down on to the pattern and gathered on the inside edge, wherever the lines are curved, as explained in fig. 693; in cases however where only Lacet superfin D.M.C[A] is used, the needle should be slipped in underneath the outside threads, so that the thread with which you draw in the braid be hidden.

The braids are joined together where they meet with a few overcasting stitches, as shown in the illustration.

Here, we find one of the lace stitches used instead of picots; the first row of fig. 736 always makes a nice border for Irish lace.

IRISH LACE (fig. 771).—This pattern, which is more complicated and takes more time and stitches than the preceding one, can also be executed with one or other of the braids mentioned at the beginning of the chapter; but it looks best made with a close braid.

The bars, which in the illustration are simply button-holed may also be ornamented with picots of one kind or another; the interior spaces of the figure on the left can be filled, instead of with corded bars, with one of the lace stitches we have described, either fig. 720, 721, or 732, any one of which is suitable for filling in small spaces like these.

In the figure on the right, the ring of braid may be replaced by close button-hole stitches, made over several foundation threads or over one thick thread, such as Fil à pointer D.M.C No. 10 or 20[A] to make them full and round.

You begin the ring on the inside and increase the number of stitches as the circumference increases.

Any of the stitches, from fig. 720 to fig. 743, can be introduced here.

IRISH LACE (fig. 772).—Here we find one of the fillings above alluded to, fig. 751, used as a ground for the flowers and leaves. For the design itself some of the closer stitches described in this chapter, should be selected. When the actual lace, is finished you sew upon the braid a thin cord, made of écru Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C, as described in the chapter on different kinds of fancy work. Cords of this kind can be had ready made, but the hand-made ones are much to be preferred, being far softer and more supple than the machine-made.

IRISH LACE (fig. 773).—This lace, more troublesome than the preceding ones to make, is also much more valuable and effective. The ground is composed entirely of bars, like the ones described in fig. 761, the branches, true to the character of the work are worked in the close stitch represented in fig. 755, and the flowers in double net stitch, fig. 721.

In working the above fillings, the thread must not, as in lace made with braid, be carried on from one point to the other by overcasting stitches along the braid edges, but should be drawn out horizontally through the cord and back again the same way, giving the needle in so doing a slightly slanting direction.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] See at the end of the concluding chapter, the table of numbers and sizes and the list of colours of the D.M.C threads and cottons.

Laces of different kinds.

In general, to the uninitiated, the word «lace» signifies exclusively the delicate and elaborate fabrics that owe their origin to Venice and the Netherlands and were thence imported into other countries. But besides Venetian, French, English, Chantilly, Brussels, Sedan point, names familiar to every one, there are all kinds of other laces, likewise of great antiquity, and named as the above are, after the country they belong to.

As it would be impossible in these pages to give a comprehensive account of them all, we have restricted ourselves to such as seem more especially suited to the amateur, to whom needlework is a mere recreation and pastime.

Worked like the above-named entirely with the needle, but much less elaborate and minute in character and workmanship, they are quicker and easier to make and we are sure that by the help of the directions that accompany the illustrations, any careful worker will be able to imitate them without difficulty.

MATERIALS.—It will be observed that we do not bind ourselves in the following directions to one size of cotton, that as in point of fact, one and the same piece of work can be executed in either fine or coarse cotton, we have only indicated the most suitable kind of material to use: as for instance for Armenian lace, Fil à pointer D.M.C[A] or Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C[A], for Smyrna or knotted lace, Fil à pointer D.M.C, Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C and Fil à dentelle D.M.C[A], for Reticella and Venetian lace, Fil d’Alsace D.M.C[A], for Brussels lace, the finest numbers of Fil à dentelle and for pillow lace, any one of those enumerated, excepting Coton à broder surfin.

PILLOW LACE AND THE NECESSARY ARTICLES FOR ITS MANUFACTURE.—Pillow lace derives its name from the cushion or pillow on which all bobbin lace is made, which distinguishes it from point lace, so-called because it consists of «points» or stitches made with a needle and thread.

Various articles are required for the making of pillow lace; in the first place a cushion or pillow, then bobbins and a winder, parchment patterns, pins and a pricker.

THE LACE PILLOW (figs. 774, 775, 776).—The pillows used for pillow lace are of different kinds and vary in shape with where the country, and the manner in which the lace is made.

Fig. 774 represents the shape in use in the mountains of Bohemia and Saxony, where pillow lace has always been one of the chief industries of the inhabitants. Any one can make a cushion of this kind themselves with a piece of stuff, 60 c/m. long and 40 wide. The long sides are firmly sewn together and the short ones turned in with a narrow hem through which you run a cord to draw them up. A disc of stout cardboard is put inside the case after you have gathered up the one end; you then stuff the case as full as possible with bran, sawdust or horsehair, lay a second disc of cardboard in at the top and draw up the other end.

These pillows are then put into cardboard boxes with rather high sides, or into a kind of basket, weighted at the bottom, to keep it firm and steady. Pillows of this most primitive kind have the great advantage of being perfectly easy to make.

Fig. 775 represents a pillow of a more complicated kind, which can be stood upon the table or mounted on a stand. The cylinder is movable so that you can go on working without interruption.

The whole apparatus consists of a board or stand, 50 c/m. long and 40 wide, resting upon two transverse pieces of wood, 3½ c/m. high behind and 1 c/m. in front.

The board should be covered, first with a very thick flannel or Bath coating and then with a fine dark green flannel or cloth.

Two small supports are fixed on to the outside edge of the stand to hold the cylinder, which consists of two discs that revolve on a rod about 22 c/m. long.

This rod should be covered, in the first place with a thick layer of tow and then with flannel or cloth.

On the left side of the cylinder is a cog-wheel and a metal spring is attached to the board, by means of which the wheel is prevented from turning the wrong way.

Fig. 776 shows how the bobbins are placed upon the pillow. In Normandy a kind of stuffed box is used instead of a pillow. The board is 3 c/m. higher behind than in front and is deeply grooved to hold the cylinder, which is stuffed and shaped like the one represented in fig. 775.

This cylinder scarcely projects above the stand, a second groove in the back edge receives the lace as it is worked off the cylinder.

The pillows used for Valenciennes lace are of again a different construction, but as it is not our intention in the present work to describe the finer kinds of lace it appeared superfluous to give any illustration of the pillows on which they are made.

THE BOBBINS (fig. 777).—A bobbin is a sort of little wooden spool with a handle to it; there are several varieties of them but we have confined ourselves to a representation of the kind considered best for beginners.

As a considerable number are wanted for every pattern and they are apt to slip about and get entangled in inexperienced hands, they are now to be had with the handles weighted with lead to steady them and counteract any independent motion of their own. We cannot help again laying great stress on the importance of seeing that the size of the bobbins and the number of the cotton be well assorted to the kind of lace.

THE WINDER (fig. 778).—Every one who means to take the work seriously should provide themselves with a winder, as here represented, which is affixed to a polished wooden stand.

This stand has to be firmly screwed to the table and the bobbin is squeezed in between the two little rods fitted into the supports at the left end of the stand; one of these rods serves as the axle to the little wheel, the other can be drawn in and out and fitted to the length of the bobbin.

When the bobbin is fixed in its place, you take the thread in the left hand and wind it round it, turning the wheel with the right hand from right to left in the direction indicated by the arrow.

The thread is wound round the handles of the bobbins that are used for making very fine lace, and a wooden shield that is so contrived that you can slip it over the handle prevents the thread from getting soiled.

STOPPAGE OF THE THREAD AT THE END OF THE BOBBIN (fig. 779).—After cutting off the thread, you make a loop close to the top of the bobbin to prevent it from unwinding too easily. This loop is formed by taking the bobbin in the right hand, the thread between the fourth and fifth fingers of the left hand and laying it away from you round the left thumb; then lifting up the bottom thread with the second finger of the left hand you pass the bobbin upwards from below through the loop on the left hand.

MACHINE FOR CROSSING THE THREADS (fig. 780).—This ingenious little machine is of great assistance in making straight running patterns and Irish lace braids, and is particularly useful for Russian lace and braid lace of all kinds.

It renders the even crossing of the threads in those parts of a pattern that imitate linen in texture comparatively easy.

Two implements like combs, fitting into one another, and movable, are mounted at two thirds of their length on a steel axle. The long teeth have holes bored through the ends, from the sides to the middle of the points and through these holes the threads from the bobbins are passed.

The short teeth also are pierced with transverse holes, through which a needle with the threads threaded in the long teeth resting upon it, is passed. The points of the short teeth are covered with a hollow metal cylinder, split through from end to end, which can be removed when new threads have to be added.

When the threads are all on, a small spring is fixed to the two ends of the axle, which is independent of the machine, and the two ends of the spring are introduced into the hollow of the cylinder.

By the pressure you exercise on the teeth in the cylinder, the long teeth change their position, the lower ones rise and the upper ones fall and the threads cross each other, as in a loom. After each movement of the machine, the bobbin that makes the woof must be passed between the crossed threads; the edges are made like those of any other kind of lace.

Fig. 781 explains how the bobbins are passed between the threads that are held between the teeth of the machine.

THE PATTERN.—The pattern is one of the most important things in making pillow lace.

The outlines must be clear and exact, as upon that in great measure the perfection of the lace depends.

The drawing transferred to parchment, paper or cardboard, usually of a yellowish tint, should be lined with a very thin stuff such as muslin to prevent its tearing.

A stripe of quadrille, or point paper as it is called, should be laid upon the pattern and then holes pricked with a medium-sized needle at every intersection of the lines.

All the curved long lines of the pattern must first be traced upon the point paper with ink and then pricked.

The pattern should be adapted to the thickness of the thread the lace is to be made of; for a coarse lace large point paper should be used and small, for the finer kinds of lace. The pricking of the pattern beforehand is particularly important in the case of the common torchon lace, where the real beauty of the design consists in its regularity; in the case of fine close patterns the pricking can only be done as you proceed.

Prickers and holders of the kind represented in fig. 782 or very much resembling it, are to be had at every stationer’s shop.

The holes made by the prickers are to receive the pins, stuck in as you go along, round which you form and by which these are kept in their place.

The pins must be long, with round heads and of a size suited to the thread. When your pattern is ready fasten it to the pillow or cylinder as the case may be, stretching it as smoothly as possible and being careful in so doing to fit the lines of the pattern together. If it be too long it must be cut to the required length or you may make the cylinder bigger by wrapping several folds of flannel round it.

The value of lace depends not only on the work but on the thread it is made of; all the D.M.C cottons[A] can be recommended for lace-making and coloured laces of all kinds are greatly improved by the addition of a little Chiné d’or D.M.C or Or fin D.M.C pour la broderie.[A]

POSITION AND MOVEMENTS OF THE HANDS (fig. 783).—Pillow lace is always made with two pairs of bobbins at once and the «stitches» are formed by the different ways of passing, plaiting, crossing and twisting the threads.

To begin with the simplest operation, making a plait, hang 2 pairs of bobbins to a pin, take 2 bobbins in each hand and lay the right bobbin of each pair over its left fellow and draw up the threads slightly. Then take the bobbins in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers of the right hand and with the same fingers of the left, lay the 2nd bobbin over the 3rd with the 2nd and 3rd fingers of the left, so that the two middle bobbins are crossed, then take the 4th bobbin in the 2nd and 3rd fingers of the right hand and the bobbin that is now the 2nd, in the 3rd and 4th fingers of the left hand and lay the former over the 3rd, the latter over the 1st. This constitutes a «half passing».

The plait, fig. 784, is formed by the repetition of the half passing. Two half passings make a whole or «double passing».

On the kind of lace you are making, depends how many pairs of bobbins you will have to use. But as one part of the lace is often made before the other, or you have to put on supernumerary bobbins, you fasten up those not in use on one side with pins, as shown in fig. 783.

NET PATTERN OR GROUND (figs. 785 and 786).—This consists of half passings, worked in rows to and fro; the pins are stuck in at the end of each row.

The pattern, fig. 785, is fastened upon the pillow and 6 pins are stuck in at the top, at regular intervals from each other; hang one pair of bobbins on every pin and lay the second bobbin of each pair over its fellow, so that the threads cross each other.

1 half passing with the 1st and 2nd pair = lay the 1st pair aside = 1 half passing with the 2nd and 3rd pair = lay the 2nd pair aside = 1 half passing with the 3rd and 4th pair = lay the 3rd pair aside = 1 half passing with the 4th and 5th pair = lay the 4th pair aside = 1 half passing with the 5th and 6th pair = stick in a pin at point 2, then work back from right to left = surround the pin with a half passing made with the 5th and 6th pair = lay the 6th pair aside = 1 half passing with the 5th and 4th pair = lay the 5th pair aside = 1 half passing with the 4th and 3rd pairs = lay the 4th pair aside = 1 half passing with the 3rd and 2nd pair = lay the 3rd pair aside = 1 half passing with the 2nd and 1st pair = stick in a pin at point 3 and repeat from the beginning.

Fig. 786 shows the net ground completed; the thread that runs to and fro, to make it more clear, is represented in a darker shade than the others.

Before proceeding further, it is as well to prepare our readers for the many trials they will have to make, even with the help of the most minute explanations, before they succeed in carrying out the directions; for the whole art of making pillow lace lies in a manual dexterity, only attainable by practice.

Even copying the patterns from description is only possible at first in a qualified sense; the surest way of attaining a satisfactory result is by constantly comparing the drawing and the work in progress and wherever the latter does not correspond with the former, trying at once to rectify the difference.

LINEN OR CLOTH GROUND.—The pattern used for net passing can also be used for linen passing or ground but 7 pins, instead of 6, have to be stuck in at the top first. As in net passing, you work first from left to right, running 2 threads to and fro in perfectly horizontal lines, so as to produce a ground resembling linen in its texture.

The threads that run to and fro are held at the edge with pins and changed by a half passing, so that the one that was first in going, is first also in returning.

The use of the machine for crossing the threads is especially to be recommended in working linen ground; by pressing the short branches of the machine, the position of the threads is changed and the bobbin is pushed through; by a second pressure the second bobbin is driven through, the pin is stuck in for the picot or the cord, when the bobbins are taken back again, four movements being thus all that is required.

PLAIN HOLE GROUND (figs. 787 and 788).—Hole ground can be worked in various ways; we will begin by describing the plain hole ground, which as a rule forms the ground of all torchon laces. After fixing the pattern, as represented in fig. 787, upon the pillow, stick in 5 pins, hang 2 pairs of bobbins on to each and throw the 2nd bobbin of each pair over its fellow = 1 half passing with the 2nd and 3rd pairs = put up a pin at point 1 = 1 half passing with the same pair = this encloses the pin = lay the 3rd pair aside = 1 half passing with the 2nd and 1st pair = put up a pin at point 2 = enclose it with the same pairs = 1 half passing with the 5th and 4th pair = put up a pin at point 3 = enclose it with the same pairs = lay the 5th pair aside = 1 half passing the 4th and 3rd pair = put up the pin at point 4 = enclose the same = lay the 4th pair aside = work on in the same way over points 5 and 6 = 1 half passing with the 6th and 7th pair = put up the pin at point 7 = enclose the same = work on in the same way over points 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 = 1 half passing with the 8th and 9th pair = put up the pin at point 31 = enclose the same = work on over points 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 = 1 half passing with the 9th and 10th pair = put up the pin at point 21 = enclose the same and proceed as in the preceding rows, from point 22 to 29.

Hole ground with twisted thread is made in the same way we have just been describing, only that after every half passing enclosing the pin, each pair of bobbins is twisted once. A ground which is worked in this way is stronger than the other. Twisted hole ground is seen again in figs. 792 and 794.

WHEELS IN HOLE GROUND (figs. 789 and 790).—For the wheels, which are often worked on pillow-made grounds, 4, 6, 8 pairs of bobbins, sometimes even more are used (see likewise fig. 801).