XX
EASY LACE STITCHES, FAGOTTING, SINGLE MESH, DOUBLE MESH, SPIDERS, FAN, MALTESE CROSS, TWISTED AND BUTTONHOLED BARS, PICOTS FOR SIMPLE EDGES
One of our best authorities on lace has said that there are over one hundred different stitches used in lace. Now there are various kinds of laces; there are crochetted, bobbin, as well as needle point laces. It is about two branches of needlework laces—Renaissance and point—that we will talk about in this chapter.
Fig. 187A. Fagotting and feather-stitching on a cap
Renaissance lace is made by basting a flat braid on a given pattern and filling the spaces between with simple lace stitches. Point lace is made of very fine plain braid with much finer thread and more elaborate stitches.
The basting of the braid is extremely important. Sometimes only a single line is given to indicate where the braid will be, while again a double line is shown. The braid must not be wider than the double lines. It may be basted so that the side held toward you will be the right side of the lace or vice versa. Start from one corner of the design, turn over one end of the braid an eighth of an inch. For coarse work one row of basting stitches through the centre of the braid is sufficient but for fine work baste along both edges of the braid.
In basting around a loop the inner edge of the braid will have to be gathered. This may be done in two ways: the first by pulling a thread or by running a thread on the edge. At a sharp point the braid will have to be turned.
The preferred method of working the lace is to have the right side facing you. In starting to braid turn up one eighth inch of braid and start from a point so that the end may be covered later.