Encyclopedia of Needlework

by Thérèse de Dillmont

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.

Fig. 783. Position and movements of the hands.

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].