Of all the different kinds of thread, so frequently alluded to in these pages, the higher numbers of Fil d’Alsace D.M.C and Fil à dentelle D.M.C are the best for the finer kinds of lace, and they all have the soft ivory tint, we so admire in the old needlework.
Spray in needle-point (fig. [830]).—Needle-point lace, also called Brussels lace, requires the same preparatory work as Venetian lace; but it seldom contains such a variety of stitches and openwork as the latter.
Fig. 830. Spray in needle-point.
Materials—For the open stitches: Fil à dentelle D.M.C No. 200.—For the outlining: Coton surfin D.M.C Nos. 120 to 150.[A]
The flowers are generally worked in one of the stitches, represented in figs. [720] and [740]; the outlines are less thickly button-holed and the stitches, set everywhere less closely.
Here also, the finished parts should be carefully covered with paper to keep them from getting soiled.
The needle-point lace designs are ordinarily speaking more realistic and as regards the composition, less artistic and severe than the Venetian point ones.
The spray, represented in our engraving, is a specimen of an ordinary Brussels lace pattern and of the stitches it is worked in.