The Lace Notes

Thread by Thread: The Quiet Meditation of Bobbin Lace

There’s a hush that falls when I sit down to make lace. Not the silence of emptiness, but the kind that comes when everything is exactly where it should be. It begins, as it always does, with the patt…

No Instant Lacemakers: The Quiet Power of Practice

There’s a saying we’ve all heard a hundred times, often scribbled on primary school walls or murmured during childhood piano lessons: practice makes perfect.

What to Do When You Lose Your Craft Mojo

For Mental Health Awareness Week As Mental Health Awareness Week draws to a close, the truth is that the conversations it opens up need to keep going. Struggles don’t check a calendar. They don’t pack…

A Fragile Thread: Why Bobbin Lacemaking Must Not Be Lost

There’s something quiet but deeply stirring about the sound of bobbins clicking gently on a pillow, the soft rhythm of threads crossing and twisting as fingers work in harmony with patterns passed dow…

Bobbin materials

In a recent post on Lace Bobbins - Find the Maker , I posted about having chosen to work with wooden bobbins on a short piece.

Bobbin & spangle sizes

When I first started to make lace in the heady days of the late 1980s I was obsessed with buying big, bulky east midlands bobbins and having heavy spangles with 7 main beads on them.

To film or not to film, a brief history of pricking making

Why do we prick out patterns? Pre-pricking a pattern ensures that your lines are clean and straight. It is easier to get accurate holes for your pins, when you pre-prick. So, if your lines aren't as s…

To pair or not to pair ... now that is a question

Although bobbins sit on your pillow in pairs, I often see newbie lacemakers asking whether or not they need to have identical bobbins to make up that pair.

Tess & The Professor - the online digital archive of weaving and lacemaking

Back in May 1999, Professor Ralph E Griswold began a project to create a home for scanned documents relating to weaving, including lacemaking. This came about due to his retirement. He started to rese…

When a lacemaker's thoughts turn to weddings ...

There comes a point in most lacemaker's lives when someone they love wants to get married.

What should I get when I buy a pattern or why you should not expect instructions with every pattern

I've had a number of conversations with people both in person or on line about what to expect when you buy a lace pattern.

How much should I really pay for a second hand lace book

As I work through my books and add them to the book blog , I have been amazed at the different prices I've paid for my books, over the years.

Why do lacemakers use brass pins or what I've learnt from being given pillows with stainless steel pins in them.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been dealing with a large donation of lace equipment.

Cloth Stitch / Whole Stitch / and I'm so confused

When I learnt to make lace, in the 80s, cloth stitch and whole stitch were the same and are described that way in many of the UK published books.

Buying bobbins on eBay

Having just picked up some lovely bone bobbins on ebay, I thought it might be time to offers some advice about buying second hand modern bobbins. So here are my top tips on buying second hand on eBay …

Copyright and why I don't offer to copy the patterns in my personal library

I've spent the past 30 years collecting lacemaking books and patterns. There are over 200 books now and about the same number of patterns.

Adult Education in the UK and why it was more than just learning to make lace

Adult Education services in the UK played an important role in educational development for women; not just craft courses but access to qualifications. The revival of these services aimed at women in t…

Colour - do you add to the passives or the weavers

Adding colour to your work can be fun and bring in a way to personalise a piece that you want to make for a gift. Understanding where you.

Let's Talk About Pewter and Lace Bobbins

Pewter is an alloy, in other words, different metals are mixed to make a new metal.

Coddiwompling

When you start out as a lacemaker you have no idea which lace style will become your true love.

Why don't you sell some of your lace for our charity event?

Pillows

Clockwise or Anti-Clockwise

English lace has the footside on the right (apart from Downton lace). So, making a round or square piece we work anti clockwise.

Keeping Up Your Enthusiasm

When I took my first lace lessons back in 1988 (in Willesden Telephone Exchange - long story), I was fascinated with the thought of making miniature lace (long before Ros Snowdon's books came out) as …