Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is split into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted or crocheted lace. Other laces such as these are considered as a category of their specific craft. Knitted lace, therefore, is an example of knitting. This article considers both needle lace and bobbin lace.
Bobbin lace is a lace textile made by braiding and twisting lengths of thread, which are wound on bobbins to manage them. As the work progresses, the weaving is held in place with pins set in a lace pillow, the placement of the pins usually determined by a pattern or pricking pinned on the pillow.
The Aosta Valley is a mountainous autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France, to the west, Valais, Switzerland, to the north, and by Piedmont, Italy, to the south and east. The regional capital is Aosta.
Aostan French is the variety of French spoken in the Aosta Valley, Italy.
Aosta Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Aosta, in north-west Italy, built in the 4th century. It is the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Aosta.
Ayas is a comune sparso in the Aosta Valley region of northwestern Italy, with 1359 inhabitants in 2010.
Charvensod is a town and comune in the Aosta Valley region of northwestern Italy.
Aoste is a commune in the Isère department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France.
Torchon lace is a bobbin lace that was made all over Europe. It is continuous, with the pattern made at the same time as the ground. Typical basic stitches include whole stitch, half stitch, and twists, and common motifs include spiders and fans. Torchon lace was notable historically for being coarse and strong, as well as consisting of simple geometric patterns and straight lines. It did not use representational designs, for the most part.
Binche lace is a type of bobbin lace that originated in the town of Binche, Belgium. It is continuous, meaning it is made all at once, in one piece. It is generally made in strips 2 inches (5 cm) wide. Though typically it has no cordonnet outlining the design against the ground, occasional pieces are made with a very fine one, about the same thickness as the thread used in the pattern. The pattern in Binche lace is very detailed, with animal scenes and figures.
Valdôtain is a dialect of Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) spoken in the Aosta Valley in Italy, and the common language of the Aosta Valley. It is commonly known as patois or patoué. It is not an official language, the two regional official languages being French and Italian, though it is officially recognized.
Aosta railway station is the main station serving the city and comune of Aosta, in the autonomous region of Aosta Valley, northwestern Italy. Opened in 1886, it forms part of the Chivasso–Ivrea–Aosta railway, and is also a junction station for a branch line to the nearby Pré-Saint-Didier comune, in the Valdigne, on the way towards Courmayeur.
Mundillo is a craft of handmade bobbin lace that is cultivated and honored on the island of Puerto Rico and Panama.
Amé Gorret (1836-1907), known in his native Aosta Valley as the "Abbé Gorret", was a priest and Alpinist (mountaineer).
Lace machines took over the commercial manufacture of lace during the nineteenth century.
Mesh grounded lace is a continuous bobbin lace also known as straight lace. Continuous bobbin lace is made in one piece on a lace pillow. The threads of the ground enter motifs, then leave to join the ground again further down the process, all made in one go. This is different from part lace, where the motifs are created separately, then joined together afterwards.
Bobbin lace ground is the regular small mesh filling the open spaces of continuous bobbin lace. Other names for bobbin lace ground are net or réseau. The precise course of the threads and the resultant shape of the ground are an important diagnostic feature in lace identification, as different lace styles use different grounds.
Léon-Clément Gérard was a churchman in the Val d'Aoste who became a cathedral canon in nearby Aosta. Within the church he came to prominence as a controversialist, notably on account of his long-standing record of theological and very public feuding with Félix Orsières to whose polemical Liberal Catholicism Gérard, alongside his colleagues within the Aosta cathedral establishment, he was strongly opposed. His church career culminated in his appointment as diocesan archpriest. It is, however, on account of his activities as a prolific writer, in particular of religious and regional publications, that he came to wider prominence.
The Testa di Comagna is a 2,106 metres high peak on the Italian side of the Pennine Alps.
The secret practice, or practice of secrecy, is a folk healing practice, encountered in some European countries, particularly in Francophone Alpine communities, such as Romand Switzerland and Aosta Valley, and probably dating back to the Christian Middle Ages.
