Needle lace is a type of lace created using a needle and thread to create hundreds of small stitches to form the lace itself.
Needle lace is a type of lace created using a needle and thread to create hundreds of small stitches to form the lace itself.
The origins of needle lace date back to the 15th century and embroidery. Cutwork and drawn work were developed to add interest to white on white embroidery, and the methods used in these techniques led to needle lace. [1] : 56–57 A second expert puts the development of needle lace in the following century, the 16th, in Italy, also stemming from embroidery, the openwork on linen technique called reticella . [2] To show off their wealth in that period in Italy, the aristocracy favored wearing rich cloth embellished by embroidery and braid. As the century progressed, the small areas that were cut from the fabric to highlight the needle lace were replaced by much larger areas of cutwork. The needlework was dependent on remaining threads running vertically and horizontally, leaving squares and rectangles, which led to geometric designs. [3] : 17
Venice was a center of needle lace making in the 1400s, as documented by official records. In the 1500s, city officials decreed that young men in Venice were prohibited from lace wearing until they had turned 25. [1] : 57–58 Lace was a prized possession, appearing in lists of people's assets. [1] : 57–58
A variety of styles developed where the work is started by securing heavier guiding threads onto a stiff background (such as thick paper) with stitches that can later be removed. The work is then built up using a variety of stitches—the most basic being a variety of buttonhole or blanket stitch. When the entire area is covered with the stitching, the stay-stitches are released and the lace comes away from the paper.
Needle lace is also used to create the fillings or insertions in cutwork. [4]
In its basic form, the only equipment and materials used are a needle, thread and scissors. Often there is a supporting substrate that is used to tether the outline stitches for the basic framework, and then many types of stitches will fill in the open spaces subsequently. [5] Many different needle lace styles and traditions have developed over the centuries, and distinctive stitches can characterize different styles. [6] Many needle lace texts are available to assist contemporary lacemakers to reproduce the classic stitches. [7] Modern lacemakers can also explore contemporary design and novel uses for needle lace beyond the traditional reproduction work. [8]
The Royal School of Needlework contains a stitch library of many types of stitching, including some needle lace techniques [9] . For example, Hollie Point structure and steps can be examined in detail. [10]
Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen on caps, hats, coats, overlays, blankets, dress shirts, denim, dresses, stockings, scarfs, and golf shirts. Embroidery is available in a wide variety of thread or yarn colour. It is often used to personalize gifts or clothing items.
Hardanger embroidery or "Hardangersøm" is a form of embroidery traditionally worked with white thread on white even-weave linen or cloth, using counted thread and drawn thread work techniques. It is sometimes called whitework embroidery.
Drawn thread work is one of the earliest forms of open work embroidery, and has been worked throughout Europe. Originally it was often used for ecclesiastical items and to ornament shrouds. It is a form of counted-thread embroidery based on removing threads from the warp and/or the weft of a piece of even-weave fabric. The remaining threads are grouped or bundled together into a variety of patterns. The more elaborate styles of drawn thread work use a variety of other stitches and techniques, but the drawn thread parts are their most distinctive element. It is also grouped with whitework embroidery because it was traditionally done in white thread on white fabric and is often combined with other whitework techniques.
Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is divided 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.
Crewel embroidery, or crewelwork, is a type of surface embroidery using wool. A wide variety of different embroidery stitches are used to follow a design outline applied to the fabric. The technique is at least a thousand years old.
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.
Needlepoint is a type of canvas work, a form of embroidery in which yarn is stitched through a stiff open weave canvas. Traditionally needlepoint designs completely cover the canvas. Although needlepoint may be worked in a variety of stitches, many needlepoint designs use only a simple tent stitch and rely upon color changes in the yarn to construct the pattern. Needlepoint is the oldest form of canvas work.
Chain stitch is a sewing and embroidery technique in which a series of looped stitches form a chain-like pattern. Chain stitch is an ancient craft – examples of surviving Chinese chain stitch embroidery worked in silk thread have been dated to the Warring States period. Handmade chain stitch embroidery does not require that the needle pass through more than one layer of fabric. For this reason the stitch is an effective surface embellishment near seams on finished fabric. Because chain stitches can form flowing, curved lines, they are used in many surface embroidery styles that mimic "drawing" in thread.
Darning is a sewing technique for repairing holes or worn areas in fabric or knitting using needle and thread alone. It is often done by hand, but using a sewing machine is also possible. Hand darning employs the darning stitch, a simple running stitch in which the thread is "woven" in rows along the grain of the fabric, with the stitcher reversing direction at the end of each row, and then filling in the framework thus created, as if weaving. Darning is a traditional method for repairing fabric damage or holes that do not run along a seam, and where patching is impractical or would create discomfort for the wearer, such as on the heel of a sock.
Armenian needlelace is a pure form of needle lace made using only a needle, thread and pair of scissors.
Filet lace is the general word used for all the different techniques of embroidery on knotted net. It is a hand made needlework created by weaving or embroidery using a long blunt needle and a thread on a ground of knotted net lace or filet work made of square or diagonal meshes of the same sizes or of different sizes. Lacis uses the same technique but is made on a ground of leno or small canvas.
Hollie point is an English needle lace noted for its use in baby clothes, particularly in the 18th century. It is also known as Holy point, because it was originally used in liturgical laces. The Puritans were the first to make common usage of Hollie point beginning in the reign of James I.
Youghal lace is a needle lace inspired by Italian needle lace and developed in Youghal, County Cork, Ireland.
Tenerife lace or "roseta canaria" is a needle lace from Canary Islands. The first name comes from the fact that the lace made on the islands was exported from that island. The origin of this lace is uncertain and it is not known on which island the technique was born.
Broderie anglaise is a whitework needlework technique incorporating features of embroidery, cutwork and needle lace that became associated with England, due to its popularity there in the 19th century.
Whitework embroidery is any embroidery technique in which the stitching is the same color as the foundation fabric. Styles of whitework embroidery include most drawn thread work, broderie anglaise, Hardanger embroidery, Hedebo embroidery, Mountmellick embroidery, reticella and Schwalm. Whitework embroidery is one of the techniques employed in heirloom sewing for blouses, christening gowns, baby bonnets, and other small articles.
Cutwork or cut work, also known as punto tagliato in Italian, is a needlework technique in which portions of a textile, typically cotton or linen, are cut away and the resulting "hole" is reinforced and filled with embroidery or needle lace.
Buttonhole stitch and the related blanket stitch are hand-sewing stitches used in tailoring, embroidery, and needle lace-making.
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.
The term Hedebo embroidery covers several forms of white embroidery which originated in the Hedebo (heathland) region of Zealand, Denmark, in the 1760s. The varied techniques which evolved over the next hundred years in the farming community were subsequently developed by the middle classes until around 1820. They were applied to articles of clothing such as collars and cuffs but were also used to decorate bed linen.
Lace types | |||||||||
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| Needle lace |
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| Bobbin lace |
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| Tape lace | |||||||||
| Crocheted lace | |||||||||
| Machine-made lace | |||||||||
| Other handmade laces | |||||||||
| Authority control databases: National |
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