---
title: "Cordonnet"
description: "Cordonnet is the thread that outlines the motifs of a lace; in needle lace it is a raised, closely buttonholed rim worked over padding."
type: Glossary
url: https://teazle.art/glossary/cordonnet
published: 2026-10-17
updated: 2026-10-17
author: "The Teazle editors"
---

# Cordonnet

*Cordonnet is the thread that outlines the motifs of a lace; in needle lace it is a raised, closely buttonholed rim worked over padding.*

Cordonnet is the thread that outlines the motifs of a lace. The word is French, and the Textile Research Centre in Leiden describes it as a thick cotton or silk thread used to outline lace designs, in both handmade and machine forms.

How is it made in needle lace?

In needle lace the cordonnet is a raised rim. A nineteenth-century needlework dictionary, by Caulfeild and Saward (1882), describes it as closely buttonholed over a padding of coarse thread, so that its thickness depends on how much padding was run in. The same dictionary also uses the word for the outer edge of needle lace, which is ornamented with [picots](https://teazle.art/glossary/picot.md). Leiden adds that an outline may also be worked in chain stitch, running stitch or couching, and that a cordonnet thread was used in Mechlin and in [Chantilly lace](https://teazle.art/glossary/chantilly-lace.md).

How does it help identify lace?

Leiden's terminology page uses *gimp* for the thick thread that outlines parts of the design, mostly seen in bobbin lace. In its comparison pairs the outline of a machine lace was sometimes darned in by hand, so it looks very like the handmade one. A convincing outline therefore does not prove that a lace is handmade. Whether the outline shows on both sides, or only on the front, is a better clue.


## Sources

1. [Cordonnet](https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/materials/woven-and-interlocking-materials/cordonnet). Textile Research Centre, Leiden
2. [Cord; Cordonnet; Edge](https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofneed001caul). Caulfeild and Saward, The Dictionary of Needlework (1882)
3. [Lace Identification: 7 Examples](https://www.trc-leiden.nl/trc-digital-exhibition/index.php/lace-identification-7-examples). Textile Research Centre, Leiden

Canonical: https://teazle.art/glossary/cordonnet