Needle lace
Needle lace is lace built up stitch by stitch with a needle and a single thread, usually over a design laid down on parchment or fabric.
Needle lace is made with an ordinary sewing needle and one thread. The lacemaker builds the design out of looped stitches, mostly variations of buttonhole stitch, so the lace is a kind of embroidery that no longer needs a fabric underneath it.
Where does it come from?
Needle lace grew out of cutwork in sixteenth-century Europe. In reticella the stitches still filled holes cut in linen; in punto in aria, Italian for “stitch in air”, they were worked free of any woven ground. Printed pattern books spread the designs across Europe.
How is it different from bobbin lace?
Bobbin lace is made with many threads that are twisted and braided, not with a needle. Needle lace tends to show dense, knotted-looking stitches, and its outlines are often raised with an extra padding thread.
Sources
- Reticella. Textile Research Centre, Leiden
- A lace in the fabric of history: a brief history of lace. Maryland Center for History and Culture
- Punto in Aria. Wikipedia
See also
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