---
title: "Picot"
description: "A picot is a small loop worked along the edge of lace or fabric, either made with the piece or sewn on separately."
type: Glossary
url: https://teazle.art/glossary/picot
published: 2026-10-17
updated: 2026-10-17
author: "The Teazle editors"
---

# Picot

*A picot is a small loop worked along the edge of lace or fabric, either made with the piece or sewn on separately.*

A picot is a small loop worked along an edge. The Textile Research Centre in Leiden defines it as a series of small loops, also known as bobs, along the edge of a fabric or a piece of lace. The word comes from the French *pic*, meaning to peak, point or prick.

Where do picots appear?

A nineteenth-century needlework dictionary, by Caulfeild and Saward (1882), says that lace has two edges: the outer rim, which is scalloped or plain and ornamented with picots, and the footing used to sew the lace to the fabric. In needle lace picots also decorate the bars that join separate motifs. The same dictionary notes that the crochet picot imitates the look of the one made in needle lace.

Why do picots matter when judging lace?

Leiden says a picot can be made as part of the main fabric or produced separately and sewn onto the ground. In Leiden's pairs of handmade and machine laces, both versions had picots. In the handmade pieces the edge was created together with the lace, while in the machine copies it was made separately and added later. So the question is not whether a lace has picots, but how they are attached.


## Sources

1. [Picot](https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/techniques/lace-making/picot). Textile Research Centre, Leiden
2. [Edge; Picot](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/picot