Bobbin Lace Making - The Lace

 Back in about 1979 when I was newly married, a part work publication came out, with all sorts of lovely crafts in. I had always been interested in crafts so I subscribed to 'Busy Needles'. In these magazines (which I still have) there was sections on lacemaking, which I had seen done in Malta on a holiday, and which I thought I would like to learn. In those days we had a lovely craft shop in nearby Canterbury so I went over and bought a beginners round polystyrene pillow, some thread and a few bobbins. I covered the pillow with felt, and made a removable cover to go over the top. This was how my lacemaking adventure started :)

Some of my first attempts at making lace :)

I taught myself the basics of bobbin lacemaking from the lessons in the 'Busy Needles' and was very pleased with the results, in other words I was hooked on this as a hobby. At that time I was working in a small town Library, with occasional visits to a village Library nearby. One day a lady came in and asked if I was Val? I said yes, and it turned out that she had heard that I was interested in lacemaking and there was a small group of ladies thinking of starting up a lace group, was I interested in joining? Of course I was! I went to that lovely group for many years, we all shared happy evenings just simply making lace for a couple of hours a week

Samples, I try out a small piece of the pattern before I commit to it, these are Torchon and Beds lace samples.

The tiny piece of lace at the top left of these samples came from the Lace Magazine a long time ago. I love making this lace, it is tiny but so lovely to make, and was originally made in the Elizabethan times.  I have made various lengths of this lace - it has been used to trim a wdding dress, and recently a length of this lace was used as a ribbon round a teddy's neck at another wedding. I love this lace but I don't have any of it for myself yet!!

The Beds butterfly complete - half of it can be seen on the samples photo above :)

In our part of the country we had a lovely lace making teacher who was called Lee Ault, who did evening classes teaching the craft, but after a while she hired a room in the Library where I worked so I also joined her classes, and learnt how to make Honiton Lace, I think this was in the 1980's.

 

Honiton samples

Honiton Shepherd's crook

Honiton Butterfly with 'raised' top wings

Honiton flower, I love this it is a 'happy' flower :)

Honiton mouse on a wheat stem, I made this for my lovely Mum, when she passed away my Dad gave it back to me. It has been on my wall ever since :)

I am not sure if I would be able to make Honiton Lace these days, you need good eyesight, and now I am getting older the lace seems to get smaller LOL

Also around that time lacemaking was enjoying a resurgance, there were lots of lovely Lace Days, where you could meet fellow lace makers and spend your hard earned money! I can remember going to one Lace Day driving through quite thick snow to get there, and on another occasion my friend and I travelled to a Lace Day the day after the Great Storm of 1978, avoiding fallen trees etc. just so we didn't miss one of these lovely days :)

More samples, the edging for my pin cushion is shown centre top, the piece in the middle and at the bottom show my first attempts at making leaves 

By 1990 I had tried Torchon, Beds, Bucks and Honiton Lace, I had a growing collection of lovely lace bobbins, a new home made block pillow, a bobbin winder and a lacemakers lamp, and lots of tools to help with the hobby. More about these will be in the next blog :)

An early piece of my lace, I painted the flower to go in the centre too :)

I started a beautiful Bedfordshire hanky with lots of 'leaves' in it, I hadn't long been making this when I found out I was expecting our first child, who turned out to be our lovely daughter who is now 29! I got 3/4 of the way round the hanky edging by the time our daughter was born. A new baby takes a lot of time, and it took me 6 months to do the last 1/4 of the edging. It is far and away the nicest piece of lace that I have made, I am waiting for our daughter to get married so she can use it on her wedding day, but no sign of that yet. 

The practise piece for the hanky below is at the bottom of this photo :)

The Hanky!! Luckily my leaves had improved a lot by the time I made this. It took me two years to make, I take it out and look at it every now and then - did I really make this??? 

My son came along a few years later, and sadly the lace pillows, bobbins etc. were all safely put away. Small children, lace making bobbins and pins just do not mix!. I had to do some sort of hobby, so turned to cross stitch and knitting while the children were growing up, but hoped that one day I would get back to my lacemaking.

Binche lace samples, I am hoping to do some more of this when I can. 

The next blog will cover the equipment used and of course the bobbins :)

Bobbin Lace Making - the equipment and bobbins

Following on from the last blog, these bobbins and equipment have been collected over a number of years. I can drool over lace bobbins for a long time!! 

Midland bobbins complete with Spangles - the ring of beads are to add weight to the bobbins and to stop them rolling around whilst making the lace. The two bobbins at the bottom of the photo are known as 'Mother and Baby' as there are tiny bobbins in the shank. These are all bone bobbins.

My present block lace pillow, made for me by my lovely husband. The wooden roller is for winding lengths of lace on to keep it clean. It is made from a piece of Lignum Vitae, again made for me by my husband :)

Pin cushion edged with lace, both made by me a long time ago! the pin cushion is stuffed with unwashed sheeps wool and iron filings. The uunwashed sheeps wool contains  lanolin, and the iron filings help to keep the brass pins sharp and shiny :) I have to admit I have washed this a few times so probably the lanolin is long gone, but my pins are rust free and nice and sharp :)

My lovely bobbin winder, these are no longer made, I am so pleased I got this when I did :)

Another view of the bobbin winder.

Once the bobbins are wound, I hang them on this bobbin holder (again made by my lovely husband)  until needed to start the pattern

Lots of wound bobbins ready to start a new piece.

The pricking (pattern) - I photocopy the pricking, cut it to shape, glue it to thin card (pricking card) and cover it with matt blue film. Using a needle in a holder I prick each hole in the pricking. The needle is pushed into the beeswax every few pricks to help the needle go through the card.

As you can see I use a simple cork mat to do my prickings, I do pin the pricking to the board to do this!

The pricking attached to the pillow, and some pins in place. I fact I didn't finish this piece, it is a fan, I will go back to it and try again soon :)

On to the bobbins :)

All lacemakers love bobbins, most of these are bone, gathered over quite a few years. I do have a large number of wooden bobbins too, I think I have about 600 bobbins all together, but the bone ones always get used first!!

The two wooden bobbins in this photo are holding the gimp thread, which runs round the motifs in some laces to give definition.

The top bobbin in this photo is an antique one, it gives me real pleasure using old bobbins, to know that a lacemaker maybe used them over a hundred years ago is very special :)

A modern lace makers lamp, the flask is filled with water, placed in the lamp, when the candle is lit it shines through the water to give a pool of light. The candle can be raised and lowered to get the flame shining through the water. I have used this and it does work, I didn't want to fill the flask with water now, as it is difficult to get it dry, and is very delicate. With two cats in the house I decided to explain how it works rather than show it in action.

This is the lace I am working on right now, for years I only did bits of lace, but thanks to the Lockdown and the fact that I am now retired I am thoroughly enjoying the continuation of my 'Lace Journey' and I am thrilled that this craft is still alive and well, and there are new lacemakers coming along all the time.

Happy Lacemaking everyone :)