Learning to make Lace

To start the process making my lace collar, I first had to learn how to even make it. Every article or instructional video I saw was very lengthy and complicated, requiring you to know basic and even some other harder stitches, as well as already owning some precise and sometimes even expensive equipment. All I had was a couple of embroidery hoops, needles and thread. 

I had already ruled out bobbin lace as my method of production, because as well as learning how to make, I would also have to buy a special lace pillow, pins and quite a few bobbins. This would be too much for me to do in a couple of weeks, as well as be too expensive. I then settled on needle lace. 

During my research, needle lace seemed out of my depth as many sources stated it being harder than bobbin lace, however it was easier for me to start straight away as I didn't need any extra equipment, or to waste time trying to find and purchase said equipment. I then found an amazing tutorial on YouTube by Micheal Dennis. He explained the process so clearly from start to finish, including 5 different basic lace stitches. 

 

For my practice piece I decided to use the same design and techniques as Dennis so I could focus entirely on learning the stitches which I could then later use on my own design. 

Each petal was made using a different stitch; corded single brussels, corded double brussels, ardenza and williamson. I also learnt a spider's web stitch for the centre, how to lay a cordoned and how to top stitch. 

I first started by attaching my stencil to my fabric. This was 3 layers of calico folded to create a thick and sturdy backing. I used a running stitch to attach them together, and then placed it into an embroidery hoop to help me hold it. 

Laying the Cordonnet

I then started to lay the cordonnet. This is a thicker piece of thread used for the outline, and is what holds the rest of the threads in place. I started at the centre, using a doubled up piece of thread (the loop being at the start) following the lines of the template. 

To lay the cordonnet, I used crouching stitches. These stitches come up through the back of the fabric, looping over the cordonnet, and back through the same hole. This holds the threads in place, and will stay in place until the end. At the point pictured above, I separated the two threads, laying one over the area I was going to stitch, placing one crouching stitch in the centre to keep it still. Then looped the thread under the centre circle, and back over the same line. I then used crouching stitches from the centre out, to lay the cordonnet. Once I had reached the corner where the two settles met again, I rejoined the other thread, and carried on now with two threads. 

Once I had almost finished the last petal, instead of using both threads up until the end, I separated the threads, using one to loop under the other petal and stitch over. This meant that the end was less visible in the finished piece. 

Petals

For each petal I used a different type of stitch. This was so I could learn as many stitches as I could within the confines of a small flower. 

Corded Single Brussels

For this stitch, I first worked a row of buttonhole stitches into the cordonnet, and once the row was finished, I laid the thread over the petal onto the starting side and made another row of buttonhole stitches using the previous row as anchor points and looping over the loose thread. 

A single brussels stitch is looser and more open than a corded single brussels. This however makes it slightly harder than a corded single brussels as you need to be able to correctly gauge the tension you are putting on the thread, which was not able to do quite yet. 

Corded Double Brussels

For this stitch I followed the template of the single corded brussels, but instead of each stitch lying next to each other, two stitches are made side by side, then a gap (the same size as two stitches) is left before repeating. Then the thread is brought back to the starting side, then two stitches are made in the gap made on the line above, looping over the loose thread. 

This stitch is very similar to the single corded brussels, but has a more open structure.

Ardenza 

This stitch (also sometimes called the up and down stitch) starts just like the others, with a buttonhole. Except instead of moving on to another buttonhole stitch, the needle is passed back up through the same hole, leaving a loop where the needle is passed back down through. 

Williamson

The Williamson stitch uses the corded single brussels as the base, using two rows of the CSB followed by one row of a backwards single brussels, stitched every third stitch. My first attempt of this stitch is pictured on the right hand petal. 

Spider Web

This stitch formed the centre part of the flower, and in my opinion was the hardest. First the 'spokes' of the wheel are placed at each point, being careful to keep the thread taught, but not to skew the circle. Then the thread is brought to the centre, and you weave the thread around the spokes to create the spiders web. Te thread is pulled over one spoke, then under the net two. Then the head looped back over the last thread, and under the next two. Repeating this over one under two motion forms the stitch. For mine, I should have taken more care to attach the spokes tighter in order to stop so much movement and shifting, as well as the thread I was using was not suited, as I was using ordinary corded sewing thread. This is how the spiders web stitch was supposed to look.

Top Stitching

At this point, the lace is almost finished. All the stitches are in place, however if one was to remove the lace from the backing at this point it would fall apart. This is because whenever I added a new length of thread, or started a new row of stitches, I ran the thread through the cordonnet, and under the crouching stitches, so without these crouching stitches, there is nothing else keeping the lace intact. 

To secure the lace together, I had to top stitch around the entirety of the piece, including the inner circle. To do this I used simple buttonhole stitches to trace the entire cordonnet, just like I had done in the beginning. It is important to use as few amount of threads as possible to reduce the amount you would have to end and start another, which would cause a bulge in the piece, unless tactfully placed. For this reason I had to change the thread I was using as the flower alone had used up my entire bundle of red thread. I therefore switched to cream coloured thread. Although this was unfortunate at the beginning, it became quite helpful for my first time doing this, as the different coloured thread helped me to see where I was placing the stitches and if I was encasing the whole cordonnet like I should. 

Releasing the Lace

Once I had top stitched the entire flower, taking care to follow the pattern of the petals, it was time to remove it from the backing fabric. To do this I peeled back the two layers of the fabric (leaving one layer and the template next to the lace) and cut the crouching stitches from inside. the ensured that I didn't cut into the lace at all, as well as spreading the fabric apart made it easier to reach the stitches I needed to cut. 

Once this was finished, I took a pair of tweezers and picked out any loose threads still attached to the lace, and it was complete.