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Needle lace

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Needle lace borders from the Erzgebirge mountains of Germany in 1884, displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Needle lace, detail

Needle lace (also known as needlelace or needle-made lace or point lace) is a type of lace created using a needle and thread to stitch up hundreds of small stitches to form the lace itself.

In its purest form, the only equipment and materials used are a needle, thread and scissors. The origins of needle lace date back to the 16th century in Italy, and its origins may be found in the openwork on linen technique called reticella.[1] A variety of styles developed where the work is started by securing heavier guiding threads onto a stiff background (such as thick paper) with stitches that can later be removed. The work is then built up using a variety of stitches—the most basic being a variety of buttonhole or blanket stitch. When the entire area is covered with the stitching, the stay-stitches are released and the lace comes away from the paper.

Needle lace is also used to create the fillings or insertions in cutwork.

References

  1. ^ de Dillmont, Thérèse, ed. (1902). Needle-made Laces: 1st series. Mulhouse, France: Dollfus Mieg & Cie.