Jo Edkins' Lace School

Lace schools used to teach how to make lace. This is my online lace school! Dutch translation by Rene' van Hassel

Equipment
pillow, bobbins, etc.

How to make lace

Lace stitches
cloth stitch, half stitch, etc.

Footsides

Headsides

Simple Grounds - Torchon, Bucks Point

Other Grounds
Rose, triangular, bias, honeycomb, Kat stitch

Solid areas
diamonds, strips, hearts, chevrons, etc.

Spider

Pea

Corners and mats

Joins and twists

Some simple lace designs, with pricking patterns and instructions
Beginner Patterns	These patterns have detailed instructions and do not use many bobbins
Patterns with hearts	Simple Torchon designs using hearts
Wavy patterns	Ideas from a bought piece of lace
Zig-zag patterns	Simple Torchon designs using cloth stitch and half stitch filled-in areas
Flower patterns	Flowers in Torchon and Bucks Point
Mats	Different styles of mats
Serpent edging	An interesting Bedford lace headside
Celtic knots	Different ways to make Celtic knot designs
Spiders, roses and butterflies	Designed using my interactive lace designer
Kat stitch designs	Exploring this type of stitch

Types of English lace	Designing lace	Interactive lace designer	Books about lace
Site map	Glossary	Links to other sites	Contact me

Books about lace

Title	Author	Decription	Buy
The Book of Bobbin Lace Stitches	Bridget M. Cook and Geraldine Stott	An excellent book, with photos and diagrams explaining the different types of lace stitches	UK	USA
Pillow Lace and Bobbins	Jeff Hopewell	A booklet showing antique pillows, bobbins and lace equipment - fascinating!	UK
Identification of Lace	by Pat Earnshaw	Descriptions of all different types of lace (not just bobbin)	UK	USA

Or enter 'bobbin lace' or a lace type, such as torchon, into the relevant search box below.

UK -

USA -

Site map - how to make lace

Lace equipment	pillow bobbins pricking card pins thread other suppliers
How to make lace	preparing the pattern winding bobbins starting the lace making the lace finishing the lace
Lace stitches	cloth stitch half stitch twist cloth stitch and twist picot plait lazy join tally 3 way join honeycomb gimp
Longer explanations	Picot Tally
Footsides	twisted cloth double twisted triple cloth threading ribbon general
Torchon headsides	cloth fan half stitch fan other simple fans twisted fan
Midlands headsides	plaited nine pin crown trail serpent
Bucks Point headsides	cloth fan passives and picots
Other headsides	part twisted fan ribbon Maltese
Simple Grounds	simple Torchon ground double Torchon ground Bucks Point ground Half stitch ground
Other Grounds	triangular ground rose ground bias ground honeycomb net Kat stitch
Solid areas	diamond cloth stitch diamond half stitch diamond joining diamonds fan strip zigzag heart chevron triangle bud
Spider	working a spider bigger spiders spider ground half spiders
Types of English Lace	Torchon Downton Bucks Point Midland Honiton
Designing lace	grids making pattern for existing lace developing a pattern new designs interactive lace designer
Torchon grids	very small small medium large circlular
Bucks Point grids	very small small medium large
Interactive lace designer	Design your own Torchon lace patterns online!

Site map - patterns

Beginners
Hearts
Wavy
Zig-zags & diamonds
Flowers
Mats
Serpent edging
Celtic knots
Celtic crosses
Spiders, roses and butterflies

Glossary

Click on the word to go to the part of the website which explains the word.

B
Bias ground
Bobbins
Bobbins (winding)
Books about lace
Brides
Buds
Bucks Point
Bucks Point fan
Bucks Point ground

C
Chevrons
Cloth stitch
Cloth stitch and twist
Cloth diamond
Cloth fan
Cloth footside
Contact me
Corners
Covering a pin
Crown headside

D
Designing lace
Diamonds
Double Torchon ground
Double twisted footside
Downton
Downton whole stitch

F
Fans
Finishing lace
Footsides

G
Gimp
Grids for designing lace
Grounds (simple)
Grounds (other)

H
Half spider
Half stitch
Half stitch diamond
Half stitch fan
Half stitch ground
Headsides
Hearts
Honeycomb net
Honeycomb stitch
Honiton lace

Joining diamonds

K
Kat stitch

L
Lattice ground
Lazy join
Legs
Linen stitch
Links about lace

M
Making lace
Maltese headside
Mats
Midland lace

Nine pin headside
Net

P
Part twisted fan
Passives and picots headside
Patterns
Peas
Picots
Pins
Pins (using)
Pillow
Plait stitch
Plaited headside
Pricking card
Pricking a pattern

W
Réseau (net)
Ribbon in footside
Rose ground

S
Scissors
Serpent headside
Spider
Spider ground
Star mesh
Strips
Suppliers

T
Tally
Toilé
Three-way join
Thread
Torchon
Torchon ground
Torchon ground (double)
Trail headside
Triangular ground
Triangles
Triple cloth footside
Twisted fan
Twisted footside

W
Whole stitch
Winding bobbins
Windmill join

Z
Zigzags

Links to other websites

British lace museums:

Bucks County Museum in Aylesbury - Bucks Point
Cowper and Newton Museum near Newport Pagnell - Bucks Point and Bedford lace
Bedford Museum with lace making equipment
Cecil Higgins Art Gallery in Bedford featuring the Thomas Lester lace collection of Bedford lace
Cowper and Newton Museum in Olney, Buckinghamshire - Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire lace
Salisbury Museum - Downton lace
Allhallows Museum in Honiton - Honiton lace
Ruskin Museum in Coniston, Cumbria - Ruskin lace (not bobbin lace)
Shetland Museum - Shetland lace knitting (not bobbin lace)
V&A in Lodon - various lace, not always on display
Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge - various lace, not always on display

Other lace websites:

Lace around the world - an interesting site with lots of information about international lace and links
kantklos.pagina.nl (Dutch site)
Falkink's Bobbin Lace Pages - Flanders lace
Beginners guide to bobbin Lacemaking and Direction & Lesson Links
Annelies de Kort
Jenny Brandis' Lace Making Journey
Maria Bissacco Cociani's lace website

Contact me

My name is Jo Edkins. I enjoy hearing from other lacemakers, especially beginners. My email address is jo.edkins.lace@gwydir.demon.co.uk

See my other websites