Jo Edkins' Lace School

Lace schools used to teach how to make lace.
This is my online lace school!

Equipment - pillow, bobbins, etc.

How to make lace

Lace stitches - cloth stitch, half stitch, etc.

Footsides - sewn and Winkie pins

Headsides - various types

Simple Grounds - Torchon, Bucks Point

Other Grounds - Rose, triangular, bias,
honeycomb, Kat stitch, gaps, star

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

Simple spiders

Peas and open spiders

Corners and mats

Joins and twists

Detailed explanation of picots and tallies

Learn how to make bobbin lace. Dutch translation by Rene' van Hassel

Free lace patterns and instructions - pictures
Beginner Patterns	Detailed instructions and not too many bobbins
Zig-zag patterns	Torchon designs using cloth stitch and half stitch filled-in areas
Patterns with hearts	Simple Torchon designs using hearts
Spiders and roses	Mostly designed using my interactive lace designer
Flower patterns	Flowers in Torchon and Bucks Point
Animals	Snake, spiders, butterflies, dogs, cats
Celtic knots & Greek keys	Different ways to make Celtic knot and Greek key designs
Ideas from existing lace	Developing ideas from lace that I've seen
Mats	Different styles of mats
Exploring stitches (1)	Kat stitch, star ground, open spiders
Exploring stitches (2)	Winkie pin footsides, tallies, knotted picots

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 -

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
Standard lace stitches	cloth stitch half stitch twist cloth stitch and twist
Other lace stitches	picot plait lazy join tally 3 way join honeycomb gimp turning stitch linking lace cross-twist description
Longer explanations	Picot Knotted picots Tally
Footsides	twisted cloth double twisted triple cloth threading ribbon no footside winkie pin 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 star ground
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!

Beginners
Zig-zags & diamonds
Hearts
Spiders and roses
Flowers
Animals
Celtic knots
Celtic crosses and Greek keys
Mats
Ideas from existing lace
Exploring stitches (1)
Exploring stitches (2)

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

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
Abington Museum, Northampton - I think this has lace
Royal Albert Memorial Museum - and this

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