Lace Stitches

Click on button to show stitch being worked

Cloth Stitch (or Whole Stitch)

You swap the middle two bobbins (left over right), then both the outer pairs (right over left), then the new middle two (left over right). It's important which bobbins gets lifted over which. When working stitches, you lift one bobbin over its neighbour, but you need to move the underneath bobbin across to allow room. There is never much spare room on a lace pillow! When two bobbins are lifted at the same time, you can use both hands.

This is called cloth stitch because the finished effect is like woven cloth. You can see how to do it on the left, and the finished stitch on the right. Note that the pairs of bobbins have swopped over, so the pink pair are on the right and the blues on the left. Other names for cloth stitch are whole stitch or linen stitch.

For an example of cloth stitch, see Cloth Diamond.

Half Stitch

For an example of half stitch, see Half Stitch Diamond.

Twist

If there is a twist in a pattern, you can do two or more twists to get a firmer result.

For an example of twists, see Bucks Point Ground.

Cloth Stitch and Twist

You work the four bobbins in a cloth stitch. You take the left pair of bobbins and twist them. You twist the right pair as well.

If you study the diagrams carefully, you will see that a cloth stitch and twist is the same as two half stitches on the same two pairs of bobbins.

For an example of cloth stitch and twist, see twisted footside.

Picot

For an example of picots, see crown headside.

Plait

You work the four bobbins in a half stitch continuously without pins. This forms a plait-like effect. Since there are no pins, when you tighten it (which you should do quite often), it will make a thick thread, which is called a leg or bride. This can make a stiff headside, or join other parts of the pattern, or be used like a gimp to outline patterns.

If you are careful always to work the plait in pairs of stitches, then the bobbins will stay in their original pairings. Here, two plait stitches are demonstrated. It looks the same as a cloth stitch and twist, as that is made up of two half stitches.

Lazy Join or windmill

Plaits are joined with a lazy join, or windmill. Unlike a normal junction, you have two pairs of bobbins coming in from each side, making four pairs in all. You treat each pair of bobbins as if it was a single bobbin, and you work a cloth stitch with these pairs.

In the pictures, I have coloured the bobbins rather than the beads to allow more room. I've also coloured each pair of bobbins the same.

Crown headside is worked in plaits and lazy joins.

Tally

A tally is unlike normal lace stitches, as it is not tightened against a pin. You start with 4 bobbins (2 pairs), but these are treated individually rather than as pairs. One bobbin is separated from the rest. I've coloured this thread a different colour to show what's happening, but of course it would normally be the same colour as the rest. The other 3 hang straight downwards. You will find it easier if you have these 3 bobbins at exactly the same height. You may need to unwind some thread from the fourth bobbin, which is a single worker (rather than the usual pair).

Weave this fourth bobbin across the other three, then back again (make sure that you don't undo the stitch on the way back!) Either keep the bobbin in your hand, or carefully rest it horizontally on the tops of other bobbins in use; do not let it hang down normally. Now you need to tighten the rows, which is the tricky bit! The rows need to be as close together as possible. The worker thread also needs to be tightened the right amount to give the width of the tally. Some tallies are narrow. Some are quite broad. Some are leaf or petal shaped, starting narrow, getting broader in the middle, then narrow at the end. If you pull the worker bobbin across and up the pillow the right amount, and if you're lucky (!) the thread might tighten the right amount, and the rows close up to the previous rows. But it might snag, or the rows might stay separated. It seems to help if you put three fingers of your left hand (if right-handed) on the tops of the 3 downwards hanging bobbins, to keep a tension on those threads while tightening the worker thread. You can make the rows close together by pulling the outer bobbins of the 3 handing downwards, but that makes the thread too broad for the tally. You can tighten the thread by pulling on the worker bobbin, but that can pull the rows apart. You can push the rows together using a spare pin, not by pushing the pin in, but by using the point to push the thread upwards towards the previous rows. That causes a tiny loop at the end of the row, which needs to be pulled out (which disturbs the rows again...) OK, I found tallies difficult! Sometimes they tightened perfectly, other times a row just wouldn't go right. To quote the book I was working from "A great deal of practise is required in order to produce good shaped tallies and lacemakers will acquire their own technique of working." I don't think that's very helpful! I've given a few techniques above in the hope that they will help. If you look at this flower pattern, you can see several ways of getting tallies wrong!

Three-way join

The lazy join joins four pairs of bobbins. However, you may need to join six pairs of bobbins. Here is a way to do it. I have left the bobbins out of the diagram as it's starting to get complicated. But I've coloured the threads of each pair of bobbins the same.

There are three groups of bobbins, with each group containing two pairs, a left group (red and blue), a right group (yellow and green), and a central group (grey and pale blue). Take the central group first. Take the left pair of this central group (coloured grey in the diagram). Treat it as a single bobbin. Weave the pair through the left group of bobbins. You must weave both of the pair first over, then under the two pairs of the left group. Now for the right pair of the central group. Weave this pair fist under a pair of the left group (red) , then over the other pair (blue). Look at the diagram to check you've got it right. Now take the other pair of the central group (pale blue). Weave it under the yellow pair, over the green. Now both pairs which used to be in the centre are now at the edge. Now work the four pairs now in the middle in a lazy join. Finally finish off the join by weaving the outside pair back to the centre (the grey over yellow and under the green, the pale blue under red and over the blue).

Honeycomb Stitch

You work the four bobbins in a half stitch and twist both pairs. Then you put the pin in the middle. Now you do another half stitch to cover the pin, and twist both pairs again.

The bobbins end up in their original order.

This gives a visible gap in the finished lace where the pin went.

Gimp

You twist the two thinner threads, then pass the thicker thread between the two thinner threads. Finally twist the two thinner threads again. Since there is only one thicker thread, the threads do not follow the normal under/over pattern strictly.

Gimps are used in Bucks Point.

A proper gimp is a single thicker thread. But you can get a pair or even two pairs of threads, twisted, plaited or just left alone, which are treated like a gimp. See my wavy patterns or the diamond mats.