Bobbin Lace in
Spain
Antje González
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Antje González
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Pictures of Antje's workshop This year we have started making tape lace in "Mi pequeño taller" (as we call my workshop). This type of lace is made with tapes made in cloth stitch and in Spain we usually call it "Russian lace", although not all tape laces are of Russian origin or style. The main characteristic that makes it different from Torchon, so extended in Spain, is that the tapes are worked with very few bobbins, usually between 7 and 11 pairs. The motives of tape laces consist in one or various tapes that move in a straight direction or making curves, and that get joined in certain places with a hook. That's why the making of this lace requires two different techniques: first, the making of a tape in cloth stitch and using bobbins, and second, a union stitch of the tapes with a crochet hook. The tapes can be made in very different ways. In older laces the tapes are thicker and are worked only in cloth stitch. More modern tape laces add twists at the border and use colours. As a variation, a decorative line is added to the tapes using thicker thread and in a contrasting colour. This line or gimp is usually worked in the center of the tape (although sometimes also in the border) and gives an impression of relieve.
As we are interested in tape lace, our first piece of work has been this small doily, with which we practiced how to make the vein with the shape of a herringbone in the enter of the tape, and the Russian spider, following Karpenko's directions (from the magazine Lace Express). We didn't like this way of making the spider very much, and finally did the traditional crossings of braids .
Next, we worked a Dutch doily (top left) and a doily from Ulrike Löhr's "Klöppelkurs für Selbstudium und Unterricht", with which we wanted to practice the crossing of tapes, how to sew them so that they keep in place and how to make the braid ground without adding pairs.
Christmas time arrived and we decided to make a few motives to decorate our homes, using coloured threads. We got the patterns form different magazines, such as the Spanish Labores del Hogar.
Continuing with tape laces, we worked a corner for a hanky, whose pattern was taken from the Spanish magazine called Labores del Hogar (nice patterns, but no working instructions nor information about the origin of the laces at all). It is a lace from Cantú (an Italian town, north of Milano). This lace usually combines narrow tapes of 5 pairs (sometimes a few more) with flowers, although sometimes it only consists on tapes that make curves and cross among themselves. One characteristic of Cantú tapes is that they are made in a special stitch (called "mimosa" in Italy): the pin is only placed in the outer side of the tape, whereas a return stitch is made in the inner side. Well, I admit that we found it complicated to make and not very satisfactory, especially because we had to find out the way of working it just by looking at the picture in the magazine. The thread we used was Finca Bolillos 100.
This is our last project, which each of us has sewn to the material in a different way. We got the pattern from a Russian site on the Internet, but unfortunately don't have any more information about its origin. We don't even have a picture of the finished lace, so our personal adaptation can possibly differ completely from the original Russian one. The close curves have been the main difficulty of this edging, and also the spirals in the centre. Next to the border goes a coarse decorative thread, which changes side at a certain point (shown on the pattern). We have used number 40 and 30 of Fincrochet Presencia (Finca).
If there is anyone who knows this piece of lace, I would appreciate very much if you get in touch with me writing to my e-mail address. |
