In the 1500s a pricking would have been made of leather, cherished and not shared. There would have been holes in the leather but no lines drawn between them. Alternatively they could have been made of parchment. I have not the patience to make such a pricking for each student. I photocopy the pricking onto cardstock or white paper. If the copy is on plain paper I back it with a piece of a manila folder and cover the whole with clear contact paper. A blue tinted contact paper is also available through the vendors, but I’d rather spend the money on new bobbins or tools.

You prepare a pricking by piercing holes in all the places the lines cross (and therefore where the braids cross) and on the side away from the braid line of all the small circles (which is where the picots will be.) It is best to do this on a surface other than your pillow as pricking on the pillow makes the holes a bit less stable.

Bobbins should always be wound in the same direction. I wind mine by holding the bobbin in my left hand, holding the thread in place along the shaft with my thumb and wrapping with my right hand from the underside over the top. I always do it this way. When you mix directions you spend more time trying to figure out how to get more thread off of the bobbin than is necessary. It significantly increases the frustration level!

To secure your thread to the bobbin once you’ve wound enough thread on it, you must make a lace knot. There are several "lace knots" so here is the first one. Make a loop with the thread in your right hand and slip that loop over the head of the bobbin with the tail end caught to the bobbin with the loop. Demonstration several times was the only way I learned this. If your thread is tending to slip, then a double wrap of the knot is useful.

This means getting your pillow ready to make lace. Pin the pricking to your pillow pushing these pins all the way into the pillow so they will not get in the way of your lace making.

Set pins in the beginning holes of your pricking, 2 pairs for each braid (4 bobbins), 4 pair for each 2 braids, etc.

Hang the bobbins on the pins. Try to remember to interlock the threads at this point so that they remain secure and open when the pin is removed.

Braid each 2 pair to the first place it crosses another braid or where there is a picot. Don’t forget that if you have more than one braid starting at a pin you must make sure the strings cross so then will stay connected once the pin is removed. (This can be done with 4 pair as well. Think of each of these bobbins as a pair.)

Start by thinking of each of the bobbins in a braid as numbered 1,2,3,4 with 1 being on the left and counting across in the same direction that you read. A braid is a series of stitches called "cross" and "twist" repeated until the braid is the correct length which is judged by sight. The bobbins are always 1,2,3,4 in relation to one another, but they change their number after each stitch. For example, in a cross the #2 bobbin becomes #3 and #3 becomes #2.

Place bobbin 2 over bobbin 3 (to the right) and readjust to even spacing. For your first cross and for those immediately after a pin, you do not need to tighten. However after crosses following a twist you will want to tighten the braid to make it lie flat.

Place bobbin 4 over bobbin 3, and place bobbin 2 over bobbin 1 and readjust to even spacing. You want to end your braid before a pin with a cross as this will make the hole around the pin a crisp one and fuller when the pin is removed. Personal preference: Although you can tighten at this point, it is not a good idea as this is more abrasive to the thread than after a cross and more difficult to make the braid lie flat.

 

 

 

When 2 braids meet and cross, you are faced with 8 rather than 4 pair. Treat each pair of bobbins as a single, numbered 1,2,3 and 4. Cross the 2 pair over the 3 pair to the right. Twist the 4 pair over the 3 pair and the 2 pair over the 1 pair. Place a pin in the hole where the braids cross. Cross the 2 pair over the 3 pair to close the pin. Continue each braid individually as you started before.

For a heavier thread (up to about 50/2) one thread around the picot is plenty. Using a pin in one hand and the pair of bobbins in the other, take the point of the pin under the thread on the outside and over the thread on the inside. Pull the far thread under the closer one. Take the point of the pin which now has a loop of thread on it over the head of the close bobbin and down between the pair of bobbins. (This is below triangle of thread created from the first step.) Flip (slowly at first) the pin head towards you and the point away from you until the point comes up between the threads above your triangle and put the point of the pin the hole for the picot. This requires practice for most people as the movement and dexterity of the stitch is a bit awkward.

For finer thread you will want 2 threads forming the picot around the pin. Begin by twisting the pair of bobbins on the side of the lace closes to the picot 6 times. Take a pin’s point under the thread closest to the picot and move the point down and over the top of the bobbin who’s thread you are manipulating so there is now a loop of thread on the pin. Place the pin in the hole. DO NOT TIGHTEN. Pick up the other bobbin in this twisted pair and move it around the pin in the same direction, allowing the twist to follow it so that you now have 2 twisted threads around the bobbin. Tighten it down and twist 2 more times. Continue with the braid.

Another lace knot. This is basically a square knot. You use each pair of bobbins as one and tie left over right and then right over left. Cut the threads off close.

You can also just make long braids and tie them in a single knot.

I confess to using fray check on my end knots for my own sanity and lack of bravery. There are many ways to do this, I am sure, but this is what I’ve done in my 4+ years of making lace.

Do not panic. This does happen. Also if you do long tapes of the lace, your bobbins will run out. Just wind or have wound a bobbin. Knot the end of the thread to a pin place in the pillow (not the pricking) and run the thread along the path it wound be taking and continue working. If it is a bobbin that has run out of thread, tie the new bobbin to the old one for an inch or so to make the lace stronger before throwing the old bobbin out of the work.

For my classes I make pillows out of 1" insulation board cut into 18" squares, glued into a 2" thickness (to make sure the pins can be pushed all the way in and not come out the other side) and covered with cloth which I pin on. This should get you through until you become hooked. The next step up are the ethofoam cookie pillows, because they are light and I like to take my pillows with me. My favorite stand is a drum stand as it folds to nothing and travels well. Of course I have a plethora of other sorts that stay at home and I never have just one project going. Traditional pillows would have been stuffed with chopped straw or layered wool. The only picture I’ve found of a 1500’s pillow is the block print on the cover of the New Model Book. (see copy in handout). Bolster or ball shaped pillows were a probably shape for pillows as well. Block pillows are a very useful form of pillow but a much later invention.

Cookie Pillow: Round and flat like a pizza only a bit domed to allow the bobbins weight to keep the tension on the thread. These come in sizes from 12" to 24"+ in diameter. 20" is a good size if you’re getting your first pillow.

Bolster – just like a bolster pillow you’d find on a bed or a couch, long and round like a tube, some of them are actually hollow. The lace is usually yardage (long strips of lace like trim) and the pattern wrapped around the pillow allows you to take the pins from the back and use them again as you move down the pattern. The lace then comes off of the back and is usually caught in a pocket or wrapped around a lace tidy (stick with either pin holes to keep it from rolling off, or ribbon or elastic to keep it secure.)

Block pillow – a pillow whose center comes out in blocks allowing you to move the direction you are working, or distance from the lace to the edge of the pillow, making room for bobbins. (Most useful if you want to own only one pillow. Beggar’s Lace has an ethofoam one you cover yourself which isn’t too pricey as lace things go.)

Roller pillow – a pillow with a roller at the back or in the center on which you work yardage, some of the rollers are conical to make curved yardage. There are lots of variations of this type depending on the origin of the pillow.