You bring up a really thought-provoking question, Devon, what DO bobbin and needle lace have in common??
When I talk to the uninitiated, I usually describe lace as “an umbrella term that covers myriad techniques that vary across regions and history.” But while bobbin lace is decidedly only lace, needle lace overlaps with embroidery in a way that complicates things. In a recent viewing of 17th century English embroidery, I noted that some of the stitches used to fill in backgrounds behind raised work resembled Hollie Point, but in color. But we would not call that lace. Raised work itself is obviously a very close relative of needle work, with the difference sometimes seeming to only be the use of white vs color. I’ve also been researching early English lace as you all know, and it seems like most early references to needle lace lump it in with embroidery, whereas “lace” alone denotes bobbin lace, but not in all cases. So how do we distinguish? A truly perplexing question indeed. Best, Elena - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
