Types of lace
Today we distinguish four different techniques of lacemaking in Flandres, the northern part of Belgium.
The first type of lace is bobbin lace, a speciality of Bruges, still the most imported city of lace.
It's a very delicate kind of lace, made with bobbins and linen or cotton thread.
Secondly the ribbon lace, which is made in the area around Aalst (city between Ghent and Bruges).
In this area the also make the princesse lace, an application on a machine made net (tule).
The last type, is called needle point lace, it isn't made with bobbins but like the name says only with a needle and a few threads.
The lace manufactory is a homecottage industry, women between 60 and 90 years, work at home on their own piece and when finished, they bring to the lace manufactory, where when needed they further finalized.
Below we give you an description of the most imported types of lace.
Bobbin lace
This particle kind of lace is made on a lace pillow where a pattern is attaches with pins.
Bobbins with treads are placed on top of the pattern, and two of them we call the "travelers".
These travelers go from the left to the right and the other way around to weave the motif.
At the end of every line, the thread will be hold with a pin.
Ribbon lace
This lace, also called Brussels lace, Renaissance lace or Battenburg lace, isn't made on a pilow but on a paper pattern.
The design is drawn, on a brown paper, on which we sew the machine made ribbon with a big stitch.
Than the ladies have to sew the ribbon were they overlap together, with a very fine stitch, in order to fill the holes with different ornamented stitches. The first big stitches are removed so that the piece comes of the paper.
The ribbon lace is mostly used for tablecloths, doilies and handkerchiefs.
Princesse lace
This type of lace is mostly used for wedding veils, christening gowns and other ceremonial pieces.
The ladies use a machine made net (tule) as the base, on this they stitch by hand, flowers, leaves and twigs.
These are than connected with a thicker thread.
Needle point lace
This type of lace is made with a needle and a few threads, it's considered one of the finest types of lace.
The pattern is drawn on a piece of paper and then reinforced with a piece of fabric.
Than the outline is first embroidered after that the ladies fill the empty space with various decorative stitches.
At the end the outlines are further thickened with a few threads that ar than sewed over with a buttonhole stitch.
