Lace: what is, types and interesting facts

Probably there is no such girl or woman who would not like tender and airy lace. Even men who are completely versed in fabrics invariably remain charmed by the young ladies in light lace dresses. Therefore, all types of lace are still actively buying and weaving.

Lace itself is a mesh material with small or large patterns. It is often used to create both evening clothes and underwear. In addition, it can be found in the interior. For example, it can be pillows, and tablecloths, tulle or other household items.

Such material has a large number of positive qualities:

• quite attractive appearance, which captivates the look of any person;
• gentle and pleasant to the touch structure of the material;
• multifunctionality;
• elegance: even clothes sewn in the usual way can turn into a holiday;
• practicality: the composition of the material includes fairly dense fibers, ensuring the long existence of lace;
• environmental friendliness: when creating lace use only natural materials that do not cause allergies.

However, do not forget about some of the disadvantages of this material.

• Care for such a fabric is necessary with great care. When ironing, be sure to use an iron set to a low temperature or set to “silk” mode.
• Clothing made of such material should be worn with great care, as clues may appear that will lead to the destruction of the pattern.
• For many, the price of lace seems repulsive.Real fabric (especially handmade) is very expensive, even if it is a small napkin or tiny panties.

As a rule, hearing the word "lace", a person represents one type of exquisite fabric and does not even realize that there are actually several subspecies. There are several ways to classify lace.

Lace according to the type of manufacture is divided into two types: machine and needlework. More expensive, of course, is handmade fabric. Its production takes several times more time. And it looks much more beautiful: like a pattern drawn by frost on a window. Such fabrics are always unique, and only with the help of bobbins and knitting needles can such an unusual material be created. Cheaper is the fabric woven on special machines. It is made with dense weaving or with a rarer one. It turns out much faster, so the price is significantly reduced.

Lace is also distinguished by the technique in which it was woven. When preparing this material at home, hostesses usually use knitting needles or a hook. The fabric is thin and almost weightless.

Bobbin lace is even more popular. It is such a fabric that is considered traditional. These are the same lace napkins with which our grandmothers or great-grandmothers decorated all the available surfaces in the house. In Russia, the skill of weaving bobbin lace appeared in the XIII century. But these masterpieces of the craftswoman learned to create only in the XVIII century. Then in each part of our empire had its own traditions of weaving certain patterns and combinations of threads. Now, considering the work of the craftswomen of that time, one can see the characteristic features of Vologda, Moscow, Ryazan lace.

Translated from Arabic macrame means "lace". Initially, elegant patterns were created from numerous knots. Now it is generally accepted that needlework has always been exclusively female work. But the first wicker amulets were created by the calloused hands of sailors. During long voyages, they managed to create talismans not only for themselves, but also for their soul mates. Now this technique is also very popular. After all, such lace is not only original, but also durable.

Hardanger, or needle lace, is created using thread and needle. Such art is valued much higher. Indeed, it takes more time to create one time pattern simply because the same actions have to be repeated several times until the master achieves perfection. As a rule, only flowers are embroidered. Patterns are made with linen threads. Previously, this was done only because in Norway, where this art arose, there were problems with other materials. But flax was enough at all times. Now, household items are decorated with such patterns: tablecloths, curtains, various cozy clothes.

White lace, made using tatting technique, used to be trusted only to young girls to create. This kind of knotted lace, which looks many times more elegant than the amulets that the sailors wove. The term itself means "negligence, looseness." The art of creating such patterns appeared in France, and in the East fishing nets were woven in the same way. Now lace in this technique is almost never created manually. Work was entrusted to machines that cope with tasks much faster than people. In this way they make various decorations.

Those who like silk underwear and other products from this noble material will also appreciate ribbon lace. It is also known as the Renaissance. The pattern is based on a braid or ribbon. It is woven into a pattern and decorated with needle lace. Creating a large pattern this way is much easier.The use of special machines will help speed up the process even further.

Lace, made in the form of a grid, has a rather unusual name - fillet. The squares of which this fabric consists can be either straight or oblique. Cloth weaves on shuttles. There are two varieties of the same material. A simple grid is called a simple fillet, and a more refined one is called a guipure fillet.

Exclusive lovers love Irish lace the most. This is one hundred percent exclusive work. Masters knit not just a random geometric pattern. The canvas consists of plant motifs: various leaves, flowers. Several masters can work on its creation at the same time. The secrets of creating original patterns in this technique are passed down from generation to generation.

Venetian lace, also known as guipure, is just as elegant. The term translated from French means "elegant weaving" and perfectly conveys the essence of the whole process. Guipure is created using the same bobbins or needles. Due to the fact that the weaving is light and free, the pattern is weightless. There is also embossed guipure. Since the beginning of the XVII century, the thin surface of the lace began to be decorated with a relief seam along the edge of the ornament. In the center of such a canvas usually depicted some magnificent flower.

There is another kind of Venetian lace - pico. Such a fabric differs only in that the flowers decorating its surface are very small, and the seam along the edges is almost invisible. A simpler version of Venetian lace is classic guipure. Now it is from him that elegant clothes are sewn. And to make it more convenient, cotton and stretch are added to its composition. Due to this, the fabric is comfortable and elastic. And you can make such clothes brighter using lurex threads.

Most often, craftswomen at home use a regular hook to create lace fabric. But hooks are different. And the choice of tool also determines what the finished lace will be in the end. A short hook is used to create the usual thin lace. The same tool should be used by those who want to learn how to create exquisite Venetian or Irish lace with their own hands. Afghan or Victorian lace is knitted with a long crochet. But these techniques are already less popular.

In the conversation about lace, bobbins were mentioned more than once. These are special wooden sticks to which threads are attached. Knitters create patterns, with deft movements of their hands, throwing sticks. Another popular tool in this business is needles. Most craftswomen manage only with needles and threads. But there is another interesting way to create such tissues: work with organza. The latter is the basis for the future pattern, on which only the contours of the future pattern are fixed. In fact, instead of this fabric, you can use any other, the main thing is that it be thin.

And finally, the last tool that is useful to those who knit exquisite patterns at home is a fork. This, of course, is not about the cutlery. A knitting fork looks like an ordinary hairpin. Using it, you can translate into reality some unusual ideas. After all, it was created specifically for such complex patterns.

It’s not enough just to sew the lace, it must still be used correctly so that the efforts are not wasted and the beautiful fabric does not gather dust in the closet for years. More elegant fabrics (Irish or Venetian lace), as a rule, are expensive and are used to decorate formal dresses. It can be a branded blouse, a wedding or ordinary dress. To decorate home textiles and create everyday textiles, simpler and cheaper fabrics are used.

For whatever purpose lace is used, it should always look neat. To do this, you need to not only treat him carefully, but also adhere to the basic rules for caring for this elegant material.

• Ideally, lace should be washed only with your hands. If you don’t have time for this or just do not want to spoil a fresh manicure, then you need to set the most gentle mode on the washing machine.
• It is also undesirable to use washing powder: it is better to give preference to liquid products created specifically for the care of delicate fabrics.
• If the product is expensive and requires special care, then it is better to return it for special cleaning. The same applies to other problems: only experienced craftsmen can remove puffs or repair damage.
• If the fabric is washed at home, then you need to be very careful when twisting it. Before proceeding to this process, a delicate thing should be wrapped in a terry towel.
• When drying lace clothespins are not used. It must be dried in a straightened form so that it does not stretch. And iron from the inside out and through cheesecloth.

Lacy fabric is a rich history material. You can tell a lot about him. First, consider the word lace itself. Philologists say that it came from the word "circle." Previously, all patterns were woven exclusively in a circle. That is, they were created on the same principle as modern napkins.

Lace, unlike weaving art, has always been used precisely for self-expression. At first, only rich people wore clothes decorated with this material. Later, when life became easier, and the peasants could afford to embroider at least one exit dress with such exquisite patterns. Although this is a painstakingly laborious process, young women often did it in the company of children. For future craftswomen, needlework also seemed a very interesting activity.

When lace began to create not only outerwear and outfits for officers, it was time for luxurious lingerie. In the Renaissance, it was believed that lace is the material that makes a woman truly feminine. Handmade things in this period began to be decorated with silver and gold threads. Due to this, the fabric looked even more expensive. In the XVIII century, all wedding dresses of French and British queens were decorated with lace. The material was so durable and high-quality that some of the outfits, if desired, can be seen even now, having visited one of the exhibitions. For example, Queen Victoria’s wedding dress with a luxurious silk train is exhibited at the Tower of London.

And here is another interesting fact. As now, in ancient times in Russia, everything foreign was in fashion. And although our craftswomen knew the art of lace weaving no worse than noble French young ladies, fabrics created in France, Italy or Germany always cost more. Moreover, according to historians, it was in Russian lace that Russian girls invested more than their souls. The process of creating weightless fabric carried them away no less than playing music: after all, when weaving, bobbins rang. The sound depended on the type of wood and its age. An instrument made of young birch, for example, sounded thinner than the same whooping cough, but created from an old alder.

Now in our country, and beyond its borders, museums dedicated to lace have been preserved. Some of the exhibits are created by local residents, other masterpieces are purchased and brought from other countries. There are frequent cases when one of the local residents gives the museum old wedding dresses or light tablecloths embroidered by the great-grandmother's hands. Most of the things in museums are really unique and created in a single copy.

Many representatives of the older generations complain that this great art is now forgotten, but it is not. Modern women of fashion, on the contrary, tend to learn how to create what others are incapable of. Therefore, the art of weaving fabric from thin translucent threads is a pleasure to master in all corners of the country. Everyone can learn this, and this is another pleasant fact. You should not immediately dream of sewing dresses in which the Austrian princess would gladly go to the promenade. Even the basic ability to use a short crochet hook and a hairpin for knitting will already be enough to make your wardrobe more elegant and feminine.

The history of lace goes deep into the middle of the last millennium. And although the inhabitants of the east learned to create this fabric first, it became more popular over time in European countries.

See how to weave lace in the next video.