Freehand lace is
bobbin lace
Bobbin lace is a lace textile made by braiding and twisting lengths of thread, which are wound on bobbins to manage them. As the work progresses, the weaving is held in place with pins set in a lace pillow, the placement of the pins usually de ...
worked directly on the fabric of the
lace pillow
Bobbin lace is a lace textile made by braiding and twisting lengths of thread, which are wound on bobbins to manage them. As the work progresses, the weaving is held in place with pins set in a lace pillow, the placement of the pins usually det ...
without using a pricked pattern. Very few pins are needed (in most cases, only at the two edges.)
The very early bobbin laces were probably made freehand, as pins were scarce, coarse, and expensive. At first, the laces were purely utilitarian: “seaming” laces (
insertions) joining narrow widths of fabric, and toothed or scalloped laces reinforcing the edges (
edging
Edging may refer to:
* Using an edger gardening tool
* Edging (climbing), a climbing technique
* Edging (orgasm), a form of orgasm control
* Edging (forging), an open-die forging process that concentrates material for further processing
* "Edging ...
s). Many of the later freehand laces were also functional, but some areas produced very wide ornamental laces.
Traces of freehand lace can be found nearly everywhere: they were part of the
textile
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
s produced in pre-industrial communities. Production only survived in a few places, often because the lace was sold through handicraft organizations, when it no longer adorned the peasant costume and household textiles.
There are a few areas with a living tradition, like
Dalarna
Dalarna () is a '' landskap'' (historical province) in central Sweden. English exonyms for it are Dalecarlia () and the Dales.
Dalarna adjoins Härjedalen, Hälsingland, Gästrikland, Västmanland and Värmland
Värmland () also known a ...
and
Skåne
Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne C ...
in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, several areas in
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
,
Cogne
Cogne (, ; Issime wae, Kunji) is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in Aosta Valley, northern Italy, with 1369 inhabitants, as of 2017.
Geography
Cogne is located in the valley with the same name along a stream known as the Torrent Grand ...
and
Pescocostanzo
Pescocostanzo is a ''comune'' and town in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is a tourist destination, attracting people from all over Italy due to its landscape and environment. In winter, Pescocostanzo is a destination fo ...
in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, and
Mikhailov in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
.
Freehand lace is dense compared to lace made on a pattern. Wide areas without pins can be constructed by using certain techniques: the different parts of the lace must be made in the right order, and a triple half stitch can be used to secure the threads instead of a pin.
In many areas, the laces are made wider by combining two or more patterns lengthwise. The lengths of the repeats are usually quite different.
Many other laces have traits inherited from freehand lace, for example, the patterns and the working of the braids in
Milanese lace
Milanese (endonym in traditional orthography , ') is the central variety of the Western dialect of the Lombard language spoken in Milan, the rest of its metropolitan city, and the northernmost part of the province of Pavia. Milanese, due to t ...
, and the grounds without pins and the exchange of workers in linen stitch in some of the
Flemish lace
Flanders lace (point de Flandres) was made in Flanders, which was particularly well known for its bobbin lace. The supreme epoch of Flemish lace lasted from about 1550-1750.
The lacemaking areas of Antwerp, Mechlin, Binche and Valenciennes are re ...
s.
The term 'freehand lace' was first used as the translation of an Italian term in the English edition (1913) of
Elisa Ricci's ''Antiche Trine Italiane''. It is called 'lace without a pattern' in French, 'numeric lace' in Russian, and the Slovaks have named it by the fact that it is produced on a bare pillow. In
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, the verb used for composing a poem is also used for making freehand lace.
The basic research on Freehand Lace was made by
Bodil Tornehave of
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
, and published in her book ''Danske Frihåndskniplinger'' (, Danish Freehand Lace) in 1987.
'Freehand lace' is sometimes confused with '
free lace', which is a modern, artistic form of lace.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freehand Lace
Bobbin lace