#torchon lace

[noxx-notions]

One Year of Bobbin Lace

One year ago today I made my first piece of lace! I had started seeing videos of lacemaking on tiktok and was amazed because I had never seen it before, and didn't understand how it worked. I decided to just watch one video so I could understand what was happening. But after watching the video, it just clicked in my head and I was like I could do that. I went to a thrift shop and bought a box of pins and a huge spool of mystery thread (i think it is a cotton or linen something, still haven't been able to identify it for sure), and got to work.

My first attempt at a setup was using a foam yoga mat as a bolster pillow

but that did not work for me 😂 I couldn't control the bobbins and it was just too big to be manageable. so instead i switched to the laptop case and thus my first two pieces of lace were made

I then started making my way through the beginner torchon patterns from Jo Edkin's Online Lace School.

In November, I moved from Switzerland where I had been attending grad school back home to the US and updated my lace pillow from a laptop case to a folded piece of felt and got my hands on a few different lace books (the three my library had lol) to start trying out some new things (1, 2,3)

For Christmas, I received a lace pillow and some bobbins and was surprised at how much I improved just with the right equipment

In April I did a bunch of research and got to work making myself a Honiton lace pillow. I loved the process of making it and definitely want to make more in the future.

I joined my local lace group and have attended some events and gotten to meet a lot of great people already and hope that I can start attending more events soon! I'm also hoping to maybe start demonstrating at events later this year and share my love for lace with more people.

What a difference a year makes

(first vs wip)

[nostalgicstitchcraft]

[vampyresfromouterspace]

These florals are such a dream

Old Victorian maiden 💘 ig: velvetille

[visionofthebees]

Still practicing my finishing but I like how this turned out! I used some random unlabelled sewing thread from my great grandma's old collection.

[rosegrounds]

latest piece! I haven't posted in a while because I honestly found this super boring to make and let it sit on the pins for months while I tried to decide whether to make more or just cut it short. now I've given up I'm gonna go work on some new skills instead

[bubbinlaypse]

Attempt that resulted in a thing I took off the pins number 2!

I'm pleased I managed a few more spiders/rosegrounds this time.

The edges fought me, I think I overthunk it, and I think I needed to tighten that final spider a little.

I think next I'll go back to patterns 3 and 4 and work those a little more.

[ayekasong]

Forcing myself to finish some of my UFOs. Here's the finished products from a lace making class I took 2 years ago! 🫣 I hope you don't see the glaring errors!

[sparklingspangles]

Sparkly hell bracelet is done!

Pattern and bead kit is from harlequin, but if you do it do not my my mistake and follow the instruction to use a crochet hook for the beads. My lazy susan saved me here.

[noxx-notions]

It's doneeeee! Overall very happy with how this turned out! This is my biggest piece so far by dimensions and number of bobbins and time to complete. For sure some problem spots but I love it! Happy with my decision to to the half stitch rose ground and spiders, I think they look good together! And even more improvements on the sewings!

My last pattern in the Jan Tredidgo book for now because I had to finally return it to the library after being able to renew it for like 3 months 😅 Also I don't remember the sampler number but it was one of the extensions to the large mat sampler.

[o-rchidae]

[rosegrounds]

projects from the introductory booklet in the kit I bought! burned through these pretty quickly

[bubbinlaypse]

Going back to some easy torchon ground, just to play with colours

[noxx-notions]

Pink! Love this variegated thread with this pattern!! This was a fun Sampler to work and was good for watching how the pairs move between elements. Also probably the least terrible my sewings have ever looked! I love the spiders in the center. Done with the coats&clark tatting crochet thread I acquired the other day and I kind of loved it

Pattern: Sampler 13 extension 3 Torchon Lacemaking by Jan Tregidgo

[oldschool-lolita-archive]

Mystery lolita-chan wears Innocent World’s torchon lace tiered skirt in bordeaux.

[aguas-ucia]

I'm convinced Marcille would love lolita fashion. This was so much fun to draw with my favorite brands! Coord rundown under the readmore

1st image - Moi Même Moitié Blouse: Torchon Lace Frill Blouse Skirt: Rose Cross Skirt Bag: Coffin Cross 3 Way Bag Rest: Offbrand.

2nd image: Baby The Stars Shine Bright Head: Spindoll Half Bonnet Blouse: Double Collar Pintuck Sleeve Blouse JSK: Lace Frill JSK Rest: Offbrand

3rd image - Mary Magdalene: JSK: Elodie Doll JSK Blouse: Curious Blouse (B-grade) Hat: Whyteleafe Canotier Hat Shoes: Sylphid shoes. Rest: Offbrand

4th image - Juliette et Justine Bustier: Brebis Egarée Bustier Skirt: Jupe Empire des Volant Rest: Offbrand.

[applesforhela]

Back at trying bobbin lace. I have a couple foam circles (seat cushion bases) to use as my working surface, and I'm happy with them. Before this I was using a couple different pillows that were too soft or too fuzzy or too curvy or whatever. This is sturdy and flat. So need to give it a fabric cover, but I wanted to get started, so we'll worry about that later.

I'm set up to do the "Rose Bed" pattern from Jo Edkin's website which looks like this:

A zigzag of rose ground with cloth stitch fans. I have the pattern mashed out and the hike pricked. I've done the first half-fan at the start and the first couple roses.

But then it was time to work the first half of the fan on the right. Now this pattern has a ground line of Torchon between the roses, and I made a line of Torchon on the outer edge of the roses too without thinking about it. But that was the worker pair for the fan that I led down the edge of the roses, so I need to work it all the way back if I want to continue the pattern as intended.

But I also really like doing the roses and want more of them in the pattern. Soooo...

What if I just add some extra roses in there? Now I'm trying to figure out how to get the pink pairs lined up to make that work. I think I need to work the one green pair back anyways since it's supposed to be the worker on the right side, and that should hopefully solve it.

Will try it out tomorrow. For now, it's bedtime.