Bobbin Lace Workshop

Last Saturday I attended a Bobbin Lace workshop. I must say that there are a lot of tutorials about lacemaking, for example on www.youtube.com, but none of them revealed little tips and secrets that I've learnt from alive Bobbin Lace workshop.

I've been waiting for this day for a long time and was so excited that 2 hours of driving went fast. At the workshop we've been giving all necessary supplies, including a pillow, bobbins, pins, charts, thread and some other essential little things.

Did you know that the idea of Bobbin lace started from the nets that fishermen used?

Did you know that hundreds of years ago you had to go to the school to learn Bobbin Lace?

We have learnt how to work out 3 main stitches in Bobbin Lace. Here is my work in progress,

and here is the result of my work, just a piece to practice the main stitches with a couple of mistakes. Practice, practice, practice! To make this little piece of 4" took me 3 hours. I hope later I will be able to do it faster.

So, what I've learnt so far? First of all, as we say in Russian "Не так страшен чёрт, как его малюют". I can do it, I liked it and I will keep working on mastering my skills in Bobbin Lace. First, I am planning to finish a couple of projects in real size for a practice and then I will try my hands in miniature. To work Bobbin Lace in miniature I purchased special size of miniature pins and very fine cotton thread. I hope later I will be able to make a little tutorial, or at least to show how it works. I am not planning to buy fancy bobbins yet, I purchased the cheapest in a case if I will be bored with it too fast. As for a pillow, there is a way to make a pillow by yourself, but I will tell you how to make it later. Did you know that people used sticks and bones for bobbin lace? Did you know that the poem "One, two, buckle my shoe" is about a bobbin lace? Did you know that John Heathcoat invented a machine that can make bobbin lace? No? Me either. Live and learn! more on Bobbin Lace later...