Needle lace; such as Venetian Gros Point is made using a
needle and thread. This is the most flexible of the lace-making arts. While
some types can be made more quickly than the finest of bobbin laces, others are
very time-consuming. Some purists regard needle lace as the height of lace-making.
The finest antique needle laces were made from a very fine thread that is not
manufactured today.
Cutwork, or whitework; lace constructed by removing threads
from a woven background, and the remaining threads wrapped or filled with
embroidery.
Bobbin lace; as the name suggests, made with bobbins and a
pillow. The bobbins, turned from wood, bone or plastic, hold threads which are
woven together and held in place with pins stuck in the pattern on the pillow.
The pillow contains straw, preferably oat straw or other materials such as
sawdust, insulation styrofoam or ethafoam. Also known as Bone-lace. Chantilly
lace is a type of bobbin lace.
Tape lace; makes the tape in the lace as it is worked, or
uses a machine- or hand-made textile strip formed into a design, then joined
and embellished with needle or bobbin lace.
Knotted lace; including macramé and tatting. Tatted lace is
made with a shuttle or a tatting needle.
Crocheted lace; including Irish crochet, pineapple crochet,
and filet crochet.
Knitted lace; including Shetland lace, such as the
"wedding ring shawl", a lace shawl so fine that it can be pulled
through a wedding ring.
Machine-made; any style of lace created or replicated using
mechanical means.
Chemical lace; The stitching area is stitched with embroidery
threads that form a continuous motif. Afterwards, the stitching areas are
removed and only the embroidery remains. The stitching ground is made of
water-soluble or non heat-resistant material.
