Lace is Knot Fancy
Making lace is most often needlework done with a crochet hook which basically pulls the thread into knots through loops arranged in a continuum. But lace can also be made with a needle on fabric stretched on a frame -- more like knotting the thread in embroidered patterns around punch-outs in the stretched cloth. Another way that I have myself have made lace-y textiles is on a loom. The warp is threaded more sparsely, with repetitions of unthreaded spaces in a specific pattern.
Crocheting a lace doily from cotton thread was one of the most common needlecraft activities a few decades ago. Doilies are no longer widely used, so crocheted lace nowadays shows up more in garments. In 1990s America lace is often seen in intimate apparel and baby garments. It is the fabric of choice for bridal veils as well. Lace crochet is usually done in cotton thread. Punch-out lace can be done in linen or linen-weave mercerized cotton; see http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/text...
Crocheted lace neck scarves, head coverings and shawls are lighter-weight than most knitted garments of the same dimensions, simply because they have more "holes" in them. Wedding ring shawls are the most delicate crochet done in wool. They are crocheted with such "drape" (meaning flexibility), and in such a fine gauge woolen yarn that they can be pulled through a lady's wedding ring when they are finished full-size. Yet that same lady could depend on the shawl to keep her upper body warm in stiff breezes. The traditional yarn for such shawls is spun from the fiber of Shetland sheep, and the finished shawl may be brushed to raise a nap, thus capturing more air in the spaces among its fibers and providing a higher degree of insulation against the cold. A Shetland lace shawl is a prize possession.
One of the most beautiful of lace-y effects is produced when a sparsely woven cotton or linen is stretched on a frame. By means of a punch, the threads are pushed apart in a pattern to form floral or geometric -- or even alphabet or animal -- shapes. The threads can be counted in the sparsely woven fabric so that the design can be very exact. The lace maker then works around the punch-outs in the fabric with an embroidery stitch -- normally using the same kind and color of thread that is in the background cloth. Once the punched out design is prepared, the finishing stitches may be simple and very consistent or they may be more complex and varied within the over-all design. The most elegant of table cloths are created in a loosely woven linen with simple geometric spaces either woven into the fabric design or punched out of the finished fabric; then simple embroidery in the same thread decorates the edges of each space much like a buttonhole.
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