Lace-making

[Vickitoria]

How exactly do you make lace? In simple terms please because I searched elsewhere and they had some extremely LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG words that this little 12-year-old doesn't understand. Thankyou. 0:-)

[Kit]

I've never made lace, but my mother used to make bobbin (pillow) lace - this hopefully will give you a rough idea: You start with a pattern, printed on thick paper and pinned to a firmly stuffed "pillow". The pattern marks out where loops, different kinds of stitches, etc will be. The thread used to make the lace is wound onto bobbins, which in England tend to be thin, cylindrical and have a bead weight (spangle) on the end. (They are different shapes in different countries as the lace making method is different - Continental bobbins don't have spangles, so they are fatter at the end to add weight.) Weight on the end of the bobbin helps to keep the tension on the thread while the lace is being made, and stops the bobbins from rolling around on the pillow. The next bit will be a bit hazy as I don't know exactly how the stitches are made - however, from what I gather the threads are twisted, knotted, bobbins swopped around etc, and as each "stitch" is made, it is pinned to the pattern to keep it in shape. What you end up with is a long piece of lace pinned to the pattern on the pillow, with the threads on the end you are working on, attached to bobbins. This is only one way of making lace - there is also tatting, crochet and needle lace, and probably some others I've forgotten, but I don't know anything about any of them I'm afraid. Hope that helps, although I don't know if it answers your question because it doesn't tell you exactly how to make it. What long words have you come across - it might be possible to translate them!