Foreign Bobbin Lace: Spain

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I don't know much about Spanish lace, but what I do know is on this page. Please contact me to point out mistakes!

Languages: Spanish and others - there are Catalan terms below

Spanish lacemaking terms:

Catalan lacemaking terms:

Don Quixote was written by Miguel de Cervantes in 1605. There are a couple of references to bobbin lace in it. Click here to read them.

Spanish lacemakers use the Twist cross system (rather than Cross twist).

Here is an example of ret-fi catala (thin Catalan blonde) or punta d'Arenys, a lace made on the Catalan coast of Spain. My thanks to Nuria from Barcelona for this information, and also for some of the lacemaking terms, above. Arenys is Catalan for "sands (of a seasonal creek)" and there are two municipalities in Maresme, Barcelona Province: Arenys de Mar ("sands by the sea") and Arenys de Munt ("sands up hill"). I don't know whether the lace came from one, both (or even neither!). Punta means lace in Catalan (compare the English Bucks Point).This lace looks, to me, very similar to Bucks Point. Note the hexagonal grounds, gimps (called torcal in Catalan), honeycomb and picots along the headside. I don't know if there is a link between lace from arts of Spain and England. There is a tradition that lace was introduced into England by Catharine of Aragon (the first wife of Henry VIII), but that may be a tall story!

Here are some beautiful Spanish ladies with their traditional lace head-dresses, known as mantilla, accompanied by close-ups of the lace. These photographs were sent to me by Joan (male name, in Catalonia - the same name as John.) Lace mantillas are part of the fallas celebrations in Valencia.

© Jo Edkins 2017 - return to lace index