While woring fishtails, I thought they looked a bit like feathers. So here is a pattern which uses this!
Pattern:
Bobbins: 12 pairs (2 fawn, 2 brown, 10 grey)
Style: Torchon
Size: 4 inches long
Stitches:
half stitch
cloth stitch and twist
cloth stitch (red)
plait (red)
twist single pair
Details:
double Torchon ground (grey)
fishtail headside (green and red)
cloth footside (grey, green, red)
Description:
Follow the links above for explanation of how to work the different parts of the lace.
The tricky bit of this pattern is how the fawn or brown pairs behave outside the feather. They outline the feather - this is done with cloth stitch and twist down to the point where you start the workers of the fishtail. There are no pins. The line of stitches looks baggy at first, but it gets put in place by the fishtail pins (rather like the centre of the fishtail). Do several twists (I did three) to separate the feathers from each other.
There are two brown complete feathers and one fawn complete feather. The other feathers are half feathers. To provide the stem of the feather, take the worker pair from edge right down to, and including, the footside, pin, and back again. Use cloth stitch rather than cloth stitch and twist (this pushes the threads closer together). Then several twists of the passives to push the feathers apart. Then do the same with the other colour - cloth stitch through everything else down to the footside and back again. All done without pins! Tighten everything carefully.
Between the feathers, there are two pairs (fawn and brown) to take from one pin to another. Use a plait to do this.
The footside is a cloth footside with two passives. I did these using fawn and bown. I wanted to give the idea of a band holding the feathers. But you can make them grey if you prefer.
Close up of the lace, so you can see the working in more detail.
© Jo Edkins 2026 - return to lace index