Nowadays, bobbin lace is usually made from cotton or polyester thread. Silk can be also be used. All these are easily obtained. I tend to use polyester thread, which is strong and cheap, although I have used cotton and silk, and I admit I can't tell the difference! So these are not 'strange'. This page shows some of the other threads that I have used.
This idea was taken from an old book on lace, which said that hair was used.
My conclusion from this exercise is yes, you can use hair, but it's very difficult to use, and, quite frankly, ugly. Depends on the hair, I suppose! More importantly, if it's possible (if difficult) to use hair, then it should be possible to use practically anything to make lace. It must be thin (or thick) enough for the pattern, it must bend well, it must not break, it must be smooth enough, it must not stretch. But apart from that...
I saw this advertised somewhere, so bought it. I had a memory from school that the Ancient Britons were dyed with woad. This is quite a thick thread - I think it is supposed to be used for weaving. It is also a paler blue than I though it would be. I have used it more than once, but this was the first time.
Perfectly good thread for bobbin lace. Moral - try anything!
Flax is not a 'strange' material at all. It was the original lace material before cotton became available, if people did not use silk or metallic thread. It is possible to buy nowadays, especially from specialist thread supplies. Here are some of the patterns where I used linen thread.
A flax or linen thread is more uneven than cotton or polyester, and I broke a thin linen thread more than once (I have never broken a cotton or polyester thread!) However, it is perfectly usable, with only a little extra care. I found it rather pleasant to use such a historic type of thread!
Well, I had this transparent thread (made of clear plastic, and intended for invisible hems), and I thought, why not?
The problem with invisible lace is that it's, well, invisible! Still, the thread was easy to use. It is more effective if you combine it with other threads, so some pairs can fade into the background. As the thread is plastic, the finished lace didn't feel pleasant.
This shows the fun you can have experimenting. If they are real experiments, then some don't work.
I saw glow-in-the-dark thread in a shop, and couldn't resist...
The moths pattern can only really be seen in the dark. The others are designed to be OK in the light, but different in the dark.
Lace used to be made with gold and silver thread, made of real metal. It doesn't tend to survive, as it gets melted down for its monetary value. However, nowadays there are a large number of metallic threads available. These are usually made from plastic, and may be combined thread. I delight in buying and using these, particularly for Christmas patterns. The following lace (pattern 189) was a deliberate attempt to imitate the style of old lace.
These metallic threads, and other shiny and bling threads, are perfectly OK to use for bobbin lace, usually. I have found a few problems.
You do not make lace with these, of course, but they can be added to lace for decoration.
You can make things with beads, of course!
© Jo Edkins 2017 - return to lace index
