A Needlelace Handkerchief

Caryl de Trecesson (Carol Hanson)

Materials: 32-ct. white linen white silk twist (Rainbow Gallery "Elegance") Stitches: The center is a reticella needlelace (pattern in Vinciolo and similar pattern in Vecellio) in overcast, buttonhole, and buttonhole filling stitches with Venetian buttonhole picots, surrounded by a drawn thread border in buttonhole and overcast stitches. The edging is an attached punto-in-aria (pattern in Vecellio) in buttonhole stitch with Venetian buttonhole picots. To create the needlelace, I used two separate pattern cards (one for the center motif and one for the edging border) sketched on manila file folder material in permanent ink. The pattern cards were pricked with two holes at each intersection and holding bars were stitched in black silk thread on the card stock to hold the needlelace as it was being made. The center was first outlined in running stitch and buttonhole, then the linen was cut leaving four threads each of warp and weft crossing in the middle. This opening was stitched down to the card pattern for the center and the needlelace built on the pattern. After the needlelace was finished, the holding threads were cut and the linen removed from the card stock. The edges were made similarly. The edge of the handkerchief was folded over once and held with a simple running stitch. The first edge was then attached to the card stock edging pattern which had been prepared with holding stitches. When the needlelace and buttonholing for the side was finished, the holding threads were cut and the handkerchief removed, then new holding threads were stitched onto the pattern and the next edge of the handkerchief attached. To make the drawn thread border around the center, threads were removed parallel to the original buttonholing. The new border was buttonholed on the sides and the perpendicular threads overcast in groups of three. Pattern Sources: Vecellio, Cesare. Pattern Book of Renaissance Lace: A Reprint of the 1617 Edition of the 'Corona delli Nobili e Virtuose Dame'. New York: Dover, 1988. Also published as Pizzi Antichi nei disegni di Cesare Vecellio by SugarCo (Milan), 1980. Vinciolo, Federic. Renaissance Patterns for Lace and Embroidery; An Unabridged Facsimile of the 'Singuliers et Nouveaux Pourtraicts' of 1587. New York: Dover, 2000. Similar Pieces: There is a photograph of a "very early 17th c. gown" from the Victoria and Albert online at www.kipar.demon.co.uk/renaissancebody.html. The mannequin carries a handkerchief of "Italian cut work and detached needle lace" with a plain center and a wide double-border of reticella and punto-in-aria lace. At www.kipar.org/costumes_survive_accessories.html is another 17th c. handkerchief from the Victoria & Albert with four corner areas and edging in drawn-thread, whitework, reticella, and punto-in-aria. Background: "Needlelace" is as it says: a lace made with needle and thread. The two terms most often found for early needlelace are "reticella" (or more strictly "punto reticello") and "punto in aria" ("stitches in the air"). Both are Italian terms, but the styles were known across Europe. The point at which reticella needlelace separates from cutwork ("punto tagliato" or "point coupe") and drawn thread work ("punto sfilato") is debatable since the techniques and time periods overlap. Some reticella pieces, especially earlier ones, are built on cross threads from the fabric and so have a geometric structure very like drawn thread work; others have only the edges started on fabric and the center takes shape freely. The term was known by the late 15th c. in Italy and the style is believed to have been developed even earlier in Greece or in the islands between Greece and Italy. "Punto in aria" was developed by the mid 16th c. in Italy and is a true lace built separately from fabric (though it may be inserted later) so it can take any design that can be laid out in thread. The techniques used for both are (1) laying and couching of foundation threads, (2) buttonhole stitch over edges, foundations, and major pattern lines, (3) overcast stitch over "brides" (thin linking and strengthening threads), (4) various detached and open buttonhole stitches as fillings, (5) sometimes needleweaving (Genoa, basket-stitch, darning-stitch), and (6) often picots. Sources: Ambuter, Carolyn. The Open Canvas: An Instructional Encyclopedia of Openwork Techniques. New York: Workman Publishing, 1982. Cave, Oenone. Cut-Work Embroidery and How to Do It. New York: Dover, 1982. Rev. ed. of Linen Cut-Work, London: Vista Books, 1963. Clements, Diane. "Lessons in Reticello" in The Needleworker magazine: June/July 1999: Pincushion (first project): all the basics, including picots Aug/Sept 1999: Trivet (second project): elaborations Oct/Nov 1999: Tea Cloth (third project): punto in aria, different fillings De Dillmont, Therese. The Complete Encyclopedia of Needlework. Running Press, 1996. 3rd ed. Orig. pub. by Dollfus-Mieg Company (France), 1884. Also called DMC Encyclopedia. Henney, Charla (Mistress Meadhbh ni Dhubhthaigh): Needlelace. Online at www.geocities.com/monstonitrus/ a_and_s/needlelace/needlelace.html, originally in Tournaments Illuminated #138, April 2001. Kliot, Jules and Kaethe. The Needle-Made Lace of Reticella. Berkeley, CA: Lacis Publications, 1994. Reprinted selections from various sources, orig. 1881-1926, including a large section from Therese De Dillmont's Needle-Made Laces, c. 1910. The Lace Fairy: lace.lacefairy.com/ID/Identify.html. Several useful articles, most of which are accessible from the given overview of lace types. Montclare, Kay. Needlearts website: Basic Reticella (www.needlearts.com/articles/article_8/article_8.html) Picots (www.needlearts.com/articles/article_3/article_3.html) Vecellio, Cesare. Pattern Book of Renaissance Lace: A Reprint of the 1617 Edition of the 'Corona delli Nobili e Virtuose Dame'. New York: Dover, 1988. Also published as Pizzi Antichi nei disegni di Cesare Vecellio by SugarCo (Milan), 1980. Vinciolo, Federic. Renaissance Patterns for Lace and Embroidery; An Unabridged Facsimile of the 'Singuliers Et Nouveaux Pourtraicts' of 1587. New York: Dover, 2000. Also at www.pbm.com/~lindahl/vinciolo, the 1606 edition (3rd printing).

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