Belgian Bobbin Lace: A New Family Heirloom – Part 1

My favourite (and only) niece celebrated her first wedding anniversary last month. This momentous occasion, along with my recent trip to Bruges, reminded me of a gift I made for her wedding. While I completed it during the summer of 2017, I actually started it in 1995, during my first Bruges visit. That visit was part of my first trip to Europe which included stops in Paris and Amsterdam. I spent the most time in Bruges though. This was due to the fact that I had registered for a week-long lace-making course at the Kantcentrum – Lace Centre. My goal was to learn to make the beautiful and delicate Belgian bobbin lace. With the help of my instructor, Rachel, I am happy to say that I succeeded.

So with Julia’s upcoming marriage, I offered to make her a bobbin lace garter. I was delighted when she accepted. However, while I still had all of my lace-making supplies, it had been close to 20 years since I had worked with them. So, my first task was to re-teach myself the basics. This was a little easier said than done as my instruction manual is in Flemish, which I don’t speak. Fortunately, I also have the English translation notes. So I began a process of reading the English instructions then referring back to the Flemish manual to view the photos and diagrams. This took a bit of time but the technique soon came back to me.

It also gave me an opportunity to christen my new cross-stitched abeille – bee – pin cushion, a recent Christmas gift hand-crafted by my generous and talented sister Marie. This cute little cushion came in very handy on this project as bobbin lace is a pin-intensive craft. I liken it to miniature macramé except it’s created by following a pattern that is pinned to a horse-hair stuffed cushion which rests on your lap. This type of lace, which has been made in Belgium since the 16th century, is formed by weaving threads wound onto wooden bobbins with weighted bottoms (hence the name Belgian bobbin lace). Pins are used to hold the threads in place on the pattern to create the desired motifs.

I honed my skills by creating a sampler using various combinations of the three basic types of stitches. Having refreshed my memory, it was time to choose a pattern for this Belgian bobbin lace garter.

Click here for my next post to see the next steps in the process as well as the finished product!