Freehand lace is

bobbin lace Bobbin lace is a lace textile made by braiding and twisting lengths of thread, which are wound on bobbins to manage them. As the work progresses, the weaving is held in place with pins set in a lace pillow, the placement of the pins usually det ...

worked directly on the fabric of the

lace pillow Bobbin lace is a lace textile made by braiding and twisting lengths of thread, which are wound on bobbins to manage them. As the work progresses, the weaving is held in place with pins set in a lace pillow, the placement of the pins usually det ...

without using a pricked pattern. Very few pins are needed (in most cases, only at the two edges.) The very early bobbin laces were probably made freehand, as pins were scarce, coarse, and expensive. At first, the laces were purely utilitarian: “seaming” laces ( insertions) joining narrow widths of fabric, and toothed or scalloped laces reinforcing the edges ( edgings). Many of the later freehand laces were also functional, but some areas produced very wide ornamental laces. Traces of freehand lace can be found nearly everywhere: they were part of the

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not t ...

s produced in pre-industrial communities. Production only survived in a few places, often because the lace was sold through handicraft organizations, when it no longer adorned the peasant costume and household textiles. There are a few areas with a living tradition, like

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and

Skåne Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne ...

in Sweden, several areas in

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and Pescocostanzo in

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, and Mikhailov in

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. Freehand lace is dense compared to lace made on a pattern. Wide areas without pins can be constructed by using certain techniques: the different parts of the lace must be made in the right order, and a triple half stitch can be used to secure the threads instead of a pin. In many areas, the laces are made wider by combining two or more patterns lengthwise. The lengths of the repeats are usually quite different. Many other laces have traits inherited from freehand lace, for example, the patterns and the working of the braids in

Milanese lace Milanese (endonym in traditional orthography , ') is the central variety of the Western dialect of the Lombard language spoken in Milan, the rest of its metropolitan city, and the northernmost part of the province of Pavia. Milanese, due to t ...

, and the grounds without pins and the exchange of workers in linen stitch in some of the

Flemish lace Flanders lace (point de Flandres) was made in Flanders, which was particularly well known for its bobbin lace. The supreme epoch of Flemish lace lasted from about 1550-1750. The lacemaking areas of Antwerp, Mechlin, Binche and Valenciennes are ...

s. The term 'freehand lace' was first used as the translation of an Italian term in the English edition (1913) of Elisa Ricci's ''Antiche Trine Italiane''. It is called 'lace without a pattern' in French, 'numeric lace' in Russian, and the Slovaks have named it by the fact that it is produced on a bare pillow. In Swedish, the verb used for composing a poem is also used for making freehand lace. The basic research on Freehand Lace was made by Bodil Tornehave of

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, and published in her book ''Danske Frihåndskniplinger'' (, Danish Freehand Lace) in 1987. 'Freehand lace' is sometimes confused with '

free lace Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procure ...

', which is a modern, artistic form of lace.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freehand Lace Bobbin lace