Lace Designs

Originally Popularized by Grandmothers! Lace designs are not just for your grandmother any more as they have become a fashion statement!

Lace designs, much like crochet, are widely used today in clothing, fashion accessories, jewelry, decor, home furnishings, furniture, and other designs.

If you've seen my other lens on crochet, you'll have a bit of an idea about the uses of lace as it's similar to crochet applications.

Lace is a lightweight, openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft.

Welcome to lace designs. Lace designs are not just for your grandmother any more as they have become a fashion statement!

Image Pictorial Archive of Lace Designs: 325 Historic Examples (Dover Pictorial Archive).

As in the many different design applications of "lace," there are many different types of lace as summarized below.

• Needle lace: made using a needle and thread. This is the most flexible of the lace-making arts. While some types can be made more quickly than the finest of bobbin laces, others are very time-consuming. Some purists regard Needle lace as the height of lace-making. The finest antique needle laces were made from a very fine thread that is not manufactured today.
• Cutwork, or whitework: lace constructed by removing threads from a woven background, and the remaining threads wrapped or filled with embroidery.
• Bobbin Lace: as the name suggests, made with bobbins and a pillow. The bobbins, turned from wood, bone or plastic, hold threads which are woven together and held in place with pins stuck in the pattern on the pillow. The pillow contains straw, preferably oat straw or other materials such as sawdust, insulation styrofoam or ethafoam. Also known as Bone-lace.
• Tape lace: makes the tape in the lace as it is worked, or uses a machine- or hand-made textile strip formed into a design, then joined and embellished with needle or bobbin lace.
• Knotted lace: including Macramé and Tatting. Tatted lace is made with a shuttle or a tatting needle.
• Crocheted lace: including Irish crochet, pineapple crochet, and filet crochet.
• Knitted lace: including Shetland lace, such as the "wedding ring shawl", a lace shawl so fine that it can be pulled through a wedding ring.
• Machine-made: any style of lace created or replicated using mechanical means.

Lace Designs in Fashion!

When you first think of lace, you undoubtedly think of lace trim on lingerie such as on a pretty silk camisole. This fashion article can be worn to dazzle your bedtime wardrobe, or can be paired with jeans and heels for a sexy evening look.

There was this sweet little dress I originally spotted at Nordstrom.

It’s the Tracy Reese ‘Sweet’ Seersucker Frock.

It has lacy fabric throughout with rigid nylon netting at high neckline and back with a back tie.

Silk lining. Cotton/silk/elastane; dry clean.

Lace parasol by Chris Kabel - This parasol is called Shadylace! It’s designed by Chris Kabel and manufactured by Droog. It’s made of wood, metal and polyester. It’s an alternative to the standard outdoor umbella, it’s as if you’re sitting under the canopy of the rain forest while dappled light filters through the trees. I love the bird perched atop the parasol!

Lace effect pillows by Lauren Moriarty. Take a close look at these “Noodle Block” cushions by Lauren Moriarty. They’re are inspired by the theme of ‘modern lace’, laser cut neoprene is moulded to form the ‘airflow’ cushion structure. Her Noodle Block range of lighting, cushions and interior cubes came from a fascination for the effects that can be created when a pattern is put into repeat. Her Rubber Lace Panels reference the structure and patterns found in traditional lace and combine these with the use of laser cutting and industrial materials to create new textile forms.

Lace laser-cut lamp by Contraforma - This cool lamp from Contraforma is an unmistakably modern lamp with a neo-romantic twist with it’s lace-like cut-out patterns. The stark durability of laser-cut, powder-coated steel is offset by fragile perforation, which gives way to the light from within and acts as a playground for illumination and shadows.

Lace laser-cut table by Contraforma - Contraforma has a full range of lamps and tables that have interesting lace-like, cut-out patterns. Each table is a work of art!

Lace flower drop earrings - Wow … are these not too cool? They actually look like crochet lace. I spotted these at Pink Flakes. Love ‘em!

Lace jewelry by Zundt Design - This is the real thing, it’s lace fabric jewelry. You’ll find a variety of handcrafted lace jewelry and laces at Zundt Design.

Lace combo bowl by Zundt Design. This takes me back to grandma! I remember lots of lace doilies, lace tablecloths, and lace bowls that adorned her tabletops. I spotted this at Zundt Design along with many more to pick from.

Are you into lace or lace-making? Own any special lace designs? I’d love to hear about it.

History: Lace Designs : Lace Fashion was originally created on Squidoo by JaguarJulie on August 4, 2007. Highest lensrank ever achieved: #7,923 overall. Lens #48 in the quest for Giant Squid 100 Club Charter Member 2007.