Ayrshire Needlelace

The Royal School of Needlework classes introduced me to Needle Lace in the Ayrshire Heart class taught in Williamsburg. Gorgeous stuff....tiny stuff.....miniscule. The threads used are even thinner than miniscule, but we were allowed to choose slighter larger threads for the weaving...thank goodness. There was 30, 50 and 80 gauge cotton lace thread in the kit, 80 being the narrowest of narrow threads (for me) to work with.

We first got to practice on a piece of fabric with a larger hole...about 1" wide, that was already prepared for us. Following the chart in the instructions, we used a larger thread (darned if I remember which...a pearl cotton?) to figure out the design and exactly what the procedure was. The long line in blue is where I started, and the other blue lines marked the joins around the eyelet circle. I didn't do too badly, and after I got the hang of it, enjoyed the process.

The spokes, and most of the design, have twisted threads and wrapped threads. The center of the needle lace is buttonhole stitch over lots of weaving around the spoke center.

But then the challenge was actually doing one on the project! Yikes...deep breath, and more deep breathing. I made the eyelet, one where the fabric is cut away and folded to the back and secured by whipping the edges carefully. Then I loaded up the 80 weight cotton lace thread and began the process, following the same design as the big one.....slowly keeping count of how many wraps and where I was on the design. Tiny stuff...under really good lighting, but I did it! Jenny Adin-Christie, our RSN Tutor, was very complimentary of my efforts.

You can see the next eyelet that will have a needle lace filling below the completed one. The Double Running Stitch is completed, fabric cut, and I will press the fabric to the wrong side to bind the edge before making the Needlelace. The completed eyelet at the bottom will also have an Ayrshire needlelace filling. Fun stuff to do inside in the air conditioning during the hot, Tidewater summers!

Here's another example of needlelace inside eyelets from an antique Ayrshire piece owned by Jenny. It was a beautiful piece to see in person and I was grateful to look and handle this incredible work of needle art. Thank you, Jenny, for sharing this with the class!