Difference between bobbin and machine-made footsides

In the descriptions below, C means cross and T means twist.

The footside is the straight edge of the lace. It is strongly made, so it can be used to sew onto fabric. This is a cloth footside. It is used in Bedfordshire and Bucks Point lace, and elsewhere. The workers use cloth stitch (CTC) to go through the passives, then the workers swap with the edge pair with cloth stitch and twist (CTCT). The pin is put inside of both pairs, rather than between them (as is more usual). Then the previous edge pair becomes the new worker pair, and works back through the passives in cloth stitch.

Click here for a description of how cloth footside is done, with an animation.

Click here for the whole piece of lace.

This is a twisted footside. It is used in Torchon lace and elsewhere.

It is worked the same way as the cloth footside above, except when the workers go through the passives, both ways, the stitch is cloth stich and twist (CTCT) rather than cloth stitch.

Click here for a description of how twisted footside is done, with an animation.

Click here for the whole piece of lace (left).

The example on the left only has one one passive. It is possible to have two or more passives, which makes a broader footside. The example on the right has two passives.

Click here for the whole piece of lace (right).

This is a winkie pin footside. The workers are worked through the passives either in cloth stitch and twist (CTCT) or cloth stitch (CTC). (Click here for a description of the cross-twist system.) This example uses cloth stitch and twist, so is a twisted winkie pin footside with two passives. This is similar to the other footsides. The difference is that the workers are not swapped with the edge pair. In fact, there is no edge pair, just passives. The workers are twisted, then looped round a pin, and the same workers return back through the passives. This is not such a strong footside as the other methods. The edge has a slight bumpy effect, due to the workers going round the pin by themselves, rather than being swapped with an edge pair.

Click here for a description of how winkie pin footside is done, with an animation.

Click here for the whole piece of lace.

In this machine footside, there is only a single thread which runs along the edge. Bobbin lace always works in pairs here. Also, you can see thin threads binding the thicker threads together. Bobbin lace has threads of the same thickness in footside. The passive threads also run either above or below the workers, impossible in bobbin lace.

The overall look is quite a good replica. But there is a coggled appearance to it (because of the thin threads) which hints at something wrong, even before you take a closer look.

Click here for the whole piece of lace.

Here, the threads are the same thickness, as they should be. Perhaps the edge thread is a bit thicker. There are four threads in the passives, but they are treated in a strange way, with the middle two threads treated as a single threads with the workers either passing over both, or under both.

The overall look is quite a good replica of a cloth winkie pin. But the passives look thin, and there is no bumps along the edge, as in winkie pin footsides. If it was a cloth footside, then there would be a distinction between the edge pair and the passives.

Click here for the whole piece of lace.

This footside is constructed in a quite different way. There are two thick threads as passives. Various thin threads wrap round these threads, or enter or leave the rest of the lace. At one point, the edge pair and the workers seem to cross over between the passives rather than at the edge!

Click here for the whole piece of lace.

This footside has a single thread at the edge, with a thinner thread wound round it. There are a pair of threads as passives, worked in cloth stitch. Bobbin lace always has more than one pair of threads as cloth stitch passives.

Although there is more than one thickness of thread here, the tension is better, so the lace does not look coggled. The narrowness of the cloth stich passives is the best clue at first glance.

Click here for the whole piece of lace.

It is obvious that there are two thicknesses of thread, with a single, thick worker thread and thin passive threads. However, look carefully and you will see an even thinner thread binding the other threads together.

The single thick worker thread is visible quite easily, and this shows that it cannot be bobbin lace.

Click here for the whole piece of lace.

Again, there are different thicknesses of thread, but here there is a single thick passive thread, a slightly thinner edge thread, and pairs of thinner threads acting as passives.

Click here for the whole piece of lace.

This looks superficially like a cloth footside. However, pairs of threads are not swapped over at the edge, and it is not a Winkie pin footside, as the edge thread is treated differently to the other passives. In fact the edge thread is thicker, and you can just see a thinner thread wound round it, However, even more importantly, the passive thread pairs are each treated as a single thread, with a pair going under and over together.

Click here for the whole piece of lace.

The threads coming in from the lace seem wrapped around a thicker thread at the edge of the lace.

Click here for the whole piece of lace.