In these examples, the lace tends to be worked in a direction, downwards. The straight edge of lace is called the footside, and if present, it will be on the right. The wavy or frilly edge is called the headside, and if present, it will be on the left.
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Half stitch threads have three directions, straight across, diagonally left, and diagonally right. While threads enter and leave the shape in pairs, the threads inside the shape travel alone. For a description of how half stitch is done, with an animation, click here. The technical description of half stitch is CT, or cross, twist. Click here for the whole piece of lace.
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Half stitch is used in geometric shapes, such as the framing zigzags and fans in this Torchon piece. Click here for the whole piece of lace.
Half stitch can also be worked in more fluid shapes, possibly decorated with raised tallies, such as this Bedfordshire butterfly. Click here for the whole piece of lace.
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Half stitch is often contrasted with cloth stitch, such as the petals in this Honiton motif. Click here for the whole piece of lace. |
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This machine-made imitation of half stitch on the left has no horizontal threads, and the rest are knitted rather than the weaving efect of bobbin lace. Its main effect is the contrast with the imitation cloth stitch (top left). On the right, in the same piece of lace as the above, there is an imitation half stitch zigzag, but here the 'half stitch' is done in a different way. The thicker threads are laid across each other, and thin threads bind them together. Click here for the whole piece of lace. |  |
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Here, there are two different densities of stitch. The denser one (bottom) is presumably supposed to represent cloth stitch. The less desnse may be supposed to be half stitch, or perhaps some kind of ground. It is, however, made exactly the same as the 'cloth stitch', just with less threads. Click here for the whole piece of lace. |
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This looks, at first, quite like bobbin lace. You can see the horizontal and diagonal threads as expected. But the whole texture is coggled, slightly. When you look very closely, you can see very thin threads binding everything together. It is most obvious at the top of the fan (top right). A cynic might say that it must be machine lace, as the half stitch fans are neat and strong! Bobbin lace half stitch fans often seem a bit floppy and distorted. Click here for the whole piece of lace. |
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The threads go diagonally, but not horizontally. If you look carefully, they also do not go under-and-over in the correct way. A very close look shows very thin threads binding the other threads together. Click here for the whole piece of lace. |
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This is presumably trying to replicate the effect of a half stitch fan. There are diagonal threads, but there are vertical threads rather than horizontal ones. The diagonal threads twist round the vertical threds too much, as well. Click here for the whole piece of lace. |
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© Jo Edkins 2014
