This is an attempt to reproduce the lace in Allori's Annunciation - see below for picture, detail and discussion.
Pattern:
Bobbins: 4 pairs
Style: Plaited lace
Size: 3.5 inches long
Stitches:
plaits
picot
cloth stitch
twist pair
Description:
Follow the links above for explanation of how to work the different parts of the lace.
There are only four pairs! Two pairs are the passives, which travel straight down the lace. They are twisted (lots of times!) between the groups of picots. The other two pairs travel from one edge to the other, diagonally, as a plait, with one doing a picot in the middle. Then they both cross a passive pair in cloth stitch. The outer pair does a picot. The inner pair then crosses it with cloth stitch, and does a picot in its turn. Then they swap back again for the first pair to do another picot. They cross the passive pair again, in cloth stitch, and everything is tightened well, to push the three picots together.
Detail from painting
The painting seemed to show 4 pairs (if you look carefully) which is astronishingly few for lace, especially as there has two be two pairs used as passives at the edge, leaving only two pairs to do all the work. I wondered what would happen if I did a zigzag of plaits, which ended up as the above pattern. The original seemed to show groups of three dots at the edge. I wondered if these were triple picots. While working, it seemed obvious to take both pairs across the passive pair, and do picots with alternate pairs. It works as a piece of lace. I also found that, like the painting, you didn't need many pins. The triple picots hold the two working pairs very firmly. I also found that the pairs naturally fell into the pattern in the painting - with three pairs togther, and the other passive pair pushed to one side. One of my bobbins even decided to do a pattern of thread wound on it like the picture!
© Jo Edkins 2025 - return to lace index