Picots

 

I’m a great fan of picots I like to use a few on an edging to give it a little bit of added interest. However when I make them by twisting two threads I always struggle to twist them together properly. Pam Nottingham says this happens ‘when the threads are tightened separately before the final twists are added’. Because of this, in my recent work, I’ve started using what I was taught to call false picots, but which Bridget Cook calls a knotted picot and Pam Nottingham terms ‘a picot using thick thread’. This involves looping one thread of a pair through the other to form a small loop, so knotted picot is a good description of it. Although it probably works best with thick thread it does stay firm and crisp in thin cotton and doesn’t cause the fanned out look of a double-thread picot that has become untwisted. You do need to twist the pairs after making the picot and continuing with the rest of the design though, to prevent leaving a hole beneath the picot. The lace in the image is an experimental piece I made a while ago, incorporating traditional twisted two thread picots and plaited loops making picot-like shapes.