Lettering in handmade lace

I often use lettering in my work and have tried various ways of incorporating it into lace. Generally I only include a phrase or a short sentence and often the idea behind the work is that the words have been caught up or trapped in the net of the lace on a curtain or veil. I have used a Bedfordshire bobbin lace technique to incorporate text into my subversive doilies project and also on some of my lace curtains (in the image above) and veils.

I have also added lace to net curtains using a tambouring technique. This involves producing a fine line of continuous chain stitches using a tambour hook and thread and is a good way of incorporating cursive script into the work.

In other curtains I have worked bobbin lace and then used threads from the lace to embroider the text across the background fabric of the curtain. I used this technique in ‘Whisperings’ where I wanted to incorporate a conversation of different threads of speech interacting with one another. I think these simple techniques suit the style of my work where I am trying to represent the thoughts of the lacemaker or imply that the words have merely been sifted from the air and trapped by the lace itself.