Torchon bobbin lace

 

This image shows a typical example of Torchon lace, based on geometric shapes, including blocks of cloth and half stitch interspersed with spiders and rose ground, all surrounded with a fan edging. Torchon is often the first type of lace you are taught when starting bobbin lace making because it is based on grids and it is therefore easy to see which pinhole needs to be worked next. Also the patterns require no extra threads to be added or removed as the work progresses so the thread patterns are easy to follow. The filling stitches are generally variations on honeycomb stitch or rose ground. Two versions of rose ground are shown in this pattern, forming the blocks of small open squares. It also features two variations of spiders, with and without central holes and with 12 legs!

Torchon lace developed from the peasant laces of continental Europe, where it was often made and used in the home as a decoration for domestic linen. Santina Levey notes that Torchon means ‘dishcloth’ in French. In the first half of the nineteenth century Torchon lace was being made in France, Germany and Italy, but in the second half of the century it was taken up by the English lacemakers of the East Midlands and by 1900 Mrs Penderel Moody reports that it was also being made in Belgium, Russia, Bavaria, China, India and some African countries. Part of its appeal for domestic use is that if it is made of good quality linen thread it is easy to launder and lasts for many years.

Although Torchon lace is designed on grids or graph paper this does not mean the patterns are limited to squares, triangles and diamond shapes. Various types of graph paper are available including circular and sectional grids. The lace mat in the image above was worked from a design by Jane Atkinson using a circular grid and inspired by a motif on a Pueblo Indian pot.

I designed this three dimensional piece, inspired by modern architecture, using an irregular grid and leaving spaces between the main elements to allow it to be manipulated to form a sculptural shape. As you can see, Torchon lace has outgrown its reputation as a simple peasant lace and is now being used to design interesting contemporary lace works.