Romanian Point Lace - presentation

This lace started in 14^th Century and was first used to connect narrow pieces of home woven textiles used for clothing.

Romanian Lace, also referred to as Romanian Point is part of a family of tape laces, the earliest dating date back to 17th c. Italian Mezzo Punto.

 Today, Battenberg Lace is the name assigned to most laces of this type where a machine made tape defines the design and needle lace infillings define the texture.

 Now Romanian Point Lace is widely spread in Europe and can be find in Belgium , Czech Republic , Germany , Hungary , Israel and some of former Yugoslavian countries.

The uniqueness of Romanian Point is that it is entirely hand made , the tape have been replaced by a very specific hand made braid.

The braid which is the base of the lace is done with a crochet hook and the filling stitches are the needlepoint stitches. While the braid can take many forms, the unusual characteristic is that the forming thread can be pulled from either end.

For any project you need a pattern which in this case is a design imprinted with a permanent marker in a piece of fabric. Preferable should be a strong piece of fabric which can’t be scrunch very easy on your hands and of a light color.

You need thread for crocheting the cords. DMC Cebelia and Cordonnet work well. I have also used Pearl Cotton as long as it has a tight twist such as DMC size 5, 8 , 10 & 12 .Loosely twisted threads will not work.

To start the project you would need to have done few good meters of the braid in the pattern according to your chosen design.

This braid have to be basted to the fabric piece over the design .The basting is done with a thread in a contrasting color so at the end of the project when you need to take it out you are able to see the basting thread easy.

After this entire boring job is coming another very important task of sawing together all the ends of the cut braid. The sawing have to be done like a weaving so looks neat and is strong and the braid can’t unravel on the further washes.

Now for the lace to start taking shape and hold together you be starting doing all the filling in needlepoint.

For the filling  usually you would not need any pattern just lots of imagination .In time all the artist get the feeling of what is need to be done. Each piece become a unique piece of art and is very well know even the very experienced women can’t do two the same pieces.        

 Next step is to lift the lace up from the pattern fabric. For this you need to turn the work in the back and with sharp scissors you need to cut the basting thread (which was in contrasted color).

 Then the lace has to be washed, the best way is to be hand washed and have it starch a little. Is better to flat dry and reshaped by hand so will be easy to ironing.

When you start to iron is very good to use a little piece of fabric laid over the lace and on the top of the lace and press gentle with the iron being careful not to stick the iron thru the lace which often can happen.

                           

This is a doily with a tapestry insertion on the middle.