Braid lace is the name for
lace made with a bobbin-lace braid, and usually with fillings
added, either after the braid is made, or at the same time as
the braid is worked. 
Bedfordshire lace
is a continuous lace. It was traditionally worked in strips
though other shapes such as mats and dress decorations were made
and certainly modern lace-makers continue to extend the variety
of shapes and motifs. Characteristics of this lace are a plaited
headside (9-pin edging in variations), tallies (square or petal
shaped), plaited legs (with or without picots), trails,
Bedfordshire spiders and a variation of footsides.
This type of lace is derived from the Maltese and/or Cluny
laces of the 19th century. Until this date, Bedfordshire laces
contained similar techniques to Bucks Point.
Bedfordshire-Maltese lace was made to try to compete with the
growing popularity of machine-made laces. It was quicker
to make than the East Midlands laces, ie Northamptonshire and
Buckinghamshire. It was a bolder lace which meant that the
designs could still be seen across the increasing widths of the
Victorian hooped dresses.
Braid Lace Braid lace is the name for
lace made with a bobbin-lace braid, and usually with fillings
added, either after the braid is made, or at the same time as
the braid is worked.
There are many variations of Braid Lace, and many Continental laces are made using braids, especially Russian and Czech laces.
However in its finest form, Honiton and Brussels are Braid Laces, with complex fillings added later, sometimes in needlelace. Milanese Lace was developed with patterned braids using scrolls and floral designs, and simple fillings.
Some of the earliest
bobbin-laces were made using braids, and were often for Church
use, or furnishings. In the 16th and early 17th centuries many
large collars were made in Braid Lace, and can be seen in
portraits of the time.
Carrickmackenzie
This is a very
contemporary development in lacemaking created by Jane Rushworth
Mackenzie, a well-known British lace designer and teacher.
She greatly admired advanced floral Bedfordshire patterns, but
decided the designs could be worked in easier
lacemaking/embroidery techniques for less experienced bobbin
lacemakers.
Jane decided to combine Carrickmacross for the more solid areas of the design with Bedfordshire-type edgings and fillings. Needlelace cordonnets, couronnes and medallions can be used as extra embellishments.
As it was Jane's intention to create a more textural lace, she thought the technique lent itself to trying out other textural and coloured threads.
Carrickmackenzie is truly a lace for
the start of the new Millennium.
ABC(2) Carrickmacross, Charted Bobbin
Lace, Cluny
Lace what is
lace?
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