My Library Runneth Over: Books on Lacemaking for Reenactors

I realize I've strayed somewhat into squidgy territory here, posting costume content on my personal blog. Oh well, too late now.  I mean, technically, I'm posting about books, not costumes, so maybe it's a fine line?  Whatever.

Renaissance Lace!  It's a Thing.  There are an incredible glut of books on lace out there, but unfortunately there aren't a lot of good ones on Renaissance (meaning roughly between 1500 and 1600) laces. A surprisingly large number of the books out there are basically brag books of rich Victorian collectresses, some with viable historical research, some without, and some containing unverifiable research from sources that've since been lost to time. Unfortunately, since a lot of these are also now out of copyright, there are a bunch of shitty on-demand "publishers" printing illegible scans of the works for cheap - so if you find a copy of Old Italian Lace (vols 1 or 2) online for under $50, don't bother. The text is illegible in most of the book, so much the worse the patterns. (If you find an authentic copy, let me know?)

So here's my top four books on historical - and specifically Renaissance - lace, in ascending order.

A Pictorial Archive of Lace Designs by Carol Belanger Grafton. This one looks lovely, but contains mostly reticella and filet from the 16th century, and then skips over the 17th century nearly completely. And as it says, it's merely an archive of designs - I'm guessing culled from period sources and pattern books from some of the reproduction errors.  Still, here are some beauty shots to whet your whistle.

Reticella

Really fancy Reticella

Filet or possible re-embroidered lace

It's good for getting an idea of what you'd be going for, though not very helpful in getting there.

Next, there's a Dover book, Renaissance Patterns for Lace, Embroidery, and Needlepoint. While this one is genuinely 100% Renaissance, it's again a mixture of Reticella and filet, neither of which I really do.  Still, pretty, and very handy reference for the motifs.

(I just liked the unicorn, quite frankly)

Okay, so now we get in to the stuff you probably haven't seen. These are the two good ones in my collection. 

Small, but mighty.

First off is Elizabethan Lace, by Gillian Dye.  This is a great little book, and unlike any of the others I have, it covers a bunch of different techniques (Reticella, cutworks. bobbin lace, filet/lacis) and even throws in sections on pinking, and lucet and finger-loop braiding. She cites, and shows pictures of, extant laces, and she provides lacemaking patterns for many. Best yet (for me) she also wrote a very good book called "The Beginner's Guide to Bobbin Lace" which came highly recommended by the staff at Lacis in Berkeley. I worked through most of the exercises, and it was actually really easy to follow - and she uses the same scheme instructions in this book.
 If you're going to get one book on lace, this is the one I'd get. Better yet, you can get it (and her two other books on historical bobbin lace trimmings, which are FABULOUS) directly from the publisher.  There is no better way to directly support someone than to pay them direct with as few middlemen as possible.

Totally not joking. This is almost a one-stop-shop.

Just a lovely example, oooh, aaah.

The other "good one" in my collection is another specifically about bobbin lace.

 An Early Lace Workbook is Rosemary Shepherd's contribution to the study of historical lace. Oh how I wish I could get these two ladies in the same room and sharing info!  This is a much bigger book, and rather more thorough, than any of Gillian Dye's historical lace books.  It gives examples from art, discusses working, charting, and giving up on charting existing laces.  Bonus: it talks a lot about some of the gold and silver laces that you see on a lot of the later period gowns, when people realized how much faster it is to make bobbin lace than it is to embroider.  Again, you can also order directly from the publisher. I got mine with a signed bookplate.  Awwww. :)

Check out that extant coif!