Cattern Lace

I was recently collating some resources for a workshop and thought it would be useful to share here some of the books that are particularly useful for those starting out in lacemaking.

1. Bridget M. Cook’s Bobbin Lace Workbook is an absolute classic. It has a section of different stitches to try, which are then combined into beautiful pieces in the second part of the book.

Bridget has published several books that often feature the use of colour for different stitches (which makes them accessible across language barriers), and I find her diagrams, prickings, and instructions to be particularly beginner-friendly.

This is one of the patterns which is in the second half of the book when you’ve built up techniques with Bridget’s guidance through the initial exercises, so whilst it looks impressive, it’s perfectly achievable using the lessons she provides.

2. Pamela Nottingham’s The Technique of Bobbin Lace is the book I bought in my early 20s which got me back into lacemaking, having had a few years’ break since first learning as a 10 year old.

First published in 1995, this book has chapters on different types of English lace – including Torchon, Bedfordshire and Bucks Point.

The explanations and diagrams are really clear to follow, and the projects build in complexity.  The majority of Pamela’s many books are in the same vein, but I’m including this one because of the breadth of the techniques it covers.

3. Any of The Lace Guild’s booklets. Written by experts in the technique, these booklets are inexpensive and build up in complexity through the basic stitches.

They’re a great way of learning a new type of lace. Again the patterns build up techniques and the work aligns to their assessment scheme.

There are many lacemaking books out there, a lot of them now out-of-print although second-hand copies can easily be found online. The Lace Guild also has a library of books which – if you are a member- you can borrow, and many local lace making groups have a collection of donated books for sale or loan.

Books do vary in the complexity of the patterns and techniques included, the clarity of the explanations or diagrams (some have just images and prickings with no written instructions), or the quality of the prickings* so it’s always worth having a look through if possible before you buy.

*I believe it wasn’t uncommon for publishers to flip images or resize them for them to fit better on the printed page, something which of course is not helpful when a design (and its associated thread recommendation) is based on specific dimensions!

I’d also caution against some of the books published on Amazon in the past couple of years as many are AI-generated and the patterns are unworkable- see this article https://www.404media.co/bobbin-tatting-lace-ai-generated-books/ which explores this in depth.

What books have you found useful for learning lacemaking?