Cattern Lace

When I first started making lace, and had to carry my cushion to school every Thursday (aswell as my PE kit and violin- Thursdays were a lot!) I had a huge brown carrier bag with sturdy plastic handles which fit the cushion in perfectly. Over the course of the year the handles started to come away and it was punctuated with pin holes, but it did it’s job.

Since then, I’ve bought, made and been given multiple different lace cushion bags, of varying sizes and designs. We were chatting about the pros and cons of different types of bags at a recent Wolds meeting so I thought I’d share some of the ones I’ve found useful.

If you can use a sewing machine, I’d recommend making your own bag as you can customise it to the size (and fabric) you want and include as many pockets as you like! A really simple bag can be made using a rectangle of fabric larger than your pillow gathered at the corners, but if you want a more structured bag, I’ve made a couple of bags using this pattern by Craft House Magic (Bobbin Lace cushion carry bag sewing pattern (PDF with pattern piece p – Craft House Magic), the first using some fabric I had but didn’t need for anything else, and the second time using lace-themed cotton from Minerva- I can’t find the same fabric on their website now though unfortunately. The bag is designed with internal and external pockets and you can adjust the size to fit your pillow. I also like that it has zips either side making it easier to put the cushion in flat so that your work isn’t disrupted as much.

If you’d rather buy a bag, you can find loads of options on eBay and at local group meetings, aswell as some of the main lacemaking suppliers. Harlequin Lace have some great options (All Products) including this large waterproof bag which is padded, has an external pockets and sturdy handles and is ideal for carting my cushion around during the winter weather.

Some bags come with the pillow itself, particularly travel cushions, which also tend to have internal storage for travel bobbins.

This is a homemade one I picked up at a recent meeting. The maker has used fabric-covered cardboard to create a portable pillow with pockets:

This travel pillow is the Globetrotter from Harlequin which comes with a roller and a flat cushion in a hard case. You don’t need to take the pillow out of the bag to make lace so it’s been fab to use on trips away.

When transporting your lace cushion it’s really important to keep bobbins secured. If I’m using Midlands bobbins with spangles, I usually put a large stitch holder through the spangles and pin a cover cloth tightly over to keep them from rolling around, or if you haven’t got many pairs on your pillow you can use a strip of cloth and pin each pair down individually. There are also other bobbin holder options available from suppliers.