And Italian guipure, and light French lace, and tatting - all these needleworks belong to the shuttle type of lace, which since ancient times has been very common in various countries around the world.
Art historians believe that this technique of lace knitting was created in Ancient Egypt. And only in the 17th century it found its spread in Italy and France, and then throughout Europe. This type of needlework came to Russia like French lace - tatting.
For weaving, any cotton threads No. 10, 20, 30 are used. It is woven with shuttles - you can see them in the photo. These are two crescent-shaped plates, between which there is a jumper on which the thread is wound. The ends of the plates should be bent so that the thread, when wound around the jumper, does not slip past, being held in place until the lacemaker pulls it out. A diagram of what the shuttle should be like is shown in the photo.

The entire weaving technique is based on the tatting knot. The double tatting knot consists of straight and reverse loops. This is the most difficult element in this technique. So, having mastered it, you will easily master all the techniques and you will be able to weave wonderful products.
I suggest you make a decorative brooch - a rose from simple motifs woven using this technique.

For work we will need: 2 shuttles, scissors, crochet hook No. 1, darning needle for untangling knots, Iris threads, pin.

In order to make such a rose brooch, you need to weave five motifs from the threads you have chosen. I have this thread poppy.

In order to understand the pattern (rapport) of weaving the tatting technique, you need to know the following designations: K - ring, PC - half ring, P - picot, D - arc. So, let's proceed directly to weaving our petals.
Rapport of motive
1.1 – k (4p5p5p5p5p5p1).
2.1 – k (5p5).
2.2 – d.
3.1, 3.3 – k (5p5).
3.2 – d((2p)7 2).
3.4 – (2p2).

After this, it will be enough to weave the last, sixth motif without finishing the third row. It will be the middle of our rose.

All ready-made elements I soaked it in gelatin for that. So that they are rigid enough and keep their shape.

Now let's start collecting our flower by petals. To do this, we twist the last sixth, smallest element into a tube, thereby grabbing it with a thread.

To this element we add the other five one by one, also fastening them with a needle and thread.

We should get a rose like this.

I decorated the middle of the flower with a bead so that it would sparkle romantically.

I bought a pin at a sewing store to make our brooch.

All we have to do is attach our finished flower to this pin. I did this again using thread and a needle - I sewed the rose to the base.

Our brooch is ready! You can safely pin it.

Over time, if the rose becomes limp and becomes less tough, it will be enough to starch it with an aerosol. They are now on sale in stores household chemicals. And then iron the petals. This rose will not leave you without attention!


Tatting - a special technique lace making. It is also called knotted, shuttle or French lace. Why nodular? Because the products are made using the tatting technique using knots tied in various ways. Why shuttle? Because the main tool for tatting is a special shuttle. Why French? Because the name of this technique came to us from France.

It is believed that tatting is the easiest way to make handmade lace, as it requires a minimum number of tools and material costs. What is this fine needlework technique? Where can it be used and is it difficult to learn? Let's find out more about all this.

History of French lace

This technique lace making very, very ancient. So ancient that researchers still cannot accurately name the homeland of this needlework. There is only one thing they disagree on - tatting appeared in the East, and only then came to Europe. In the East, such lace was called “makuk” (shuttle), in Italy - “occo” (eyelet), in England - “teting” (woven lace), the literal translation from German “Schiffchen spitzen” also meant “shuttle weaving”, and in France this view lace making received the name "tatting" (frivolous).

IN In our language, the art of weaving shuttle lace is fixed under this name. The relaxed and relaxed technique did not become a type of folk craft, like, for example, bobbin lace making, but was popular and widespread women's handicrafts. The peak of its popularity came in the eighteenth century, when simple coarse threads were first used to make openwork trim for curtains and outerwear, and then handbags, hats, umbrellas, gloves and other items of the fashionable wardrobe of society ladies.

Very widespread there was this type of needlework in pre-revolutionary Russia . But after October '17 the shuttle lace making(like many other things) was declared a relic of the bourgeois past and began to be considered an occupation unworthy of a “liberated” woman. And only half a century later, the revival of tatting began, first in the Soviet Baltic countries (after all, they are closer to Europe!), and then in the rest of the USSR.

Shuttle lace technique

IN basis of this technique lace making lies a knot tied with a special shuttle. Finished products made using the tatting technique are a whole system of tightly tied knots. The technique itself is quite easy to learn and is accessible to both experienced craftswomen and beginning needlewomen.

For To begin learning, you will only need two shuttles, and only then you can use different shuttles for threads of different thicknesses and textures. The tatting shuttles themselves can have different sizes and a variety of designs. They are made from wood, plastic, bone, metal and plexiglass. Shuttles can be purchased at craft stores or even made yourself, for example, from scraps of a plastic bottle and a bobbin from a sewing machine.

In addition to shuttles, to make French lace you will need the following tools:

· crochet hooks with which individual elements are connected to each other;

· a needle in order to dissolve “defective” knots;

· thread cutting scissors;

· accessories in the form of beads, seed beads, rhinestones, sequins and clasps for jewelry;

· the threads themselves from which lace is woven.

A variety of threads are suitable for French lace: cotton, linen, silk, synthetic. The main qualities of a thread for such lace are its good twist, strength and high degree of slip. Cotton and linen threads are used to make lace napkins and clothing items, and synthetic threads are used for decorations. So, for example, when weaving tatting with beads or beads, they take nylon thread.

The whole variety of patterns and elements of shuttle lace is based on only one, the main knot, which is called the “tatting knot” and consists of two symmetrical parts. This knot can be direct or reverse. It is from the direct and reverse knots that the main elements of shuttle lace are made: ring, arc, picot. Moreover, the ring can also be a semiring, combined ring, ring within a ring. This technique uses the simplest connections of individual elements: direct coupling and reverse coupling.

Possibilities of knotted lace

With their skillful hands and a minimal set of tools, tatting craftswomen work wonders. The products made using this technique are so varied and elegant that you are simply amazed. In addition to openwork napkins, collars, hats and gloves using the knotted technique lace making They make costume jewelry, and individual motifs are used in decorative panels and paintings. This lace is used to decorate tablecloths and bedspreads, exclusive bed linen, wedding dresses and designer clothes. French lace is combined with such unexpected materials as metal, leather and stone. Using shuttle technology lace making A new handicraft technique “ankars” was also founded, where in addition to knotted lace, beading and macrame techniques are used.

France was not the birthplace of the invention of lace. But she gave the world several techniques that had a significant impact on the development of fashion in the world. French Chantilly lace, Argentan and Alençon products are highly valued and are considered one of the most expensive in the world.

The fashion for lace in France was introduced by Catherine de Medici. Florentine by birth, wife of King Henry II and mother of three kings, caused a sensation with her lace wedding dress. Catherine became a legislator new fashion, the reticella ornament became popular under her. Lace was used to decorate not only dresses and bed sheets, but they upholstered carriages with it and used it in the interior.

French lace

Under Catherine, the first catalog of lace appeared, which was drawn by the Italian artist Frederico de Vinciolo, commissioned by her.

Under Louis XIV, a fashion for Italian guipure arose. Venetian lace was incredibly expensive, and it happened that nobles went bankrupt purchasing outfits. Finance Minister Colbert ordered 30 lacemakers from Venice, who were supposed to teach local craftswomen the secrets of weaving.

French lacemakers perfected the technique. Guipure was distinguished by the subtlety of its finishing: not only fancy ornaments were reproduced, but also genre scenes, profiles of angels and people were woven.

Louis, to whom Colbert showed samples of the work, was very pleased: the Sun King, confident in the skill of French women, banned the export of lace to France. Manufactories were founded in Alençon, Quesnoy, Sedan, Argentan, Reims and many other cities. Since the end of the 17th century, lace from France has been an example of perfection and high style. For two whole centuries - an obligatory attribute of female and men's suit, which was worn by the upper classes. Only in the 19th century did men stop decorating their outfits with lace.

Alençon lace

Alençon (lower Normandy) was the first to use tulle with small hexagonal cells as a background. The hair of white-maned horses was sewn onto the contours of the ornament. The pattern of bouquets and floral ornaments is applied with a small needle.

Garlands and patterns in the Rocaille style have a characteristic ornament, which was decorated with a thicker thread. Lace using the alençon technique is an extremely painstaking, labor-intensive weaving. To weave one square. see lace takes four hours self made!

By the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th centuries, the ornament of Alençon lace became lighter. It is placed along the contours, and the background is filled with small patterns, polka dots, and butterflies.

Alençon lace is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Nowadays, most lace is made by machine knitting. Hand embroidery is practically never found on sale. But in the lace-making museum there are craftswomen who introduce you to the technique.

Argentan lace became famous. Their difference was that the larger cells on the background were overstitched with a buttonhole stitch. Alençon lace is more airy than that made in Argentan.

Some of the most popular lace in the world used for decoration wedding dresses, is Alençon lace.

Chantilly lace

This technique - lace made from black threads - became widespread in the 19th century. Chantilly came into fashion under Napoleon III. The pattern is decorated with a lattice, which in some details is woven more tightly to achieve depth and volume. The contours of the design, as well as the openwork background, are outlined by a dense silk thread.

Using the Chantilly technique, they wove capes, shawls, covers for umbrellas, capes, and decorated dresses.

The equipment comes from the town of the same name. At first, the then fashionable blond lace was woven in Chantilly, then they began to produce lace from black threads. Chantilly got its name when they were no longer produced in the city. But Cannes and Bayeux were considered the best manufactories.

French lace dress

Chantilly lace was an indispensable part of the costume of a European fashionista of the 19th century. Many portraits have survived depicting beauties whose dresses or capes are decorated with Chantilly. According to the memoirs of a French woman who lived during the era of the Third Republic, ladies felt undressed if they were not wearing lace or a Chantilly cape.

In the 40s of the last century, only ladies from high society could afford to decorate their outfits with Chantilly lace. In the 60s, shawls, capes, and collars made of black lace became more accessible: they began to be produced by machine.

At the end of the 19th century, Chantilly dresses, which were worn with a white cover, came into fashion in Europe. It was an elegant and expensive outfit for a representative of high society.

Nowadays, lace from France is an indispensable attribute of pret-a-porte and haute couture clothing. Leading lace manufacturers are the haute couture houses Sophie Hallette and Riechers Marescot.

French lace is always in fashion. Particular interest in them arose after the wedding of Kate Middleton, who got married in a dress made of lace made in France.

Vintage lace, which is collected for collections and making outfits for antique dolls, is also valued.


The passion for antique dolls also led to the study of antique materials. Lace is beautiful in itself, I can admire lace like a painting!.. And it is also material and inspiration for new doll outfits! Valenciennes, Alençon - how a purr caresses the ear... But I wanted to understand the types of lace and systematize them. I count on the help of experienced people!
I'll probably start with Chantilly.
Named after the French city of Chantilly - the center of fine, elegant silk lace making.
Chantilly is a typical lace from the time of Napoleon III. As a rule, these products large size: mantillas, scarves, capes, skirts, umbrellas, etc. But there are also miniature items - various tattoos, veils and handkerchiefs. The stylistic features of these products evoke lace from the mid-18th century. The drawing is always distinguished by the complexity of its composition and the perfect execution of individual details. Large pattern with intricate bouquets of large realistically interpreted flowers (roses, tulips, irises, poppies, vines, bells) fills almost the entire surface of the lace, leaving a little free space for the background to dot it with flies and small flowers. The edge of the product is framed by the invariably repeated motif of ribbons hanging in lambrequins, trimmed with ruffle or fringe, and order ribbons with tassels, characteristic of the times of the Second Empire.

Further - Valenciennes.
This type of lace originated in the city of Valenciennes in the second half of the 17th century. In the 18th century, various characteristic features of creating the basis of this lace appeared. There are 2 varieties: “Valenciennes lace of Bruges” and “Valenciennes lace of Ypres”. The difference in the shape of the mesh loops is the basis. The former is characterized by a mesh of round loops, while the mesh of the second has characteristic square loops. Both types of warp are very durable and are created by weaving four threads.
Parts of the woven fabric are created from solid loops and are surrounded by a ring of small holes, which are used when creating patterns in the composition to give lightness to the lace itself. The entire composition mainly consists of patterns inspired by nature: flowers, leaves and animals.
Valenciennes lace is the finest work of craftswomen, which is famous for the absence of any relief due to the fact that the patterned pattern is woven simultaneously with the mesh. You can notice some similarity between the Valenciennes lace pattern and the pattern of tulle curtains. In Valenciennes, narrow and wide measured lace was produced, which was used to decorate arbors, carriage windows, and various elements of clothing, for example, cuffs, dress hems or sleeves. Piece lace was also woven: paths for decorating temples, women’s and men's collars, weightless shawls.
Perhaps this is the most common lace used in tailoring clothes for antique dolls. Since children's baptismal dresses are very often used (generously, or modestly, but always decorated with Valenciennes lace)... Lace made of cotton thread. (I got information about cotton mainly from the descriptions of lots on eBay and YaM. I would really like confirmation or refutation from craftsmen who have been dealing with Valenciennes lace for a long time!)

Now it's your turn Bruges lace.
The technique of this type of lace was invented by craftswomen of the Belgian city of Bruges in the 18th century on the basis of Flemish lace.
In the old days, lace was used to decorate clothes and interiors, and its cost was high. This is due to the fact that the technique of creating such lace is very complex. Bruges lace is woven using bobbins. Bobbins are wooden sticks with a thin neck for winding thread. The number of bobbins for weaving lace can reach up to 50 pieces.
A characteristic feature of Bruges bobbin lace is the wide, wriggling braid from which the ornament is created. And thin threads create the basis of the fabric.

Please correct me if I'm wrong!

Next is the most mysterious, or mysterious type/s of lace: Alençon And Alencon. I have a suspicion that this is the same thing, only in different transcriptions (in French Alençon is written like this - Alençon).
Alençon lace is a type of classic needle lace or guipure sewn with a needle. Produced in Alençon (France) from the mid-17th century. until the end of the 19th century. A small floral pattern was made with a needle on a mesh background correct form. In the 18th century A.K. appeared with a floral pattern on a tulle background.
The process of working on alençon lace began like this: the pattern was pinned onto a thick paper design, followed by “tracing” - the lines of the pattern were outlined with a thick thread. Then the smallest stitches were cut to release the finished garment. This “outlining” with a dense thread, in my opinion, is a distinctive feature of Alençon lace.

Lace making... this art originated in deep, deep antiquity. The Holy Scriptures also spoke about weightless, transparent, lush coverings with which the clergy decorated altars and clothes.

The ancient Egyptians wore clothes with lace borders and embroidered designs. It is not known whether such clothing was worn during rituals or whether it was considered simply beautiful. But the fact remains a fact. The first lace was invented one wonderful day by someone and already existed during the time of the pharaohs. This has been proven thanks not only to drawings, but also to elements of clothing preserved in the pyramids.

Fillet work (weaving nets) has been known since time immemorial. They began decorating nets with embroidery not much later. But only towards the end of the 15th century. The most amazing openwork canvases began to appear, which immediately became a dream, a coveted item of possession for those who had the opportunity to afford such luxury.

The concept of “lace” includes 3 separate techniques: needle sewing, bobbin weaving, and crocheting or crocheting. Lace is considered to be sewn and woven. The third type represents another technical type - knitting, which only in some moments roughly imitates weaving. Needle stitched lace was not performed in Russia, but woven lace, on the contrary, achieved widespread development, turning into a new type of decorative and applied art.


Unfortunately, there is no consensus about the country that originated lace.
But let's try to plunge into history for a few moments...

Some historians deny the origin of lace making in the East, because (in their opinion) such an exquisite, elegant art could only develop in the romantic, cheerful, bright period of the Renaissance. Where then did the first lace fabric appear?

French lace is the dream of all aristocrats of the world

The wife of the French king Henry II, Catherine de Medici, wrote out a certain Italian Fideric Vinciolo, who in 1587 published the most full list lace patterns.
Lace was used not only to decorate women's and men's dresses. Furniture, especially beds, was also decorated with lace. The boots of fashionistas and even the interiors of carriages were trimmed with lace.


Lace cuffs, collars, camisoles and dresses embroidered with lace became an integral part of the wardrobe of noble people.


The French nobility were extremely willing to spend huge sums of money on lace fabrics. But since lace was not yet woven in France in those days, they had to be bought in Flanders. Of course, there was a large outflow of money from the country, which was absolutely not part of the government’s plans. But Venetian lace was the only professionally, skillfully made lace in the world at that time!


At the end of the 17th century, French royal manufactories were founded in the cities of Sedan, Alençon, Quesnoy, Argenton, and Reims. 30 lacemakers from Flanders were hired for the work. They taught strictly selected students.
The Florentine craftswomen who left were persecuted and tried to be returned to Florence as criminals who betrayed the secrets of lace production. It is said that those who refused to return died suddenly and without cause.


Trained French lacemakers, with their inherent aristocracy and charm, brought a unique French chic to the technique of lace weaving.

Alençon embroidery has gained fame all over the world, and to this day it remains unsurpassed in beauty and execution.


In Valenciennes, lacemakers invented the finest patterned mesh. The pattern had no relief, so clothes made from such a mesh were comfortable and practical.

Black silk Chantilly is another type of lace invented by Catherine de Rohan in the 18th century.

Schemes and patterns for lace were made by ornamental artists. This is real art!!! Their names are known to this day: Francois Bonemé ​​de Falaise, Jean Beren, Louis Boulogne, Francois Boucher.

King Edward III of England in 1363, protecting the interests of the country's domestic market, banned the import of foreign lace veils into the country.


From the end of the 15th century. Huge cutter collars are coming into fashion, as if they were a wave surrounding the necks of fashionistas and fashionistas. Their edges were decorated with teeth.

“To create the denticles, the famous “punto in aere” (stitches in the air) arose, and intricate lacemakers began to make these denticles wider and wider, inventing masterly patterns, connecting them with the finest threads, weaving horse or even human hair into them to give relief to the floral and plant ornaments."

Venetian ornaments and lace patterns were combined into the finest thread bundles. This type of lace is called guipure.
For the coronation of Richard III in 1493, luxurious pieces of lace and guipure were ordered to England.


“Italian lace was distinguished by its unique grace and high artistic skill. Fabulous amounts of money were paid for it, and soon laws began to appear in many countries that limited the consumption of such expensive jewelry. Artists, to please wealthy customers, became sophisticated in inventing new designs. The laces were given names and names, the most famous there was guipure “point de rose.”


First half of the 18th century. was marked by a transition to tulle lace, in which the ornament is intertwined with the finest network of tulle, forming small cells of the same shape.


"This is due to changes that occurred in the artistic style of the 18th century. Weightless and graceful ornaments of the Rococo style replaced the lush but heavy ornaments of the Baroque style. Brussels became the main lace center of Flanders. But the most popular woven Flemish lace became known in Europe as angletter (English) This was explained by the ongoing ban on the import of imported lace into England, but since Flemish lace was better than English, the demand for it was very high, and merchants resorted to smuggling and sold Flemish lace as English."


Brussels bobbin lace was famous for the fact that the background and the ornament were woven at the same time. Until the technique was fully mastered, such lace took a very long time to weave.
But in the middle of the 18th century. the technology has been greatly simplified.


Florentine raspberry lace was also famous. The rocaille type ornament that characterizes it was formed due to the dense interweaving of threads and dense patterned meshes of the general background. The main distinguishing feature of this fabric was its brilliant relief contour. When the city in which this lace was made went to France, the malin was modified in the French way, but did not lose its uniqueness.

Russian lace

In Russia, the earliest laces were metal. They were made from gold and silver threads. For this work, girls from serfs were carefully selected and craftswomen were worth their weight in gold. Many girls dreamed of becoming lacemakers, but not many knew how difficult this craft is.

A dream come true sometimes became a tragedy: many craftswomen in early age lost their vision due to constant eye strain while working. All the girls, without exception, had pain in their backs and arms. But what they created with their own hands was amazing!

In addition to national weaving, Russian lacemakers mastered the skills of Venetians and Frenchwomen.

The name of the craft supposedly comes from the word “to surround”: from time immemorial in Russia they trimmed the border on the hem and the edges of the sleeves with embroidered ornaments.
It was almost impossible to distinguish lace made by Russian girls from real Florentine or French ones.
At the beginning of the 19th century, lace crafts began to appear in different cities of Russia. Lace makers from Ryazan, Vyatka, Vologda, and Tula were famous for their skills.


An interesting fact is that each area had its own techniques, techniques, secrets, by which one could find out their origin.
The abolition of serfdom in Rus' led to a sharp reduction in lace weaving. When skill began to revive again - distinctive features the lace of different areas became so intertwined that they became almost indistinguishable.

In 1883, the Mariinsky Practical School of Lace Making was opened in St. Petersburg. The most capable girls from various provinces studied there. Russian lace enjoyed tremendous success not only in Russia, but throughout the world.

In the thirties of the 19th century there was important event in the world of fashion. Machine-made tulle was woven for the first time.

This greatly simplified and reduced the cost of making lace.


Machine lace was made from cotton threads, and for this reason it was deprived of the elasticity, elegance, fluffiness, elasticity, weightlessness and softness for which handmade lace was valued.

Therefore, a machine is a machine, and handmade lace still remained in demand. Fashion is a unique phenomenon, forcing many stingy people to become generous, transforming inconspicuous “gray mice” into bright elegant beauties... fashion gives birth and kills, gives and deprives... therefore, no matter how much lace made by the hands of craftswomen costs, it never lingers on the shelves fashion salons and shops.


When weaving bobbin lace, many threads are taken, each of them needs to be wound on a separate bobbin or bobbin. The pattern of the future ornament is first drawn on a sheet of paper, after which it is pierced in those places where pins should be inserted, on which the threads will be held and fastened. Such drawings are called chips.

“In addition, the craftswoman also needs a pillow on which the chips are pinned; pillows can be flat, round, small and large, depending on the type of lace being woven. For example, in Belgium they sometimes use very small and flat ones, rather hoops than pillows for individual flowers, then sewn onto the tulle, in Barcelona the pillows are very long, but in Bayeux they are very wide and are used to produce thin lace, sometimes requiring up to 600 bobbins. The threads are fixed at the beginning of the pattern, although threads can be added or removed during weaving. creating any loop requires at least two pairs of bobbins, i.e. four threads.

Once the loops are made, they are held in place by pins that pierce the pin and attach it to the cushion.

Pattern motifs that can be emphasized with the help of a thick thread are usually made with plain or half-braid weaving, but sometimes more complex techniques. After weaving is completed, the lace is removed from the pillow and the pins are removed."


Lace... Fashion trends are capricious and fleeting. But there are things that exist outside of time and fashion. The grace, elegance and beauty of lace are undeniable and timeless. The art of handmade lace weaving is still alive today; it is one of the most beautiful and painstaking activities that exist in the world of hobbies.