Using these magnificent instructions and patterns, create beautiful decorated braids like those used in early Milanese lace. Sew both traditional and modern pieces, and experiment with new ideas while you increase your skill.

The combination of elegance and variety is what makes Milanese lace the most beautiful of all Italian laces. This stunning collection offers 43 new braids, including two spiral braids and 40 original patterns.

Of all Italian laces, the Milanese style is recognized the world over as the most beautiful. With 50 exciting patterns ready for copying, plus close-up photos of the finished work, crafters of all levels can now take advantage of these specialized stitches to create lush and spectacular designs. The projects range from the simplified Heartsease (illustrated with an 8-year-old's finished work), to the challenging Twin Peacocks, guaranteed to tempt the most demanding expert. Some of the patterns, such as Spray and Acanthus, are traditional, while others are original, and introduce vibrant colors and lavish designs from sources as diverse as Celtic and Japanese art.

The two books of Milanese Braids, 'Milanese Lace: An Introduction' and 'New Braids and Designs in Milanese Lace', both by Read and Kincaid (1988; 1994), have long been out of print. To make the braids available to a new audience, we reproduce them here, together with about forty new braids that were not included in earlier books. The braids are drawn from both Milanese and other continental braid-type laces. This is intended to be a reference book and it is hoped that it will stimulate creativity and encourage lace makers to develop new designs for modern use.

Step-by-step instructions, carefully graded projects for creating Torchon, Bedfordshire, Braided, Modern, other exquisite laces. 26 patterns including motifs for bookmarks, edgings, inserts, corners, medallions. 229 illustrations, including over 50 3-color stitch diagrams.

Bedfordshire lace became popular in the fashions of the second half of the nineteenth century because of the beauty of its bold-open designs, often with elegant floral motifs, and it continues to fascinate and captivate lacemakers today. This practical book is dedicated to the novice and experienced lacemaker wishing to learn these techniques so as to realize this elegance for themselves. Information is given about the equipment needed for bobbin lacemaking, how to make a pricking (the pattern on which the lace is made), and how to wind thread on the bobbins. Instruction explains how to work cloth stitch and half stitch, plaits, windmill crossings, picots and leaf-shaped tallies, and how to finish a piece of lace. There is a series of twenty-six patterns, some traditional and others designed more recently. These are supported by instructions, photographs and diagrams. The patterns include small motifs, edgings - some with corners for handkerchiefs - butterflies and, finally, three exquisite collars.

Highly original designs mark this gorgeous collection of bobbin lace patterns using colored threads. Twenty designs, graded by complexity, will delight lacemakers of all skill ranges.