Lacis/Malla

A Display of Lacis based

on 16th century sources.

What is lacis/malla/fillet lace? It is a needlework technique where linen stitch (generally, though hidden stitch and darning stitch are also used) is used on knotted net to create what looks like lace. I say "knotted net" because another technique, Buratto, is done on woven net and is a later needlework technique.

How old is this technique? Well, that depends on what you think the technique truly is. There are extant pieces from as far back as the 12th and 13th century that feature knotted net as the ground for elaborate embroideries. Are they lacis? Quite possibly, but are they lace? Hmmm. Many of these pieces don't show their ground as void space. Except for the hairnets and some of those have embroidery attached to the net rather than as the ground. So, possibly lacis is the oldest form of lacemaking or not depending on how you define it.

What I have to show:

A finished piece (finally) - A table cover
A work in progress - Linen lacis on Linen net (Net made by HH Cynagua Sybil).
a selection of string techniques used in period.

14th Century Malla

From the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona. Note the colorful silk threads.

13th century Reliquary Pouch

This 13th century German Linen and silkwork reliquary pouch is from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, accession number 39.543. More pretty colored threads.

And yet more 13th century lacis.

Hairnet from Nurnberg circa 1300. Even the hairnets were embroidered on.

A finished Piece - Table Covering inspired by 16th century pieces.

1. Lace Bedcover, Middle of the 16th century.

Catalog of Laces: with an addition of Catalog of Embroidery by Maria Angeles Gonzales Mena. This is the museum catalog for which I have been working from to create and be inspired from. All of the lacis patterns for the main works are patterns found in Catalogo de Enjaces.

Yes, I wrote in my book. I do not speak Spanish and this book isn't available available in English. I am a bad girl.

185 - is the table square that I am using for the work in progress. (see photo in intro and below)

186 - is the colcha that inspired the finished table squire (see the extant piece to the left: top, the other is the panel for Luna).

Page from Catalago de Enjaces, listing each panel in the original colcha or bed covering. This is the Iberian Peninsula, a Mediterranean climate, not to unsimilar to the California Coast (Southern). It is warm, so the heavy furs and quilts are not needed most of the year. A linen bedcover would be a great decorative piece. We also see wall hanging of linen and lacis, as well as, table linens. In the descriptions of the Colcha. All the lace is malla, including the trim. The original colcha has 42 large lacis squares and 56 small lacis squares connected with linen rectangles and finished with a trim of malla/lacis. The majority of the large squares tell the story of Hercules and the small squares are animals. However, there is reason, according to Professor Mena, to believe that the needle worker died prior to completion and the colcha was finished by someone else, as there are several squares that are done differently and in more simplistic techniques. Also, those squares do not share the theme of Hercules and his travels.

The Center Square

La Luna con Escorpiones

La Luna con escorpiones/ Lune with scorpions is the center panel. it is one of the 42 large square panels seen in the original colcha. Luna is the goddess of the moon. She stands regally with the head of Orion who was harassing her maidens, the Pleiades, who she places in the night sky to keep them from their tormenter. Luna then sends her scorpions to punish her enemy by killing him. Of course, Orion is a huntin' buddy of Zeus, who then puts him in the sky, so he can chase the maidens. However, Luna has the last word, as she places one of her scorpions in the sky "hunting" Orion. This is the version that would have been known to the Spanish needle worker.

This panel is made with a commercially made knotted net, size 7, meaning it is 7 squares per inch. The original was probably between 12 to 15 squares per inch as that was common at the time. Unfortunately, 7, in cotton, is the smallest you can get commercially. Her Highness of Cynagua, Sybil, and I have been experimenting with different tools to get a smaller mesh, but without the equipment we have only been able to get 9 -10 per inch mesh. We have also had to work with needles instead of shuttles because the smallest shuttle that can be found commercially from Lacis in Berkley and those will only do 7-8 per inch.

The first lacis square finished. Cotton thread darning stitch on a cotton mesh at 7 squares per inch. With the finish of this piece, I now had to figure out what to do with it. That was before 2020. So, the table cover was started by doing four more small square panels.

Corner of colcha

This inspired one of my first samplings. This peacock shows itself in every corner of the colcha.

Peacock pattern

My first patterning for playing with pattern making. Yes, it is a basic counted work pattern. Look at period sources, like Le Pompe, and the patterns are reversed black for background.

Peacock finished

Here is my completed peacock. Again all my lacis on this linen table cover is cover is cotton thread on cotton net. Originals would be linen thread on linen net, but the net is not available commercially. I added Abrahe and my initials because I ain't giving this away.

The Owl

Here is the Owl in progress. I use wood stretcher bars, as I can easily find them in needlework shops in the sizes I need.

The original Owl

The last three patterns came were small motifs from the larger panels. I couldn't get a good view of the small motifs in the book, but maybe someday. Note: the base here didn't work for the owl motif on its own, so I used another motif from another panel and combined them.

Finished Owl

He is so cute.

The Bat

Here is my Batty bat as part of a larger panel. While his was the simplest looking pattern, he was the hardest.

The Bat Pattern

Those wings were hard to stitch. In lacis, you do not want to skip stitches much if at all. Some believe that lacis is a puzzle and it can be.

Finished Bat

Another cute panel. Love it.

Hanging out with Hercules

I loved this bunny and birdie. Even patterned both out, But only did bun bun.

Finished bunny

I took time to adjust the pattern where needed. If you would like to try out some of my patterns they are available on my website: https://www.vineys.net/lacis/lacis-patterns

How to finish? 13th century fringe is a start.

This 13th century Arab piece of basic fringe/makramah made my life easier. I am not skilled enough to do the fancy macrame (Not just for potholders) from the Marriage of Cana. Check out that fringe on the tablecloth. As time went on, you will notice that the macrame becomes almost its own lace form, but it generally ends with a tassel or fringe.

The placement of the lacis panels came from Italian table cloth. I chose to finish them with the simple macram fringe instead of more filet or malla lace.

16th century Sicilian. Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

Peahole Hem Stitch

This old Italian stitch was charted out by Grace's Laces. One of those things that makes the SCA great is the sharing of information. So, to finish, I did the peahole stitch and frayed the ends of my linen.

Now, in the period, it looks like most macrame work was a separate piece of work or the thread were bundled and attached before the work began, but that is a different display! Simple stitches does not mean this went quick. I worked on this part of the table linen for 2 years.

So total work on this took over 5 years. Are there things I would do differently. Oh yes, but I am very please that this work is finished. I have no intention of adding more to it.

It's Done!

I finished the tablecloth and will be presenting it and my works in progress over the next six months to a year. This picture is from the Western Unwreath display at The Kingdom of the West's 12th Night. Yeah, I am taking this show on the road.

Calaborative Work in progress

My work in progress is a collaboration with Her Highness, Sybil the Disobedient, she created the linen net and I am working the lacis/malla on it.

Yes, I can make my own net!

I have even made a lacis piece from scratch (see below). But we hates it, precious. So, when Sybil offered to make me linen net for a project, I was "oh hell yeah!".

Experiments in small netting. Trying to get to 12 to 15 squares per mesh.

My first full piece of lacis. I made the net and did the silk lacis.

Inspiration is a 16th century Repostera/table square

(see the first picture for the whole cloth)

Now, I love ships and sailing on the water. So, it was no real surprise that when I found this panel, I was like "Yes!". The repostera is small; 0.86 cm by 086 cm. There are 16 lacis panels with 9 reticella squares separating them and 4 pieces of reticella on the outside. in between are pieces of linen embroidered in a cutwork technique with insertion lace to finish bringing it all together. It is a small piece but there is probably years of work in it. Multiple techniques to show the skill of the needle worker.

The Mock up

Done on cotton 7 mesh net, this was the first piece from the 16th century repostero.

Completed piece

This is the piece that was presented to Viscountess Sybil the dis obedient. The net is 9 mesh per inch, The whole net is 12 inches x 12 inches made by Sybil. The lacis stitching is done by me.

Thank you for checking out my display and looking at my website. Feel free to leave helpful comments:

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