Many people may be familiar with the names of the Laces of Ireland but wonder how they differ. Traditional Irish Lace can be grouped into three main types of lace making; crochet lace, needlepoint lace and mixed lace.

Irish Crochet Lace

Traditional Irish crochet lace makers used a very fine thread and a very fine crochet hook. First, a pattern was drawn for the item to be made.  An Irish crochet pattern could contain many different flower motifs such as rose motifs or sunflower motifs, which would be combined with a variety of leaf motifs. Individual motifs were pinned to the paper pattern and then joined up with ground stitches. A few different kinds of ground stitches were used, depending on the complexity required by the pattern. [Read more…]