Lace: Is it Drawn-Thread or Pulled-Thread?
Solving the mystery
The two names – drawn-thread lace and pulled-thread lace, are often mistakenly used synonymously, especially at sites such as eBay and Etsy, where sellers don’t always have the best grasp of lace terminology. This causes some confusion, unfortunately. These two lace-making techniques are not the same.
What do they have in common?
Both are made from woven linen or cotton cloth. Both are hand-embroidered.
How do they differ?
Drawn-work
Drawn-thread lace starts life as a length of solid woven linen or cotton fabric. The lace-maker painstakingly removes or withdraws individual threads from the woven linen cloth to create a grid of open spaces. She embroiders stitches in, out and around the grid of open spaces. Some drawn-thread laces are very simple and plain. Others can be quite lavish and complex, as we will see below.
Pulled-work
Pulled-thread lace starts life as a length of solid woven linen cloth, too, but no threads are removed. Pulled-thread work is hand-embroidery done on a very loosely woven linen. The embroidery threads are hand-stitched on the linen with tension, pulling the woven fabric threads in different directions to produce an open, lacy effect on the fabric. Antique pulled-thread embroidered lace is very often rustic in feel and absolutely charming – sometimes featuring mythical animals such as winged lions, dragons and gryphons. Modern pulled-thread embroidery is less rustic, and can be quite fine.
Let’s look closely at a few of the variations in photos that detail the difference.
First are some photos of drawn-thread laces. All have threads removed.
Photos of pulled-thread embroidered lace. No threads are removed.
Now, look at photo A and photo B. **Which one do you think is drawn-thread work and which is pulled-thread?
For more information about antique lace, hop over to the Rook and Raven lace website and have a look around. Beginning lessons about lace with photos!
**Photo A is drawn-thread and photo B is pulled thread.
Love these educational pieces with photos. I don't retain the info in my head, but I keep them all for reference. Somehow, it soothes me to read them.
I think that I guessed correctly!