Lessons in Bobbin Lacemaking by Doris Southard
An excellent book, in addition to ten lessons on the various Torchon techniques, it also has a lesson on working on a flat pillow and a lesson on other types of laces than Torchon.
Important note: One peculiarity of this book is that the stitches are different than in other texts – so the half stitch here is TC (twist, cross), and then she uses cloth or linen stitch for the whole stitch (CTC), and calls “whole stitch” the sequence TCTC. Other texts have the half stitch as CT, and call refer to the sequence CTCT as “whole stitch and twist”. So this different terminology is to bear in mind when jumping between books. One peculiarity of this book is that the stitches are different than in other texts – so the half stitch here is TC (twist, cross), and then she uses cloth or linen stitch for the whole stitch (CTC), and calls “whole stitch” the sequence TCTC. Other texts have the half stitch as CT, and call refer to the sequence CTCT as “whole stitch and twist”. So this different terminology is to bear in mind when jumping between books. It is also unusual in other respects, as for instance tallies are worked using bobbin n4 as weaver, rather than the more usual bobbin 2 or bobbin 3, , though it is not incorrect (at least Cook’s “Practical Skills in Bobbin Lace” states that any bobbin would do).
Each lesson includes multiple samplers, with full instructions. The very many samples mean that progress to the next technique is slow, but nothing prevents jumping ahead!
As compared to my favorite books (The Torchon Lace Workbook: A concise lacemaking course–the basic skills fully explained, with prickings and diagrams for 27 finished lace products. and Torchon Lacemaking: A Step-by-Step Guide) this is a little bit drier, so arguably a bit more old fashioned in terms of teaching style, and visual learners might struggle, but still it is a very good text to have.
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