Belgium: Bruges flower lace, also known as Bloemwerk, is a part bobbin lace from the 19th & 20th centuries, evolved from 18th-century Brabant and Brussels part laces. Laces with bars instead of a mesh background were developed in the mid-19th century.
Flower lace is less delicate than the related Bruges Duchesse and usually features natural elements or a natural scene. It is popular with beginning lacemakers.
Along with this, this collar has a repeating pattern of roses and long leaves inside a scalloped outer edge, smaller roses and long leaves on the inside edge, motifs in cloth stitch, half stitch and cloth stitch with a twist, and small pinholes in the leaves for design emphasis, square tallies in motif centres and a gimp surrounding motifs.
The motifs are connected by ground with double braids that form hexagons. The cotton collar is from 1900 Bruges, Belgium, and is 17.32 x 6.69” (44 x 27 cm).
Some bobbin lace terminology – the background around the motifs is called the ground. It can be mesh or a bar ground, also called guipure. Continuous or straight lace is the lace that is made in one piece.
Part, or non-continuous lace, is where the motifs are made separately and joined together. It is less complicated to make and more suitable for producing very large pieces as there is no limit to the number of parts that can be joined.
Part lace is not limited to the size of the lace pillow. Clothwork is the part that looks like woven cloth. Fillings are the fancy lace stitches inside the motifs. A gimp is a thick thread to outline and emphasize the motif or elements in the motif. Picots are tiny decorative loops on the edge of motifs or bars.
