When I first came across Bedfordshire I knew it as Beds-Maltese and I have never had a reason to consider it as anything other than a guipure lace with its origins in the 19th century. The extensive use of plaits does give it a superficial resemblance to the 16th century bobbin laces which mimicked early needlelace - cutwork and reticella (which came before punto in aria) - however there are considerable differences in working methods. Over more than a decade of active research into early bobbin lace I have yet to determine a satisfactory definition for 16th and early 17th century lace - it is often called plaited lace, but in reality long plaits are rare. It is an open lace with spaces crossed by twisted pairs and short plaits often consisting of no more than a lockstitch (ctc tc), there are more solid areas consisting of plaits of 3, 4 or more pairs, or of one group of threads working through another in cloth-stitch (ctc). Like Bedfordshire it is a continuous lace, but there is no half-stitch and pairs are not added or taken out in the course of the work (as they are in some of the more complex Beds patterns). Relatively few pins are used in working the early lace, and those that are used are usually placed below or to the side of a stitch to provide tension - this means there is never a pin-hole in the centre of a stitch - as there would be for example in the centre of a windmill crossing in Bedfordshire (or many 19th century reproduction of an early lace). Overall the working method is much more like Freehand lace where pins are used only on the outside edges and no pricked pattern is needed - this allows considerable freedom for the lacemakers. Great fun to do and almost certainly made in England in the 16th century. Gil Dye
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