ace, and a wooden shield that is so contrived that you
can slip it over the handle prevents the thread from getting soiled.

[Illustration: FIG. 779. STOPPAGE OF THE THREAD AT THE END OF THE
BOBBIN.]

STOPPAGE OF THE THREAD AT THE END OF THE BOBBIN (fig. 779).--After
cutting off the thread, you make a loop close to the top of the bobbin
to prevent it from unwinding too easily. This loop is formed by taking
the bobbin in the right hand, the thread between the fourth and fifth
fingers of the left hand and laying it away from you round the left
thumb; then lifting up the bottom thread with the second finger of the
left hand you pass the bobbin upwards from below through the loop on the
left hand.

MACHINE FOR CROSSING THE THREADS (fig. 780).--This ingenious little
machine is of great assistance in making straight running patterns and
Irish lace braids, and is particularly useful for Russian lace and braid
lace of all kinds.

It renders the even crossing of the threads in those parts of a pattern
that imitate linen in texture comparatively easy.

Two implements like combs, fitting into one another, and movable, are
mounted at two thirds of their length on a steel axle. The long teeth
have holes bored through the ends, from the sides to the middle of the
points and through these holes the threads from the bobbins are passed.

[Illustration: FIG. 780. MACHINE FOR CROSSING THE THREADS (Jamnig's
patent).]

The short teeth also are pierced with transverse holes, through which a
needle with the threads threaded in the long teeth resting upon it, is
passed. The points of the short teeth are covered with a hollow metal
cylinder, split through from end to end, which can be removed when new
threads have to be added.

When the threads are all on, a small spring is fixed to the two ends of
the axle, which is independent of the machine, and the two ends of the
spring are introduced into the hollow of the cylinder.

By the pressure you exercise on the teeth in the cylinder, the long
teeth change their position, the lower ones rise and the upper ones fall
and the threads cross each other, as in a loom. After each movement of
the machine, the bobbin that makes the woof must be passed between the
crossed threads; the edges are made like those of any other kind of
lace.

Fig. 781 explains how the bobbins are passed between the threads that
are held between the teeth of the machine.

[Illustration: FIG. 781. PASSAGE OF THE BOBBI