NS THROUGH THE MACHINE.]

THE PATTERN.--The pattern is one of the most important things in
making pillow lace.

The outlines must be clear and exact, as upon that in great measure the
perfection of the lace depends.

The drawing transferred to parchment, paper or cardboard, usually of a
yellowish tint, should be lined with a very thin stuff such as muslin to
prevent its tearing.

[Illustration: FIG. 782. PRICKER AND HOLDER.]

A stripe of quadrille, or point paper as it is called, should be laid
upon the pattern and then holes pricked with a medium-sized needle at
every intersection of the lines.

All the curved long lines of the pattern must first be traced upon the
point paper with ink and then pricked.

The pattern should be adapted to the thickness of the thread the lace is
to be made of; for a coarse lace large point paper should be used and
small, for the finer kinds of lace. The pricking of the pattern
beforehand is particularly important in the case of the common torchon
lace, where the real beauty of the design consists in its regularity; in
the case of fine close patterns the pricking can only be done as you
proceed.

Prickers and holders of the kind represented in fig. 782 or very much
resembling it, are to be had at every stationer's shop.

[Illustration: FIG. 783. POSITION AND MOVEMENTS OF THE HANDS.]

The holes made by the prickers are to receive the pins, stuck in as you
go along, round which you form and by which these are kept in their
place.

The pins must be long, with round heads and of a size suited to the
thread. When your pattern is ready fasten it to the pillow or cylinder
as the case may be, stretching it as smoothly as possible and being
careful in so doing to fit the lines of the pattern together. If it be
too long it must be cut to the required length or you may make the
cylinder bigger by wrapping several folds of flannel round it.

The value of lace depends not only on the work but on the thread it is
made of; all the D.M.C cottons[A] can be recommended for lace-making and
coloured laces of all kinds are greatly improved by the addition of a
little Chine d'or D.M.C or Or fin D.M.C pour la broderie.[A]

POSITION AND MOVEMENTS OF THE HANDS (fig. 783).--Pillow lace is always
made with two pairs of bobbins at once and the "stitches" are formed by
the different ways of passing, plaiting, crossing and twisting the
threads.

To begin with the simplest operation, making a plait, ha