Dear Customers, In this section you can find useful informations, that help you use of the bobbin lace drawings and publications offered on our sites.

1. How to print a bobbin lace drawing

After purchasing the bobbin lace drawing or book publication, it is recommended to print the pages you are interested in always in 100% scale, according to the picture instructions. To try it out, we’ve prepared for you a sample pattern drawing. You can download it for free here:

To view or print our documents, we recommend using Adobe Reader, which you can download for free – for example using this link.

Now just click the “File” button in the upper left corner, select “Print” from the menu. You can also use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + P” instead.

Then a dialog box appear. Here you need to check the “Custom scale” option and enter 100%.

We would like to keep you informed, that all our drawings (it means all e-documents excepting e-books) published on “A4 paper size” are designed in a way that make possible to print them also on “Letter paper size”, as shown below.

This step ( 100% scale printing) is important to keep patterns compatibility. Most of the patterns offered on www.lipaka.com can be easily combined with each other in a way that will be explained below.

Finally, just press the “Print” button at the bottom of the dialog box.

If you chose to print a drawing of a larger size than the paper size used in your printer, please use the “Poster” option in the dialog box. (In the example below, parts of a larger-size drawing are printed on 6 usual size pages.)

It is important to set 100% in “Tile Scale”. “Overlay” determines how much the margins of adjacent pages overlap. If your printer does not support borderless printing, you will need to cut one short and one long edge of the page after printing the document.

Then, a full size drawing can be created by gluing individual pages.

2. Explanation of used symbols

On the drawings and publications offered on lipaka.com we use the following symbols:

3. How to read the drawing

Multi-pair work is a typical feature of the Liptov lace. Wider laces are made by astonishing migration of changing pairs across the pattern rows. There are usually several leading pairs, occasionally taking turns as passives. Many more surprises ahead.

There is a generally accepted misconception that the Liptov lace may not be fit for a beginner. However complex the lace may be, it becomes comprehensible by clear explanation. This is why, in addition to the detailed graphic representation by pairs or threads, photographs of the finished work are in our drawings included. The photographs show the lace the wrong side up, i.e., just like seen by the lace maker while working.

Since the Liptov lace is quite dense, the starting sections are double-zoomed, both in the drawing and the black-and-white photograph. These zoomed sections are a key to understanding the work ahead, which is vital for mastering the Liptov lace.

Professional bobbin lace literature often quantifies the patterns, stating the lace dimensions, techniques, number of pairs, etc. However, the years spent with the Liptov lace, its constant drafting, drawing and verifying make us believe, that a different approach is possible. The Liptov lace made by our great-grandmothers was worked with compassion and all their heart. Let´s try and tune to their wavelength to understand their centuries-old message. Rather than numeric expressions, our progress would be facilitated by our patience and graphic diagrams of the pattern.

To read a pattern it is recommended to follow the paths of the individual pairs. Colour coding of the paths helps, and it also permits to estimate the thread length.

4. How to start working the lace

The starting point of the thread is shown by a green dot. This is identical with a pin head as seen in the photograph. In our previous books, the number of pairs was given by a numeral. Here, the number of pairs is evident from the number of lines leaving the dot. This also shows the direction of the work.

Some Liptov lace elements use split pairs at the starting point. Practical illustration then proves to be a useful guide. The following pictures give two examples how to start. The first example includes also the individual threads.

Please note that there are several ways where and how to start the pattern. In most cases a pattern has one starting point and one end-point, as shown above.

Still, there are patterns where the work starts at the centre, progressing in two opposite directions, as in the case of the blanket below:

No starting point can be found on the finished lace; there are two points of completion instead. In such case, each thread in the pair runs in its own direction:

In the centre-starting method, the opposite waiting threads should be tied around the pin for fast holding.

The auxiliary pins are meant to be used by those with no Liptov lace experience. They help to maintain the shape and prevent its deformation. The auxiliary pins have only temporary function. They are to  be pulled out after a cloth stitch followed by the next auxiliary pin and another cloth stitch. The experienced lace maker will obviously work without them.

Please note that an upholstery pin is a useful tool for fine-positioning the threads in the finished lace. This is its real size:

The coloured glass-head pins shown here are used for illustration only. For us, 30 mm pins with smaller head proved to be practical. We recommend to test rust-proofness of the pins to avoid problems when starching the lace.

The size of the drawing should correspond to the thread thickness. For this purpose, it is possible to print drawings on a scale other than 100%.

5. Pattern numbering method

In the past, ewry pattern had his name. Unfortunately, only a small part of them has been preserved to this day. The good news is that nowadays (February 2020) I have nearly 200 re-discovered patterns, their variants and various applications at different stages of development. The patterns will be continuously published on this site.

In order to prevent confusion, I need the patterns to be sorted and labeled in some way. I chose the following pattern numbering system, which you can use when searching for patterns. The symbol “XX” indicates only the sequence number of the pattern drawing process.

This pattern numbering system will be continuously supplemented.

6. How to use drawings with …RD coding

If you decide to use the lace as a garment accessory, we will need not only a straight pattern, but also its curved variant. The pattern curvature will vary for different garment components. This problem is resoved by using of drawings, coding of which ends with RD. It means that those patterns are published in modular form. So it is possible to create a desired curvature drawing from those parts, similar as described in our publication Arches and Corners in the Bobbin Lace from Liptov. There are several ways to create curved shape drawings:

Garment accessory cut

The first step to creating a curved drawing can be cut. We recommend to make the cut from paper. It should fit well by all of his perimeter to the area where lace planed. Subsequently, the drawing segments are placed on the cut in order to follow its curvature as best as possible:

Blanked building block system

By using drawings with coding ending by …RD is possible to assemble blankets of various shapes.

We recommend to make necessary number of copies of the segments, cut them up and spread them out on a sufficiently large paper sheet. Putting the segments together calls for great care. When positioned, the lace parts should match one of rules described bellow.

The individual items can then be pre-taped by a short piece of tape to allow additional precise positioning. The next step is checking the contact lines for possible loss of some symbols, such as thread twisting. Now the segments can be taped permanently.

1.

Circular shape blankets can only consist of parts with a green description. The description shows how many of these parts are needed to create a blanket. Thus, for example, the description 1/20 means that 20 of these parts are required to form a circular blank (one part being 1/20 of the blank). Parts that do not have a green description cannot be used to create a circular blanket. The last part would not fit in the pattern.

2.

To create non-circular blankets, all parts can be used. However, their number and order should be chosen appropriately. For this purpose the orange description given for the individual parts is used. It indicates their size in arc degrees. When creating non-circular blankets, the following rules must be followed:

a) The sum of the parts sizes used for the blanket must equal to 360 °.

(b) Parts shall be distributed by geometric matching. In other words, the blanket must have (at least one) axis of reflectional symmetry, or center of rotational symmetry.

Any number of straight parts (0 °) can be inserted between segments. This will increase the blanket dimensions.

Example of proper blanket design:

condition a) 18 + 16 + 14 + 13 + 10 + 7 + 5 + 3 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 10 + 13 + 14 + 16 +18 + 18 + 16 + 14 + 13 + 10 + 7 + 5 + 3 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 10 + 13 + 14 + 16 + 18 = 360 (°)

condition b) the blanket has two reflection symmetry axes (shown in purple) according to which are the parts distributed.

By fulfilling the conditions, it is guaranteed from the mathematical point of view that the last part fits into the pattern.

Example of proper blanket design:

condition a) 90 + 0 + 7 + 6 + 2 + 2 + 6 + 7 + 0 + 90 + 0 + 7 + 6 + 2 + 2 + 6 + 7 + 0 + 90 + 0 + 7 + 6 + 2 + 2 + 6 + 7 + 0 =360 (°)

condition b) the blanket has three reflection symmetry axes (shown in purple) according to which are the parts distributed.

Example of proper blanket design:

condition a) 90 + 0 + 0 + 0 +17 + 13 + 9 + 6 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 16 + 14 + 10 + 5 + 90 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 17 + 13 + 9 + 6 +0 + 0 + 0 + 16 + 14 + 10 + 5 = 360 (°)

condition b) the blanket has a center of rotational symmetry (shown in purple) according to which the parts are distributed.

Example of proper blanket design:

condition a) 60 – 18 – 14 + 10 + 16 + 18 60 – 18 – 14 + 10 + 16 + 18 + 60 -18 – 14 + 10 + 16 + 18 + 60 – 18 – 14 + 10 + 16 + 18 + 60 – 18 – 14 + 10 + +16 + 18 = 360 (°)

condition b) the blanket has a center of rotational symmetry (shown in purple) according to which the parts are distributed (the sequence of parts sizes 60, -18, -14, 10, 16 and 18 is repeated).