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Continue reading →: Making lace to wear – Mathilde blouse with Torchon insertionsFor a long time I’ve wanted to make a blouse with me-made lace insertions and when I saw so many versions in the shops this Spring I felt the signs were there to finally get on with it. I had an idea in mind for what I wanted and sifted…
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Continue reading →: Webinar details- Taking your first steps in lace teaching
Next Saturday I’ll be running a webinar for Lacemakers of Tomorrow – Take the next step- teaching lace with confidence. I’m really excited about this one as it draws together my professional expertise (and PhD research!) with my passion for lacemaking. But it’s not going to be a theoretical session…
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Continue reading →: Recent workshops – Ferens Art Gallery and Bronte ParsonageSupporting people to take their first steps in lacemaking is one of my favourite things to do and the learners at my two recent workshops have blown me away with their progress. Seeing the moment the penny drops and the stitches start to make sense and hearing them being able…
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Continue reading →: Lacemakers of Tomorrow – next eventSince our initial meetings a couple of months ago where we established the Lacemakers of Tomorrow community, and sought views to inform our focus, Caroline and I have been working hard behind the scenes to bring things to life. Our significant first step was to apply for funding to set…
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Continue reading →: What’s on my pillow – April 2026I’m currently working on some Torchon lace insertions for a blouse. I’m using two patterns from a book by Robin S. Lewis (101 Torchon Lace Patterns) which complement one another in design. The wider insertion (11) will form the centre of the blouse’s bodice, and there will be a narrower…
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Continue reading →: Lacemakers of TomorrowIn the 2025 Red List of Endangered Crafts, bobbin lace was classified as ‘endangered’ for the first time, something which motivated lacemakers, including myself, to take action to slow the decline. Whilst noting that practitioner numbers were still high, the Red List identified three main issues facing bobbin lace in…
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Continue reading →: Milanese Wessex OwlI recently finished another piece of Milanese lace, the Wessex Owl designed by Jan Gardiner and sold through Lacewing Designs. All of the Milanese pieces I’ve made before have been designs by Claire Bonito – who announced last week that she has a Milanese book coming out soon which looks…
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Continue reading →: New Tutorial on Torchon SpidersOnce you’ve mastered whole stitch and half stitch (see here for tutorials) one of the next techniques you’re likely to come across in Torchon lace are Spiders. They are so called because of their appearance but they don’t need to have eight ‘legs’- they can be made with anything from…
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Continue reading →: Book recommendations for Torchon laceTorchon lace is often the first style of lace that beginners try, usually because it is continuous rather than piece-lace (which means there are few tricky joins or sewings in to be made) and because it is geometric, using holes plotted on a 45° grid. You work diagonally down the…
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Continue reading →: Cottage Garden- Torchon matLast autumn, once my lacemaking time wasn’t taken up with videos for #40lacestitches, I wanted to do a pattern that wouldn’t stretch me too much, but which had enough interest to keep me engaged. I’d had the Cottage Garden mat pattern for a few years and already had the bobbins…
Cattern Lace
Hello,
I’m Catherine
Welcome to Cattern Lace, a site dedicated to a love of lacemaking. Here, I will share projects, inspiration and and tutorials to help you get started with lace and to document my own lacemaking journey.
Cattern Lace 