This very elegant specimen of altar lace is, in reality, about nine or
ten inches deep; but, for want of space the engraving represents it as
only about half as wide. The design, however, is perfect in detail, and
the illustration fully displays its effectiveness, and discloses the
variety of connecting and filling-in stitches used. A delicate
Battenburg braid is chosen for the foundation, and in addition to
regular lace stitches, those from drawn work are here and there
interspersed. The cross is filled in in point de Venise, (or side stitch
as it is sometimes called), and the same stitch is seen in the central
design at each side of the cross. Drawn-work effects are seen also in
these central figures and along the borders. Sorrento bars are here made
and knotted at the center like drawn strands, or are connected by
rosettes or "spiders" made in drawn-work style. At the center of the
cross is a large drawn-work wheel, while small Maltese crosses and
half-crosses are made elsewhere in the work by the drawn-work method,
Sorrento bars taking the place of the usual strands. The central section
of the border at the right of the cross is done in point de Bruxelles
which is afterward button-holed as in bar-work, and a button-hole picot
edge follows the lower outlines of the pattern. Raleigh bars with picots
form the connecting ground-work throughout the work. This beautiful
specimen shows two distinct methods of filling in the sections between
the crosses. Either may be used alone, or the two may be used
alternately with the crosses.
[Illustration: No. 33.--Altar Lace (Battenburg.)]
No. 34.