Folk School

A Torchon Edging, Finishing, and Mounting

Days three through five: Torchon ground and half stitch, a footside, a cloth diamond, and a first narrow edging such as Udd och stad from the Swedish practice series; starting and finishing lace with the pins still in; and how Svenska Spetsar teaches mounting lace on cloth. Dalarna's freehand lace for comparison.

  • 3 min
  • 6 steps
  • 2 questions
  • Lesson 177 of 204

In this lesson

  1. Torchon ground and half stitch
  2. A first edging
  3. Finish
  4. Mounting
  5. Dalarna lace
  6. Try it

Torchon ground and half stitch

Torchon ground is half stitch, pin, half stitch, worked diagonally across the pricking’s grid of dots 1. Edkins’ beginner sequence practices it with 6 pairs, then adds a footside (6 pairs) and a cloth diamond (10 pairs) 1:

  • Footside: the straight edge of the lace, where pairs pass around the edge pins and keep the side firm.
  • Cloth diamond: a diamond of cloth stitch set into the ground, the classic Torchon motif and a good bookmark.

Tighten after every pin 1.

A first edging

The Swedish lace society’s practice series comes from the book Knyppling (1992); its laces are the prerequisite for the society’s advanced course, and Udd och stad, “point and edge,” is used for mounting practice 2. Work it alongside the video below, or a Torchon edging pattern from a lace book, on a roller pillow so it can run as long as you like.

Starting: hang pairs from the starting pins and, for a straight start, twist neighboring pairs to link them; a diagonal start follows the pattern’s edge 1.

Udd & stad Udd och stad, the first lace of the Swedish practice series (Swedish). Credit: Slöjda med Matilda Forsärla · YouTube standard license · 20:11 · Source

Playback is optional. If the player is unavailable, open the video at its source.

Finish

Tie off the lace while the pins are still in: knot the pairs with reef knots, or overhand knots for a fringe, then remove the pins 1. The #14 crochet hook North House asks you to bring pulls threads through for joins and finishing 3.

Quick check

When do you tie off finished bobbin lace?

Mounting

Svenska Spetsar teaches mounting lace as its own weekend course 4, and asks for the practice-series laces to be mounted, each with 12 cm showing 2. Sew the footside to the cloth’s folded edge with small stitches in a matching thread, catching each footside pin hole.

Dalarna lace

Dalarna lace is worked freehand, without a pricking, with pins only at the edges, and its stitches begin with a twist and end with a cross 5. Dalarnas museum’s Dalarna pillow is a roll in a pine box with 15 bobbins and a linen lace begun on it 6.

A dovetailed pine box holding a round lace roll covered in green checked cloth with red and green ends; pins hold the start of a linen lace on the roll, and straight wooden bobbins wound with white thread lie in the box.
A Dalarna lace pillow, a roll in a pine box: Dalarna lace is worked freehand, without a pricking. Credit: Dalarnas museum · CC BY 4.0 · Source

Quick check

How is Dalarna lace different?

Try it

Work a 4-inch length of Torchon ground with a footside on one side, then tie it off and pull the pins. If it holds its shape off the pillow, your tension is right; if it collapses, tighten more after each pin next time.

Lesson complete

Nice work.

1day streak
0/1today's goal
–correct

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Sources for this lesson
  1. 1
    Jo Edkins. Bobbin Lace School. Jo Edkins. verifiedPillows are hard; a round domed cookie pillow is cheap and good to start; a roller pillow allows lace of any length. Bobbins about 4 in; simplest patterns 6 pairs, most 15-25; start with 10-12 pairs. Pins with small heads. Prick every dot first. Wind in connected pairs, about an arm span per bobbin, locked with a half hitch. Cross: middle two bobbins, left over right; twist: both pairs, right over left; cloth stitch CTC; half stitch CT; Torchon ground half stitch, pin, half stitch. Tighten after each pin; finish with knots while pins are in.
  2. 2
    Kursplan: Fördjupningskurs I. Föreningen Svenska Spetsar, Vadstena. verifiedAdvanced course of 76 study hours. Prerequisite: the laces of the practice series in the book Knyppling (Natur och Kultur, 1992), each mounted with 12 cm visible; the lace 'Udd och stad' is used for mounting practice.
  3. 3
    Bobbin Lace Making. North House Folk School. verifiedTwo days with Kelly Marshall, who 'learned bobbin lace making, or knyppling, while studying in Sweden where the lace is often made for folk costumes'; the Scandinavian Torchon technique and basic stitches make a window ornament or holiday decoration. Bring small sharp scissors, a #14 crochet hook, paper and pencil; 2019 tuition $170, materials $6.
  4. 4
    Courses 2026. Föreningen Svenska Spetsar, Vadstena. verifiedBeginner's course June 22-26 or June 29-July 3, 2026 at Vadstena Folkhögskola, Monday 10 am to Friday noon, SEK 3,600, materials extra; pillow and bobbins can be borrowed. Weekend courses on beginning and ending a pattern and on mounting lace.
  5. 5
    Knyppling. Swedish Wikipedia. verifiedKnown in Sweden since the early 1700s; a cottage trade around Vadstena; Ottilia Adelborg founded a lace school in Gagnef in 1903. Basic moves are crossing and twisting. Dalarna lace is worked freehand without a pricking, pins only at the edges; its stitches begin with a twist and end with a cross. The older pillow is a padded rotating wooden cylinder set into a domed cushion or box, with the pricking on card around the cylinder.
  6. 6
    Knyppeldyna med påbörjad linnespets (DM 13124). Dalarnas museum (DigitaltMuseum). verifiedLace pillow with linen lace begun, for Dalarna lace: a roll in a pine box, 325 x 205 x 190 mm, 15 bobbins. CC BY.

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