Book review - Honiton

I really have been making a lot of lace, but don't have much to show for it. After looking through my blog archives for 2009, I realized that 2009 was the year of tatting. No wonder my pillow felt neglected! Thinking back, I think the last time I made a lot of bobbin lace was the fall of 2007. This year I want to focus more on bobbin lace and maybe needle lace.

Since I tend not to show projects before they are complete, it means that the number of posts will diminish greatly. That's not good, considering I wasn't exactly a prolific poster to begin with...

I was inspired by Krystle to do some book reviews. Since I don't want to step on her toes, I will focus on other laces, namely bobbin lace.

If anyone has been following my bobbin lace posts, it should be clear that I am currently focusing on Honiton lace. I have wanted to learn how to make Honiton lace for a long time and have acquired several book, including some beginner's ones. The three introductory books I have are:

Susanne Thompson - Introduction to Honiton Lace

Sheila Wells - Honiton Lace Step-by-step

Elsie Luxton - The Technique of Honiton Lace

When I recently decided to start learning Honiton, I flipped through the three books to see which one I would use. For anyone following my blog, they know that I chose Thompson's book. Since I'm using the book now, it will be my first review.

Susanne Thompson - Introduction to Honiton Lace

Susanne Thompson wrote two Honiton lace books. The first book introduces the concepts used in Honiton lace in 5 patterns. The patterns range from a basic flower through a more advanced flower spray. There is no raised or rolled work in these patterns. The book starts out with an introduction to bobbin lace. I think if someone was really interested in learning how to make lace, they could do so from this book. Because of the tiny thread used for Honiton, it's probably not for an absolute beginner.

The organization of this book takes some getting used to. Each pattern has well explained and diagrammed techniques as they are introduced. However, following each pattern is a section called "working methods". For the most part it shows more advanced versions of the techniques that were introduced in the pattern. For example in the first pattern, adding in pairs is introduced - one pair per pin. In the working methods section, Susanne touches upon how and where to add multiple pairs if necessary. It is a good idea to read the working methods section either while working the pattern or immediately afterwards, but even so, it's hard to remember that information, since it was never used. Of course some of the techniques, like how to deal with knots come up sooner or later!

The main reason I chose this book was for the patterns and the diagrams. Of the 5 patterns, the only one I wasn't/am not crazy about is No. 2. As expected, it took me a while to finish it, because I wasn't motivated to work on it. So far there have only been a few instances where I wish things were better diagrammed, but they tend to be small things that I can muddle through/figure out on my own. It might not be the "proper" way of doing it, but I'm not sure that there is such a thing when it comes to small details. (I think these sectional laces have a lot more leeway point ground laces.)

Susanne's second book (don't have it in front of me, so don't know the title) introduces raised and rolled work.

Overall, I think if you have to learn Honiton from a book, Introduction to Honiton Lace is a good book to learn from. The various techniques are well explained, both in diagram and text form. Each pattern builds upon earlier techniques as well as introducing new ones.