This is just a small sample of the laces available for use on heirloom quality doll dresses. All these are of course cotton laces. If you are not familiar with insert lace, (the ones with the holes in it) you run a ribbon through the holes for a very nice effect. I use this a lot on dresses for very antique bisque head dolls.
There are many more kinds of lace—if you are not acquainted with lace, be sure to take the time to learn about it. If you browse the dresses on my website you will see many different types of lace used in many different ways. You can use wide lace to form a complete skirt on a doll or narrow delicate lace for the trim on a small dress.
French Valencia lace has been used at least a couple of hundred years and probably much longer. It is still made today and expensive but worth the price if you are making doll dresses– there is not a lace on the market that is better, but some English laces are as good. All are cotton of course. There is a lot of cotton lace coming out of China now– they are quick to see what people want. However, all cotton lace is not equal so before buying a lot of it, be sure to sample it.
Really fine English and French laces have a “draw string” in the top, which you can carefully pull to make delicate ruffles in the lace. On doll dresses, if you want to make quality ones, never NEVER use the fat heavy cotton laces– use only the delicate ones of the correct scale.
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