This tutorial for a miniature cookie pillow for a lace maker will fit into scenes in many world settings. Lace making was a wide spread industry, and the cookie pillow was a fairly easy, portable surface on which a wide variety of lace types could be made. The pillow s are traditionally covered with deep blue or dark green covers. Although the pillows could be held on the lap, or set at a slight angle on a kitchen table, they were sometimes set on dedicated floor stands, a project I will be completing in the next week or so.
To set up a scene with your cookie pillow, you can make pairs of bobbins and hang them from pins on a pattern set into your pillow. There are two excellent books by Roz Snowdon on making dolls house lace from the Guild of Master Craftsmen Publications. I'll post reviews of both books soon, as lace making is a wonderful technique for creating trims and soft furnishings for scale scenes. For those of you interested in learning more about types of lace, the Dress and Specialist Textiles Organization has Identifying Handmade and Machine Lace, a pdf booklet produced in partnership with the Victoria and Albert Museum.
To make the lace pillow, you will need:
- Scraps of 1/16 in (2mm)Craft Wood or heavy card / illustration board
- Scraps of Fine Fabric - one dark green or dark blue. I used fine silk, but cotton lawn or batiste, or worn sections of sheeting or dress shirts will work as well.
- Small Amount of Quilt Batting - or cotton batting from a make up remover pad or ball, or a section of wool felt
- Scraps of Craft Foam -or heavy card.
- Fine Ribbon or Cord Trim or embroidery floss.
- PVA Glue
- Sewing Needle and Thread
- Small Clamps
- Sanding Block
- Sharp Scissors
- Metal Ruler
- Craft Knife
