Picot

Needle lace border with a picot edging, Venice, mid-17th century. Needle lace border with a picot edging, Venice, mid-17th century. Copyright Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK, acc. no. T.154-1994.

Picot is the term for a series of small loops (also known as bobs) along the edge of a fabric or piece of lace. Picot can be made as part of the main fabric or produced separately and then sewn onto the ground. The word picot derives from the French pic, meaning to peak, point or prick. Picot is sometimes regarded as a (simple) form of embroidered lace.

See also: pearl (2).

Also called: pearl, purl.

Sources:

  • CAULFEILD, Sophia Frances Anne and Blanche C. SAWARD (1882). The Dictionary of Needlework: An Encyclopaedia of Artistic, Plain and Fancy Needlework, London: L. Upcott Gill, p. 391. 
  • TORTORA, Phyllis G. and Ingrid JOHNSON, The Fairchild Books. Dictionary of Textiles, London: Bloomsbury, p. 688.
  • Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 'Picot'.

V&A online catalogue (retrieved 29th June 2016).

GVE

Last modified on Sunday, 30 April 2017 18:31
Published in Lace making
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