Ruskin lace combines various stitches, notably bullion stitch, buttonhole stitch, four-sided stitch, as well as picot. In the late nineteenth century Ruskin lace was made from hand-spun and woven linen by cottagers around Coniston (Cumbria, England). It was based in the main on drawings of Italian laces brought back from the country by Ruskin.
A Mrs. Pepper was one of the first leading makers of Ruskin lace and there are several photographs of her spinning her own linen thread. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Ruskin lace was associated with Mrs. Elizabeth Prickett, who wrote several books on the subject.
Sources:
- EARNSHAW, Pat (1984). A Dictionary of Lace. Aylesbury: Shire Publications Ltd, p. 149.
- PRICKETT, Elizabeth (1999), Ruskin Lace and Linen Work, London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., revised edition (first printed 1985).
- http://www.ruskinlace.org.uk/.
V&A online catalogue (retrieved 29 June 2016).
GVE