Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was not made until the late 15th and early 16th centuries. A true lace is created when a thread is looped, twisted or braided to other threads independently from a backing fabric.

Originally linen, silk, gold, or silver threads were used. Now lace is often made with cotton thread. Manufactured lace may be made of synthetic fiber. A few modern artists make lace with a fine copper or silver wire instead of thread.

See also:

• Arts: Crafts: Lacemaking (175)
• Business: Consumer Goods and Services: Clothing: Materials and Supplies: Trimmings, Ribbons, and Laces (44)
• Business: Consumer Goods and Services: Clothing: Materials and Supplies: Webbings, Braids, and Cords (27)
• Shopping: Antiques and Collectibles: Textiles: Lace (4)

• Gerber Spitzen & Stickereien GmbH
  gerber-spitzen.de
  Germany. Manufacturers of lace fabrics for apparel and table linens. Also, embroideries, curtains, hankerchiefs and window ornaments. English and German.
• Beeteks Tekstil, Ltd
  beeteks.com
  Turkey. Manufacturers of rigid and stretch tulle lace fabrics for intimate apparel and embroidery applications, from polyester, polyamide and spandex. English and Turkish.
• Dongfang Knitting Co., Ltd
  chinalace.biz
  China. Manufacturers of jacquard warp knitted, printed and dyed, rigid and stretch lace fabrics for intimate apparel, from cotton, polyamide and spandex. Fabric designs catalogs.