Crochet lace is an application of the art of crochet

Crochet

Crochet is a process of creating fabric from yarn, thread, or other material strands using a crochet hook. The word is derived from the French word "crochet", meaning hook. Hooks can be made of materials such as metals, woods or plastic and are commercially manufactured as well as produced by...

. Generally it uses finer threads and more decorative styles of stitching - often with flowing lines or scalloped edges to give interest. Variation of the size of the holes also gives a piece a "lacy' look.

Originally crocheted lace was not regarded as true lace. Crocheting was considered easy and less time consuming, but otherwise clearly inferior surrogate for "true" lace such as bobbin lace

Bobbin lace

Bobbin lace is a lace textile made by braiding and twisting lengths of thread, which are wound on bobbins to manage them. As the work progresses, the weaving is held in place with pins set in a lace pillow, the placement of the pins usually determined by a pattern or pricking pinned on the...

, needle lace

Needle lace

Needle lace is a type of lace created using a needle and thread to stitch up hundreds of small stitches to form the lace itself....

 or netting

Net (textile)

Net or netting is any textile in which the warp and weft yarns are looped or knotted at their intersections, resulting in a fabric with large open spaces between the yarns....

. The first examples of crocheted lace try to reproduce the products of other lacemaking techniques as faithfully as possible. Later, the many possibilities and inherent beauty of crocheted lace were appreciated more.

Main styles of crocheted lace include filet crochet

Filet crochet

Filet crochet is a type of crocheted fabric. This type of crocheted lace is gridlike because it uses only two crochet stitches: the chain stitch and the double crochet stitch Filet crochet is a type of crocheted fabric. This type of crocheted lace is gridlike because it uses only two crochet...

, Irish crochet and its modern derivatives, pineapple crochet. Freeform crocheted lace also exists, examples of which are pieces striving to imitate reticella

Reticella

Reticella is a needle lace dating from the 15th century and remaining popular into the first quarter of the 17th century....

lace.