An early Irish embroidered needle lace, almost a crochet, typically worked with loops and relatively thick yarns.
Handmade lace has been made in Carrickmacross since the1820s, the lace style inspired by Italian lace of the time. The technique is similar to applique, or cut work .
The lace is worked with a small fine steel hook, onto a very fine organdie or cotton muslin, one that is translucent enough to allow the pattern to be seen through
The pattern is first printed onto a glazed linen, covered with net and the organdie or muslin lace ground stitched over it. A fine cord is couched around the outline of the pattern. The excess fabric is cut away ad the exposed organdie is decorated with filling stitches such as double dot, bars, pops, basket, daisy, cobweb. The finished lace is edged with tiny loops and the complete piece is then detached from the pattern.
The guipure technique is used to link the areas of pattern with an intricate design of open work