Welcome to the Lace Guild
Home of both Traditional Craft and Textile Innovation
The Lace Guild is the largest lace organisation in the United Kingdom and is an accredited museum with a large collection of lace and associated artefacts. The Guild produces two quarterly magazines, Lace and Early Days in Lacemaking, and publishes books of lace techniques and patterns.​ Our aims are to:
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To provide information about the craft of lacemaking, its history and use.
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To promote a high standard of lacemaking.
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To encourage the design, development and professional presentation of lace.
Golden Anniversary 2026
Demonstrations, displays and having-a-go
Do you belong to a lace group?
Do you have friends who are lacemakers?
Is at least one of you a Lace Guild Member?
Do you have a venue nearby that might welcome a demonstration of lacemaking? (If it is a National Trust property, then we may have their contact details for you on our list.)
Does the venue generally have a large footfall?
Are you in the process of arranging this and have not yet told us?
We are planning to send out the Press Packs in January 2026 to allow for advertising and contacting your local newspaper reporter/photographer.
Do you have lots of lovely pieces of lace stashed away safely? Then bring them out and put on a display of your work. The public love to have-a-go too, so bring out your spare pillow and set it up with a simple piece of cloth stitch and show them how easy it is to do.
Bobbin lacemaking is on the Heritage Crafts red list as it is now an “endangered craft”. There are too few tutors passing on their skills for it to survive as a craft. It is our responsibility as lacemakers to change this outlook.
If you are a tutor and wish to teach children, many of them will have-a-go on a pillow at an event, then think about having your free DBS check done via The Lace Guild and setting up a small group.
If you have been making lace for a while and think you may like to be a tutor, come to our Coffee & Chat sessions (dates will be released soon) to find out more.
Our Golden Anniversary is a huge opportunity to grow our lacemaking community and share our skills and friendship.
Our Magazines
We offer two quarterly magazines to members of the Guild, published at the end of July, October, January and April.
Lace is the main magazine, 64 pages of articles, community news and patterns.
Early Days In Lacemaking is aimed at novice lacemakers, and contains around 30 pages of mostly easy patterns.
Our Museum and Library
Our Shop
We sell our own books, bobbins and accessories, as well as second hand books and lace equipment and back issues of the magazines.
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Shop with us online, by phone, or in person at The Hollies.
New bobbins for 2025-26!
Current Exhibition at The Hollies
English Laces - The East Midlands Industries
1 November 2025 - 31 January 2026
We have altered the theme of this exhibition to enable us to include some of the items from the late Pam Nottingham’s recently catalogued pattern collection. Concentrating on the laces of the 19th through to the early 20th centuries - by looking at the various lace dealers of the area - gives an opportunity to showcase a selection of some of the items from our ever-increasing collection of English Laces from this era.
Lace sample books, both from known dealers and those whose origins are no longer known, and printed catalogues and photographs which were used as advertisements for mail order sales. Expect to see patterns and laces from North Bucks Lace Association, Lester, Pope and Sievewright, Bucks Cottage Workers Agency, Winslow Lace Industry, and others.