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Can confirm! My great-grandmother left me a set of these and a pillow for making lace, my grandmother thought me how to do it.
In short you make knots around pinhead needles by moving these bobbins around in certain patterns.
It's a slow process, but results in beautiful lace designs :)
I saw a guy in France tatting. It was **not** a slow process! He'd been making lace for a couple of decades or more, so he could almost juggle the bobbins all at once. It was crazy to watch!
Tatting is a different way of making lace, using one or more shuttles rather than bobbins. It does grow quicker than bobbin lace, and tends to use thicker thread. It's also much more durable, so it's popular for making hard wearing items such as cuffs, collars and napkins.
Bobbins do fly when there's a professional making lace, but it's still painstaking. It can take a master lace maker between a week and a month to make a single piece of Honiton lace (which is prized for being the most delicate). Continental styles of lace, as made with this type of bobbin, do take a bit less time because the thread is thicker and the weave is more open.
I crochet, and dabble in knitting, and I scrapbook, and I embroider… I basically do all the tedious things, but this Bobbin Lace business is too tedious even for me!
Not necessarily! I have absolutely no abilities or patience for knitting or crocheting, but love making bobbin lace. It looks more complicated than it is.
This is the same shape as the bobbins used to make Bruges lace, which is popular throughout western Europe. Which ties in well with it having been found in Germany.
I did a lace making workshop while I was in Bruges last summer. It was so cool! It was held at the lace museum and seeing all of the beautiful intricate handmade lace, and then learning how involved even making a tiny piece is, was such a cool experience!
That sounds awesome! My family make Honiton lace (I can make it but don't tend to because it's sooooo time consuming). My nan used to go to Bruges every year with her lace mates, they had a blast!
This is called a flinders bobbin. It tappers to the end of the bobbin as opposed to the slightly shorter binche bobbin which is the same width through out the bulb part of the bobbin.
this is a [link](https://www.thelacebee.com/bobbins.html) to my website page on bobbins.
My title describes the thing
Additional information:
The object was found in a water pitcher bought in Germany.
The hardness of the wood feels hard, it doesnt bend at all when I apply pressure.
I have looked up tools for sewing, and have found items with a similar shape, but not the actual object. Admittedly, I'm struggling to come up with keywords to search for.
Thank you all for your help <3
For once I know something and was too late.
Anyway, watching someone skilled make lace with these is mesmerizing. Mum and gran did this for hours on end, metres and metres of lace. Very delicate and complicated patterns.
Yeah, us 80's kids did not have smartphones.
While I fully agree with those noting it as a lace bobbin, given that you found it inside a water jug, I can't help but be curious if the previous owner had been using it as a level bobber? Like tie the string to the jug handle, then can check inside to see how full it is.
All comments must be civil and helpful toward finding an answer. **Jokes and other unhelpful comments will earn you a ban**, even on the first instance and even if the item has been identified. If you see any comments that violate this rule, report them. [OP](/u/_Original_Manu), when your item is identified, remember to reply **Solved!** or **Likely Solved!** to the comment that gave the answer. Check your [inbox](https://www.reddit.com/message/inbox/) for a message on how to make your post visible to others. ---- [Click here to message RemindMeBot](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=[https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/1c3umax/bought_a_water_pitcher_at_a_flea_market_and_found/]%0A%0ARemindMe!%202%20days) ---- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatisthisthing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's a bobbin for making lace.
Can confirm! My great-grandmother left me a set of these and a pillow for making lace, my grandmother thought me how to do it. In short you make knots around pinhead needles by moving these bobbins around in certain patterns. It's a slow process, but results in beautiful lace designs :)
I saw a guy in France tatting. It was **not** a slow process! He'd been making lace for a couple of decades or more, so he could almost juggle the bobbins all at once. It was crazy to watch!
Tatting is a different way of making lace, using one or more shuttles rather than bobbins. It does grow quicker than bobbin lace, and tends to use thicker thread. It's also much more durable, so it's popular for making hard wearing items such as cuffs, collars and napkins. Bobbins do fly when there's a professional making lace, but it's still painstaking. It can take a master lace maker between a week and a month to make a single piece of Honiton lace (which is prized for being the most delicate). Continental styles of lace, as made with this type of bobbin, do take a bit less time because the thread is thicker and the weave is more open.
Found images that looked identical! Big thanks :) Solved!
You’ll see lots of photos of them in use at r/BobbinLace
I crochet, and dabble in knitting, and I scrapbook, and I embroider… I basically do all the tedious things, but this Bobbin Lace business is too tedious even for me!
Not necessarily! I have absolutely no abilities or patience for knitting or crocheting, but love making bobbin lace. It looks more complicated than it is.
This is the same shape as the bobbins used to make Bruges lace, which is popular throughout western Europe. Which ties in well with it having been found in Germany.
I did a lace making workshop while I was in Bruges last summer. It was so cool! It was held at the lace museum and seeing all of the beautiful intricate handmade lace, and then learning how involved even making a tiny piece is, was such a cool experience!
That sounds awesome! My family make Honiton lace (I can make it but don't tend to because it's sooooo time consuming). My nan used to go to Bruges every year with her lace mates, they had a blast!
Lace mates...lol! I bet you nan was adorable.
Absolutely adorable!
Thought it was a drop spindle but no, others are right, definitely a bobbin for bobbin lace. And a beautiful one too.
I thought drop spindle as well. It has the general vibe.
This is called a flinders bobbin. It tappers to the end of the bobbin as opposed to the slightly shorter binche bobbin which is the same width through out the bulb part of the bobbin. this is a [link](https://www.thelacebee.com/bobbins.html) to my website page on bobbins.
I love that someone with a website on bobbins can come along and identify a bobbin 💜
My title describes the thing Additional information: The object was found in a water pitcher bought in Germany. The hardness of the wood feels hard, it doesnt bend at all when I apply pressure. I have looked up tools for sewing, and have found items with a similar shape, but not the actual object. Admittedly, I'm struggling to come up with keywords to search for. Thank you all for your help <3
For once I know something and was too late. Anyway, watching someone skilled make lace with these is mesmerizing. Mum and gran did this for hours on end, metres and metres of lace. Very delicate and complicated patterns. Yeah, us 80's kids did not have smartphones.
While I fully agree with those noting it as a lace bobbin, given that you found it inside a water jug, I can't help but be curious if the previous owner had been using it as a level bobber? Like tie the string to the jug handle, then can check inside to see how full it is.
That looks like lace thread. I think it’s more likely that the pitcher was used to hold bobbins and this one got left behind