The English origin of the word lace owes something to the French lassis or
lacis, but both are connected with the earlier Latin laqueus. 
Early
French laces were also called passements; the name applied to ornamental open work formed of threads of
flax, cotton, silk, gold or silver, and occasionally of mohair or aloe fiber, looped or plaited or twisted together by
hand: (1) with a needle,
when the work is distinctively known as needlepoint lace ; (2) with
bobbins, pins and a pillow or cushion, when the work is known as pillow
lace ; and (3) by steam-driven machinery, when imitations of both
needlepoint and pillow laces are produced. Lace making implies the
production of ornament and fabric concurrently. Without a pattern or
design the fabric of lace cannot be made.
