Is all lace that is sewn onto a mesh "low quality"? If not, how can I differentiate between low quality mesh-lace and high quality mesh-lace? Thank you very much for the help!
It’s definitely not all low quality. It’s used on a lot of expensive namebrand items, because embroidered lace is the easiest lace to get custom detailing on.
Here’s some lace with Kuma Kumya on it. Because the mesh is what provides structural support, it’s possible to make very detailed patterns. This kind of detail isn’t possible in a venise lace, because the pieces of the pattern in a venise lace have to be connected to each other.
Here’s a relatively detailed venise lace. You can see how there can’t be any free-floating pieces in the design, because there’s nothing to support them.
As for how to tell quality, there’s sort of a “I’ll know it when I see it” category.
Here’s a comparison of AP’s Sugary Carnival lace, next to the lace from the Dream of Lolita Sugary Carnival replica. The Dream of Lolita replica lace is kind of notable for being the best example of replica lace. Replica lace is rarely this good. Even when it’s the best cheap knockoff possible, you can still see the loss of detail on those chonky carousel ponies and the slightly drunk “AP”.
Generally, a lower quality embroidered or reembroidered lace is visible just based on the details in the pattern. Here’s a lace that’s on a couple of my less expensive pieces (both Souffle Song lucky packs, actually). You can see how the majority of the piece doesn’t have any detail, and the hem detail looks a bit muddled.
That little piece that connects the two lines of stitching is called a jump thread. Jump threads are created when the embroidery machine moves from one disconnected section to another. Expensive embroidery machines will cut those jump threads automatically. Cheaper machines require a human to go in after the piece is done and cut them manually. Cheapest lace leaves the jump threads in.
However, this lace also disguises its inexpensive pattern by being ruffled. When you look at the same lace laid flat, the pattern looks a lot chunkier and less clear. When the same lace is ruffled, it hides these imperfections much better.
If you check out the AP lace and the Kuma Kumya lace up top, you’ll notice that they’re flat and barely gathered. An expensive lace usually shouldn’t be gathered so much that you lose the detail. A cheaper lace can be gathered much more, because you actually want to lose the detail a bit.
A nice embroidered lace will have good texture and a clear pattern. You can see how these flowers are thicker in the center of the petals than at the outside edge. The hem is neatly cut. The pattern is specifically designed so that jump threads aren’t a problem. A put-up of this lace comes in at $2.36 a yard
A less expensive embroidered lace will have larger stitches and the pattern itself will be difficult to understand. What’s going on here? Is that a flower? Why are the stitches so big? A put-up of this lace is 50 cents per yard.
(buying lace in a put-up, which is generally 25-200 yards, is much less expensive per yard than buying it by the yard, but you have to buy a whole lot, so the initial cash outlay is more)
In addition to clarity of the design, you need to factor in contrast. Where are you using the lace? Will the light-colored mesh over a dark background make your dark background light and lose all detail in the design? Even a nice embroidered lace, used in the wrong place, will look bad. A cheaper lace, used tastefully and intelligently, can still look good.
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Anyway, I hope that’s somehow an answer. Embroidered lace can be very high quality, and you kind of just have to look at it and use your best judgement.
