History...

One of the oldest forms of lace making is filet lace, also called net lace, darned net lace or lacis. The origins of this form of lacemaking go back to the use of nets to catch fish and hunt small game by primitive man.  Somewhere along the line someone thought of making the same netting of finer thread, and filet lace was born. Archeological accounts indicate that the State robes of Egyptian kings in 2130 BC were described as ornamented by a net of colored silks, so this is an ancient craft.  During the Middle Ages lacis came into general use and filet lace became popular, especially among the nobility of France and Italy.

Filet Italien starts with a coarse hand-knotted square-mesh net foundation, on which the closed parts of the pattern are darned in. Buratto is a woven substitute for the knotted net--a square-mesh net made in gauze weave with warps that twist in pairs around the wefts. Drawnwork net is made by drawing the alternate threads of scrim or etamine, and binding the intersections with the needle.