The various names I've seen are: lacis, filet lacis, guipure d'art. I have
the impression that the words "filet" refers to a square mesh (since it is
also used to describe the form of crochet which imitates true filet lacis.
I agree that you will see filet and lacis referring to the same thing - lace made by darning designs into square net. I think historically this descended from a drawn thread work technique that looks very similar, and I wonder if the term has ever also applied to that.
Interestingly, in French the verb "filet" actually means to spin flax(!) and the noun "filet" means a very thin thread.
The word "guipure" in lacemaking usually refers to a lace, either needle or
bobbin, which has a ground made of bars (buttonholed, braided or purl pin
bars) as opposed to a mesh made of one or two threads. Why or how that word
"guipure" has been applied to filet lacis is a mystery to me.
In my French dictionary the word "guipure" means pillow lace or point lace (aka bobbin lace with point ground). Period. That makes sense to me because I have seen the word "guipure" used to refer to a variety of bobbin laces, from Cluny to Chantilly and everything in between. I have not heard of it being restricted to lace with barred ground. I have heard that the word refers to a type of design, rather than a method of making. However, I think all these different things we hear just mean that nobody really knew for sure, they were all trying to figure out what it meant because they heard it used in so many ways.
In English, the Concise Oxford dictionary says "guipure" is a "heavy lace of linen pieces joined by embroidery". So I think it has referred to different lace techniques at different times.
Hope this helps
By the way, kudos to anyone brave enough to teach lacis. I've seen the making of the ground treated a number of different ways, from the traditional net-making stitch (incredibly boring and yes, I've done it) to laying threads across a card in one direction and then knotting them in another direction, which appeared in Piecework some years ago - and I found this method absolutely impossible to do evenly. You have to go through so much tedium just to get the ground that IMHO the fun part - darning in the design - almost isn't worth it. I would love to find 100% cotton premade square knotted net at 6 mesh/inch - I know it's available somewhere in the world (Australia, possibly) but I don't like to buy anything so expensive without seeing it first, so I've never ordered any.
Adele North Vancouver, BC (west coast of Canada)
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