Reticella

Reticella lace was created by sewing linen to a piece of parchment with a lace pattern drawn on it. The threads would be drawn from the linen leaving only equally spaced horizontal and vertical bars. The threads would be embroidered and then the lace pattern drawn on the parchment would be embroidered over the bars. It was common in the latter half of the 16th century.

One of the first pattern books containing true reticella patterns was

A book with patterns for embroidery over open squares of linen that were smaller than the reticella squares was created in 1550 by Mathio Pagano. It was called

When later, more open forms of needle lace were created, they did not replace the earlier forms of lace. The earlier forms of lace were still being created and used. This is why it is difficult to date 16th century lace to a more exact date within the 16th century.

Many books with embroidery and lace patterns were published in the 16th century. Lace patterns from one book would appear in anther, even if the other book was published years later in a different country by a different auther. An example of this is the pelican in her piety pattern from Singuliers.