Honoring Fiber Art History with Heinemann’s Book
Another book that deserves a permanent spot in your creative corner—right beside Joan R. Babcock’s inspiring Margaretenspitze Designs for Jewelry—is Lotte Heinemann’s Margaretenspitze – Eine fast vergessene Knüpfspitze. This beautifully researched work pays tribute to a nearly forgotten knotting lace tradition and revives the legacy of its originator, Margarete Naumann.
Just like your favorite printed guides—the ones you return to when tackling a tricky knot or seeking fresh inspiration—this book becomes a quiet yet powerful companion. Through a combination of historical insight, practical reconstruction, and visual instruction, Heinemann opens the door to an extraordinary fiber art legacy.
Quick Look: What This Book Offers
📖 Rich Heritage – Explores the history and technique of Margaretenspitze, a unique knotting lace developed in Germany.
📸 Visual Learning – Features 58+ full-color photos and dozens of working sketches across 147 pages.
🎓 Authoritative Resource – A rare and invaluable publication that helped revive a forgotten fiber art.
🎨 For Curious Creators – Ideal for micro macrame enthusiasts, lace makers, and textile historians alike.
🛍️ Where to Get It – Available through select secondhand platforms and featured on the author’s website.
Preserving a Forgotten Fiber Art
Margarete Naumann (1881–1946), the inventor of Margaretenspitze, lived during a time of great social and industrial change. As textile machines replaced home-based handcraft industries in the Erzgebirge and Vogtland regions, Naumann sought a way to support struggling communities—especially women—through creative means.
Her innovation was a knotting technique using grouped threads that could be bundled, released, and knotted in diverse ways, creating a visual language distinct from macrame yet sharing its meditative repetition and structural precision. She patented this process in the early 20th century and aimed to spread it as a new handcraft technique with artistic merit.
As an educator in cities like Plauen, Magdeburg, and Hannover, she encouraged artistic development through not just lace-making, but also paper folding, beadwork, and festive design. Tragically, her manuscript on design theory was lost during WWII, and her name faded from craft history—until now.
A Revival Built on Research
Lotte Heinemann’s book is more than just documentation—it’s an almost scientific labor of love and detective work. I’m full of admiration for the effort she put into tracing original works in museum collections and reconstructing the patterns without ever having direct contact with the artist.
Thanks to this dedication, Margaretenspitze is no longer a lost art. Instead, it’s accessible to a new generation of fiber artists who value both innovation and tradition.
Why It Matters to the Micro Macrame World
While Margaretenspitze differs from modern micro macrame in form and structure, the parallels are undeniable: repetition of knots, exploration of pattern, and reverence for organic form. Many contemporary fiber artists who now craft earrings, pendants, and delicate lace motifs with nylon cords owe a creative debt to pioneers like Naumann—and to Heinemann for her documentation.
This book fills in critical historical gaps, reminding us that today’s “trendy” fiber crafts have deep, intricate roots.
A Base for Artistic Growth
While the book is written in German, I found that even with a very basic understanding of the language, the diagrams and visuals were clear and incredibly helpful. The imagery does much of the teaching, making it a practical resource for non-German speakers with some micro macrame experience.
One thing I quickly learned: it’s sometimes easier to design a new pattern than to replicate an old one. There’s no universal format for micro macrame instructions—each author has their own visual language. Getting used to a new style of pattern presentation is part of the creative challenge.
Margaretenspitze relies on just a few basic knots, but demands accuracy through repetition. Expect plenty of counting—it’s a slow, mindful process that deepens your understanding of rhythm, structure, and design.
This isn’t a quick-reference book—it’s a study guide for growth. The more you invest in learning from it, the more it offers back.
Modified micro macrame pattern incorporating motifs inspired by the Margaretenspitze technique featured in Lotte Heinemann’s book
Where to Purchase
Copies of Margaretenspitze – Eine fast vergessene Knüpfspitze are occasionally available through secondhand bookshops or crafting marketplaces like Etsy.
I was lucky to purchase mine directly from the author through Amazon Germany, but that option is no longer active. For the most up-to-date information, visit the author’s website:
If you have any additional tips about where to find this book, please leave a comment below—your insights may help fellow readers and makers discover this incredible resource.
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