As a result of this surge of creativity, there are now seven varieties of lace--needlepoint lace, tape lace, bobbin lace, netted filet lace, crocheted lace, tatted lace and knitted lace.

On exhibit at the Lace Museum until Oct. 31 are the many tools of the trade used from the 1800's to the present. Also showcased are vintage clothing, accessories and other items made while using each of the seven techniques.

"They say lace-making is a dying art, but it isn't," says Roller, who has volunteered at the museum since its inception in 1981. "There are enough lace makers that keep passing it down."

And the Lace Museum is helping the cause along, offering adult and children's classes in each lace-making technique. One popular class teaches how to make an heirloom Christmas ornament of needle and tape lace. Several of the ornaments made by members of the museum were featured on the cover of Victoria Magazine in December 1997.

The museum is a nonprofit organization supported by the more than 600 members of The Lace Museum Guild. Gracie Larsen and Cherie Helm founded the museum in order to house their lace collections and to keep the art alive. Since this is the only lace museum in the country, those members who meet are mostly members from the Bay Area, Roller says.

On display at the museum are pillows from a variety of countries used to make bobbin lace. Bobbin lace is made by putting a pattern on the pillow, placing pins in the pattern and weaving the thread around the pins. A bobbin is the tool that dispenses the thread.

One of the earliest bobbin pillows on display was made during the 1800s, when people came West in covered wagons. The pillow is made from an oatmeal sack, a broken piece of furniture and fabric from men's slacks.

Also on display are decorated English bobbins and homemade bobbins that were made using a ballpoint pen, doorstop and nail. All the items in the collection were donated to the museum.

Roller and other museum docents also offer bits of history while exploring the exhibit.

"Lace-makers were the first paid women," Roller says. "Bobbin lace makers were the highest paid. They would work 12-hour days and could make 24 inches of lace in one day. You can tell how much a bobbin pillow was used by how well it is worn out."

There are also a wide variety of decorative shuttles and examples of tatted lace on display. Like a bobbin, a shuttle dispenses thread for tatting lace. Tatting is the process of making a fine lace by looping and knotting thread.

One visitor to the museum started tatting after meeting a man in the Navy who was tatting a tablecloth. This man was the third generation in his family to work on tatting the large tablecloth, and he was finishing the project, Roller says.

The exhibit also features devices that were used to cut thread before the invention of scissors. A pinking machine was especially popular while making a design on the lining of parasols, Roller says. Lace makers also used a device called a "third hand" to clamp onto a table so they could have a free hand to cut the lace.

"In those days people used tools so that they could save everything," Roller says. "Nowadays people can still reuse lace that has already been used for something else. Once a garment wears out they can put the old lace onto something new, like a tablecloth."

As the collection shows, lace makers made decorative and fancy tools as well. There are gold scissors from the 1800s in the shape of a bird, a crocheted thimble and needle holder in the shape of a sombrero and thread holders made using fine gilded fabrics.

For more information about The Lace Museum, call 408.730.4695 or visit www.thelacemuseum.org. The Lace Museum is located at 552 South Murphy Ave. The museum is open Tuesday­Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.