This is an extreme closeup of "Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo" by Agnolo Bronzino (1540), giving a good view of the stitches in the partlet. The stitch used here -- which I have named "Floating Square" for lack of a better name -- is one of the most common stitches I've seen so far in mezza mandolina. It is done by altering the lengths of certain stitches -- in sequence -- to make gaps in the mesh. There are literally dozens of possible variations for the Floating Square, changing the size of the squares, the size of the gaps, etc.

To do this stitch, I start with graph paper, and draw a picture of what the finished pattern will be.  For this example, we'll do simple squares five meshes wide. Then I would begin to draw the path that the thread is going to follow as I make the meshes; this is shown in blue and red (alternating so the individual rows can be seen. As with all lacis, including mezza, it is worked on the diagonal

As you can see, some of the stitches are normal length, some are twice as long, and some are sort of in between. The stitches that are twice as long are called "doubled stitches." They are made simply by wrapping the thread twice (or three times or however long you want, depending on how large a gap you want between the pattern elements) around the mesh gauge before making your knot.

The stitches that are an in-between length I have been calling "Finesse" stitches. That's because their length is detemined by how long your other stitches are; they're longer than the normal stitches, but they're a little more than half the Double stitch. They are done as is shown in the image below.

In the course of alternating between long and short stitches, you're going to find that pulling the mesh gauge out a number of times in each row is going to be the only way to maintain even stitches across the pattern.  You will end up doing a sequence of long stitches, pulling the gauge, then doing your sequence of short stitches, then pulling the gauge again.  This will give your mesh a snaggle-toothed look for a while, but periodically it will even out.

There appear to be infinite variation in this stitch: merely by varying the number of stitches in each "solid" square, and/or the length of the long stitches, you can achieve any number of effects, and a surprising complexity.


Criss Cross

This is a variation on the Floating Square that was used in some period patterns (such as the Bronzino pictured above). In the Criss-Cross, the long threads between the Squares were crossed, making little X's.

This only works on patterns that have odd square counts (3-count squares, or 5, 7, etc.), because only those will have an even number of long threads coming off them. This also applies to rectangles; a 3x7 rectangle will work, but a 2x8 will not.

There are actually four different techniques used to achieve the Criss Cross, used at different times in the row/section, to make it work. You'll want to watch your tension until you are comfortable with these; there's a tendency to get the stitches too loose, because your gauge/shed/loop sequence differs at times.

When you're doing these correctly, a pattern will emerge: one row you'll do the Criss-cross, the next you won't, the next row you'll criss-cross, the next you won't. This is not an error, so don't worry. You have to have the plain row, so that you'll have something to criss-cross with on the next row! (Probably obvious; but it rattled me when I was first figuring this out)

Fig 1a: First row of long and short stitches Fig 1b: Second row of long and short stitches

Technique One is the easiest. Simply do your first (see fig 1a, left) and second (see fig. 1b) rows of long and short stitches. As you start your third row, when you get to the long stitches, you are going to give it a twist before you make the knot, specifically to make the Row 2 stitch loop through the Row 1 Stitch, and come back out again. (See Fig 1c, below). Make sure you make your knot in the Row 2 long-stitch, not the Row 1. This will ONLY work on Rows 1 and 2 of a section. Fig 1c.

Fig 2.

Technique Two is a variation of the first; it works well if you have forgotten to do a criss-cross in the previous row, and you don't want to back up all that way. Essentially you're doing the same thing you did in Technique One: looping the second row long-stitch through the first. But this time, you actually have to pull it through, rather than simply twisting the loop. (See Fig 2, left). I keep a fine crochet hook close at hand, to help maneuver that loop through.

Fig 3.

Technique Three is only done on the down-swing, or descending half of a long stitch. It is actually the easiest of the four to do. When you come to the long stitch, you feed your shuttle through the long loop before you make your shed or take the knot. (See Fig 3, left). That's it.

Fig 4.

Technique Four is only done on the upswing, or ascending half of a long stitch. It sounds a little confusing, but it's not as difficult as it sounds. You bring the thread down over your gauge, as though you're getting ready to make your shed. But don't! Instead, feed your shuttle through the long loop (just as you did in Technique Three). Bring the shuttle thread back down behind your gauge, and then make your shed. Take the stitch as normally. (See Fig 4, left).

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