. >> elena kanagy-loux wears her passion for lace on her sleeve, literally. >> if you want to challengeourself, you can pick just the white linen, but it will be more difficult. >> reporter: she is writing a doctoral thesis on lace in between teaching classes on lace-making. >> and there is your middle. >> wow. >> reporter: she cofounded a lace guild in brooklyn, where both women and men are finding lace a mesmerizing maze for the mind. but she says lace is also pretty misunderstood. >> that's what i'm here to do is to bust some misconception. >> reporter: the most obvious live says are doilies. today we think of them as old-fashioned coasters. but elena says if you trace them back in time, doilies are hardly just a domestic trifle. >> during the irish famine, women were making and selling different lace of irish varieties to help their families survive. there were women making doilies in japanese internment camps during world war ii as a comfort to their families. >> reporter: another myth, lace is only white. while a lot of pieces from the 15th and 16th centuries has been bleached by

. >> elena kanagy-loux wears her passion for lace on her sleeve, lit little. >> you can pick just thealso pretty misunderstood. what's the biggest misconception you think about lace? >> oh, there are so many. that's what i'm here to do, help bust misconceptions. >> reporter: the most obvious she says are doilies. we think of them as old-fashioned coasters. she says if you trace the threads back in time, doilies were hardly just a domestic trifle. >> during the irish famine women were making and selling irish lace and making doilies to help their families survive. there were women making doilies in japanese internment camps in world war ii as a comfort to their families. >> reporter: another myth, lace is only white. while many pieces from the 16th and 17th centuries been bleached by time, had a pretty color of history. >> it has been made in every color, every size, massive scales down to the tiniest scale. so it really can be in any design you want. >> reporter: there's knitted lace, needlepoint lace, crow shade lace, wire lace, and on and on goes. each as unique and intricate as a s