There are lots of different patterns. They consist of tiny dots and lines. The dots are going to be the pinholes. Generally you would have a book of patterns that you would take to someplace like Kinko's to run copies on heavy card stock paper. You need something with a little weight to it. What people will typically do then is put clear contact paper over the pattern and use pins to poke out all those little pinholes in the pattern. That's called bobbin lace pricking. If you do it the way I described you already have the dark lines. Usually there are two weights of thread that one uses in the pattern. One is a thin thread that is used for the most basic lace, and then there are a few thicker threads that run through the pattern to accent the different parts of the pattern.
