Zuzana wrote: << I've made up a formula for how to calculate the distance between the holes in spiral lacing: y = x/b + x/(2b2) y....distance between two holes x....length of the opening, from the first hole to the last b....number of holes (without the 1/2 distance hole) It may sound a bit weird, but it's much quicker to use this formula then to wonder 2 hours about how to make the holes. >>
Now I've wondered more than 2 hours why you would need to wonder 2 hours! No one else has posted to ask about this, so I guess I will: Where was your difficulty originally, that made you come up with this formula? It sounds like the formula determines distance between holes based on the number of holes. But I would determine the spacing of the holes first, and the number of holes would be however many I needed at that spacing. I frankly wouldn't know how many holes I was going to use till I was done, and I don't think I've ever bothered to count them. It's the spacing I care about. In other words: I've learned that to make a non-gapping opening down the front of my fitted dresses, I need to place the holes about 5/8 or 3/4 inch apart. (Not coincidentially, this is the width of my finger.) So, I start at the top. I go just below the area of the seam allowances (which are folded inside the lining and trimmed) and mark the first hole with a sharp chalk line or a sharp pencil line. Then I mark the rest of them, one at a time, one finger-width apart. I do the marking on the inside, with the dress turned inside-out. I do this down to the end of the opening and usually put one more hole past the point where the center seam begins. (I've already sewn the center front so that there's a slight overlap, but that's a nicety and not absolutely necessary.) Then I hold the unmarked edge up next to the marked edge, just as they will lie in wear. I mark the first hole at the same point, straight across from its mate. Then I go down half a fingerwidth and mark another hole. (This is easy to eyeball.) I continue then at one finger-width apart, always watching the opposite side to make sure I'm staying at the midpoints between the first set of marks, on the opposite side. At the bottom, I leave them uneven. The lacing cord eventually will come through whichever bottom hole sits lower, after being fastened on the inside of the garment on the opposite side, at the same level as the lower hole (meaning the lace will be fastened a little below the last hole on that side). I do all the marking before I sew because sewing the eyelets can change the stretch/tension of the fabric and interfere with the evenness of the measurements. Something I do before I start all of this: I baste a line down each edge, exactly 1/2 or 5/8 inch from the edge and parallel to it. When I mark my eyelets, my marking lines cross the basting line, forming a + . The eyelets go on those intersections. The basting helps keep the lining and the main fabric from getting off-kilter while I sew the eyelets. I remove the basting after the eyelets are sewn. Once you're used to this method, you don't need pins or measuring tape, though I only abandoned those a little while ago, after many dresses. It's really simpler now. The more I sew, the less I measure. It's quite likely that 14th-century seamstresses did not use measuring tapes marked in numerical increments. (If anyone has any evidence that they did, let me know. The closest I've heard of are tapes with a specific person's body measurements marked on it, for reference, but even that appears to be rather later, and something that tailors used when sewing independently of the wearer's body.) --Robin Robin Netherton This is my webmail box. Please reply to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
