Do computer scanners distort less?
Don't know about the 'puter scanners (my MFC will not communicate with my OSX Mac on the scanning issue) but I would expect no distortion at all. The same MFC (multi-function center), when used as a *copier* has zero distortion.
I draw all of my own patterns on tracing paper which is transparent, so it's easy to lay it over a paper copy and compare. With the commercial copier I used to use, I had to copy at 98-99% and, even then, there were some dots which matched the original, and some that didn't (the distortion was less closer to the "eye", and more away from it). The first time I used this one (got it last Christmas), I laid my tracing over the paper copy (100%) to see how big the distortion was, and was amazed to see that all the dots matched dead-center :)
Of course, the commercial one was a laser, and this one is an ink-jet, so the dots (and lines) themselves aren't as sharp as they would be on a laser, but I could not convince my menfolk that I deserved a colour-printing *laser* MFC as a Christmas gift... "it's 5 times as expensive, and you're an atheist" was their response :(
There is no way that this pattern will make a flat circle and I don't see how I can "juggle" it to do so. There is nearly a centimeter of overlap.
The smaller the segment of the "pie", the bigger the discrepancy is likely to be when all the segments are joined; you're adding your own inaccuracies to those already there. Some of the problem probably happened before you copied the pattern segments -- between the Kortelahti's version and the book's.
If you can get a hold of the book again, re-copy, on a puter-connected, "personal" copier/scanner, just twice. Glue together (using a re-stickable dry-glue stick), and copy *that*, again twice. Join to make a half pricking, copy twice, and see if the halves will meet better. Because the puter-connected copier/scanner has no distortion, repeated copying does no harm, but you're eliminating *some* of the "human error" inherent in multiple gluing of segments... On the commercial copiers, you'd have been multiplying the errors with every re-copy :) "My xerox lady", BTW, always said that the slight distortion was built into those machinse on purpose -- to foil the nasties (spies etc) who might want to copy sensitive material which might require dead-precision; don't know how much of it is true and how much "urban legend"
Do I just make it and have a ruffled piece?
Depends on your own personality and on the piece itself...
10 years ago, I came across a similiar situation -- there were several patterns in Cook's "Russian Lace Making" which were tempting but which, due to their size, were presented in "bits" (some had further instructions to enlarge; another potential pitfall, with a commercial copier I was using <g>). I tried a couple of them and the "bits" would not "meet". I then gave up trying, and never made any of them.
1) I'm trying to wean myself from it, but, 10 yrs ago, I was a *total* control-freak; I knew that if I made any of those pieces, and they didn't end up lying "just so", it would bug me to death every time I looked on them. Not worth the effort of making, just to get frustrated at the end.
2) The lace was coarse, as was the thread used to make it -- it wouldn't have "ruffled" with grace (where an extra half inch per *side* of a hankie made in fine thread and a Point Ground technique *would*)
3) The pieces I wanted to make had a very distinctive and large design; as so often in Russian Tape, *all of it* had to be visible -- if the lace *didn't* lie flat, parts of the design would be lost and all I'd be left with would be a mess (and unpredictable one, too). If, OTOH, your pattern (I don't have that book, am not familiar with the pattern; wish I had it , love hearts and flowers<g>) has a reasonably small repeat, then a slight ruffle will be less annoying, as it'll be less obvious. In fact, ruffling in some laces *adds interest*, making the lace look more "alive", less "static"...
You have to decide for yourself...
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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