Hi Amanda and Weronika, A tape usually has a sewing edge. The outside contour is created as a single line and the interchange of the weavers creates a U around the pin.
If you sew smack into the pinhole over both the bar and the U, that is an edge sewing. The finished lace will have the parts that meet there butted against each other. If you sew under one or the other of the bars that make up the U, that is a top sewing. The finished lace will have a slight 3D effect where the part that was sewn into will look as if it overlaps the part that was sewn into it. You do not sew into an unsupported bar, it leads to unhappiness, ( or at least distortion in your lace). Now let us consider the construction of the edge stitches. There are one or more twists before the edge stitch, the edge stitch itself (which swaps the weavers) and then one or more twists after the edge stitch. The number of twists before and after the edge stitch should be equal. So the bars of the U should have the same number of twists. The following is what I do and doesn't seem to disagree violently with the books I've read. Take it with a grain of salt. To make a sewing, remove the pin where you will sew in. Make your sewing. Replace the pin. Tension and continue. The tensioned thread is not around the pin (that would leave it loose and could cause the lace to sag and is the reason not to sew in to the unsupported bar). If two sewing edges are meeting for just one or two stitches, then you can maintain the sewing edge on the part being sewn in. In this case, the edge pairs don't exchange. The weaver goes out through the edge pair, makes the sewing and comes back through the edge pair. Existing Tape New Tape (T)T CTCT Sewing CTCT T(T) <<<<<<< (T)T CTCT T(T) >>>>>>> If two sewing edges are meeting for a long stretch, as happens in Milanese, for example, then you throw out the edge pair. Existing Tape New Tape (T)T CTCT Sewing T(T) <<<<<<< (T)T T(T) >>>>>>> Sewings eat one twist, so you should add a twist to the normal number of twists after the sewing. Patty Dowden -----Original Message----- From: Amanda Babcock [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2004 1:26 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [lace] top/edge sewing All, What is the difference between top sewings and edge sewings? Is there a diagram online? I've been doing a tape lace for the first time, sort of experimentally, and am not satisfied with any of the ways of doing sewings that I've come up with (which thread gets pulled through, whether they need twisting afterwards, whether to go around the pin when rejoining the tape from doing fillings, etc). I would love to see the "official" way of doing this. Thanks, Amanda On Mon, Apr 26, 2004 at 10:28:39AM +0200, J. Falkink wrote: > Hello Spiders > > Im "busy" with the Palm tree from "Milanese Lace: an Introduction". I did > the first one-and a half leaf, did other things for a few month, then > finished the second half of the second leaf. But... > I forgot I did the first leaf with top sewing and did the second with edge > sewings. I don't have an apetite in undoing, and on second thoughts I > think edge sewing are better in this case. Could I hide the effect of the > top sewing for the first leaf somehow? For example by sewing one or two > threads around the sewing line? > > Jo Falkink > > - > To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: > unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]