On Mar 11, 2005, at 6:10, Jenny Brandis wrote:
Please check out http://www.brandis.com.au/craft/firstever.html
Very nice for "virgin effort", at least on the pillow; wish my first half stitch strip looked that good (I've kept it, as a memento - every time I feel overly pleased with myself, I pull it out to re-gain perspective <g>)
My one question is probably a tension thing but can anyone tell me why my lace (can I call it that?) curls when I took the pins out?
Yes, you can call it lace; the same elements you've been practicing will be used later in more interesting bits.
As for curling... Half stitch likes to curve, and it's on curves that it really looks its best, not on a straight strip, where the worker makes parallel trips instead of radiating ones (more or less).
And yes, correct tension, angle of pins - all the good stuff that others have written - will take care of some of the curling of lace that's supposed to be straight.
But the best way, IMO, to counteract the Art Nouveau-ish tendencies of the half stitch is to give it some less flimsy support on the sides. The so-called "sewing footside" (pin under two pairs, switch workers) does wonders for keeping the half stitch on the straight and narrow :) Even a twisted passive will do it. Even just extra twists at the pin might help some.
I suggest an experiment:
On the same pricking, with the same number of pairs (9), the same thread etc, work in half stitch through 7 pairs, then in cloth stitch through the last pair. Twist your worker 3 times as usual, and twist the passive you've cloth stitched through once. Cloth stitch through that passive again (to close the pin), twist both pairs once, half stitch through the 7 pairs and, on the other side of the strip, make the same footside you've been making for the half stitch bit of your "bandage". Make the same amount of lace as you had - an inch and a half, or thereabouts? - in this manner, take it off the pillow, and see the difference in how the sides behave.
Even though it will no longer be a virgin effort - you'll be applying the skills and insights you've gained during your first lesson, and even your flimsy side is likely to be better than on the first try - you ought to be able to see a difference.
The thing about learning half stitch on a bandage like yours... You are learning a skill, which is how to manage "divorced" bobbins. And, as a raw recruit, you're also learning umpteen other skills at the same time - how to move the bobbins, how to place the pins, how much to pull on the thread (or not <g>), trying to remember what a twist and a cross is, etc - which is making the whole thing more difficult.
Unfortunately, you're also learning that skill *out of context*. Because I don't think you'll ever again - in your entire lacemaking life - encounter another straight strip of unsupported half stitch with pins on both sides (unless as a teacher, by which time you'll know better <g>)...
Depending on the kind of lace you make... The half stitch may zig-zag (Torchon trails), or bulge out and decrease in a diamond or some other shape (Torchon and Beds and the Bayeux/Chantilly type laces), being fed new pairs on one side and losing them on the other. Or it may follow a curve of a petal (tape laces, such as Russian and Brugge Bloem). Or it will sew into something, at least on one side (Chrysanthemum lace). Or something will be sewn into it (modern laces)... But it never stays still, and it's never permitted to "go out alone"; there's always something to support it.
Like Betty Ann, I used to hate half stitch in the early stages of my lacemaking "illness". Unlike Betty Ann, I stopped hating it long ago, and began to love it with a passion :) Yes, it can be difficult and contrary and very unstable, but it's also incredible in what it can do for you, if you make an effort. I've come to think of it as the "idiot savant" stitch; there's a method to its madness, you just need the cypher to understand its message...
PS I assume that you cut off the bobbins before you took the lace off the pillow and lifted it to look at? Nothing would scrunch half stitch faster than a combined weight of several pairs of bobbins... :)
-- Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/ Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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