Hi Debora, Welcome to the world of lacemaking!! To every question, there's usually several answers since there is a variety of types of laces and kinds of thread. So here's one opinion.
How much thread to put on the bobbin is an age-old question. Most patterns, once you are past the very beginning projects, won't tell you. You sort of learn to guess, with experience. You also learn that it's not the end of the world to have to add more thread when a bobbin runs out. Since you are beginning, chances are you are doing Torchon bookmarks. My Torchon teacher told us to use 4 times the length of the finished pattern for basic Torchon where the threads take turns doing the various stitch patterns and no single pair does all the cloth stitch sections of the item. However, if you have one pair acting as worker down through a bunch of fans, that pair will need a whole lot more. You can actually use a ruler and measure the amount of thread needed to do one fan. Or take a thread and pin it back and forth over the path of the fan worker on one fan, and then measure the thread. Multiply by the number of fans to get the thread length needed. Add an extra foot, to be safe, plus the leash (the part between the pattern and the bobbin). For the majority of small Torchon projects like bookmarks, you are fairly safe to wind one yard on a bobbin. Some thread will be extra. but most projects can be completed without needing more. If you are doing a long (yards) edging, just wind the bobbins full and go for it. If/when you run out, you add more. If you are going to do a series of small items with the same thread, you can wind one bobbin full, then unwind just the amount needed for a project from the full bobbin to the second bobbin. At the end of an item, discard the thread left on the second bobbin, and unwind more from the full bobbin for the next project. This way, you only have to rewind half the bobbins between projects. Please note that these comments work on Torchon. If you are doing a tape lace, it's a completely different story. Write back again when you start tape laces. Second question: Starch -- old fashioned kind: Someone else will have to detail this one. I use spray starch if I have to starch something, so I don't have to cook it, etc. I usually just starch ornaments or 3-D items that have to hold a shape. For the spray starch, I pin out the item on a cardboard covered with plastic wrap or wax paper. If there are ends or tails that don't need starched, cover them with bits of the wrap or paper. I have separate pins that are used only for starch so I don't have to keep washing them. Spray lightly and let dry. Spray again if it needs to be stiffer. Third question - Left over threads: If you have lots of thread left, and doing small projects, you can wind off enough from a full bobbin to a second bobbin to do the next project. It is possible to tie two threads together and then wind the knot onto one bobbin far enough down that the knot might not appear in the project. If the knots will appear, and you really want to do this, wind the tied threads onto the bobbins at different distances so they don't all appear at the same area in the project. In this type of situation, just trim off the 'tails' that stick out from the knots after the item is removed from the pillow. At a little distance, the knots will not be seen. Your other choice is to leave long enough tails to thread on a needle, and weave them in. This long a tail would be a real nuisance while working. The weaving in would be a nuisance when the project is off the pillow. This is usually done only at the end of a project to get rid of all the ends. If you are doing bookmarks, you can make a fringe at the top of the bookmark, as well as the bottom. Just knot the threads together and pin them 5 inches above your pattern. When the bookmark is done, and you have fringed and trimmed the bottom, turn the pillow around, knot the top threads to match the bottom threads, and trim the ends. Remember, the thread is actually one of the cheapest parts of your equipment. The cost of the discarded thread is pennies. If the project is small, don't deal with knots in it. Save the knots for yardage projects when you will use more than one bobbinful of thread. The knots, in this case, are usually spread out enough that they are not readily seen. Thus you have one person's opinion. There'a always more than one way to do something, and one opinion. Maybe someone else will give an alternate one. Take your choice, and go for it! Merry Christmas, Alice in Oregon --- Debora Lustgarten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Happy holidays to all! > I finished making my second ornament ever and want > to make more. I have > some questions: > - How do you calculate how much thread to wind on > the bobbins per pattern, > so you don't waste much? > - How do you prepare starch and apply it the > old-fashioned way? > - Is there a way to hide the knots of joined pairs > of bobbins if you decide > to use left-over thread on another pattern? - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
