When I tried to reconstruct a pattern from the 1600's which attempt I chronicled in the Bulletin of the International Old Lacers, it was a "Point" as opposed to a scallop. A scallop, I think represents a more complicated point. (In fact, I wanted to do a scallop but decided a point would be a better starter piece.) One thing I would suggest is that you start to examine the tip of the scallop where there are the fewest pairs going around. Then you mentally work backward (I did it to the left) noting where pairs leave one side of the scallop going to the other side. When you get to the base you should have an idea of the maximum number of pairs. One thing that confused me was that some of the plaits contained more pairs than I realized until I noticed that a pair had left, but the plait is still going strong. The other thing I encountered was that the piece had been so skillfully mended that although all the points looked the same when viewed casually, when an attempt was made to recreate them on a piece of graph paper (merely to assist in symmetry) it was discovered that there was basically no repeat that was the same as any other. In fact, virtually no half of a point was made the way the facing first half had been made. This afforded the opportunity to chose which features I liked the best, although what the piece looked like originally is anybody's guess. I do recall trying to trace the enlarged picture on to a piece of tracing paper and then using a light box or something to put the tracing under some enlarged grid paper. It was then that the inconsistencies became clear as one side of a point had two petals where the other side had a petal and a braid. Eventually, I drew up a version I found pleasing and then shrunk down the drawing on the photocopy machine. I haven't gotten up my courage to do a scallop yet, although I am anxious to do so. I think they are very interesting. Devon
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