On Feb 5, 2007, at 9:15, Sue Fischler wrote:
Now for the lace challenge. I want to do a floral piece which will echo the rose motif used on the brocade fabric of the doll's wedding dress overskirt. My starting point is the "Floral Bucks Fan", pg 76 in Collier's book reduced to 75% but I would greatly appreciate suggestions for any other patterns in any type of lace. I would like to use off white or ivory silk threads. If I choose the reduced Floral Bucks Fan, what threads could I substitute for the original's 140 Brok and 30 DMC Broder Machine gimp?
According to Brenda's book, 140 Brok has 64 wraps per cm. If you reduced your pattern to 75%, you'd need a thread with 85 wraps. That can't be had today, though Brok180/2 and Egyptian Gassed cotton 185.2 come close at 82 wraps and should work OK. But it's not silk! The finest silk Brenda lists is Kreinik's organzine (68 wraps) and that, also, is no longer avaliable. Next finest is Pipers 2/20, which is 62 wraps, ie actually a bit coarser than the Brok 140.
Something has to give :) My suggestion would be to go for the cotton for the basic (whichever one you can find that's closest to the colour you want) and silk for the gimp. Personally, I've always found a matte basic thread with lustrous gimp a very nice combination, since the shiny silk reflects more light and looks paler, thus making the design stand out more.
Now gimp. The DMC 30 is 32 wraps so the reduced pattern would need something with 42-43 wraps (42.6). There's nothing at 43. Kreinik's Au Ver a Soie 130/2 comes close, at 42 but a) I don't know if it's still available and b) it's almost matte. Pearsall's silk for fly-tying is also 42 wraps but I know nothing about either its availability or its sheen.
Going slightly coarser (I like a fat gimp), at 41 wraps we have Pipers Fine Twisted silk 6/20, which should be shiny (I have 4/20 and it is lovely) and Handweavers Studio EU silk 2/40 (know nothing about it). Going slightly finer, at 44 wraps, there's Pearsall's New Maltese silk (know nothing about it) or Handweavers Studio EU silk 2/60 (ditto)
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