The only time I try to pursuade people not to take pins out is when they are working part lace such as Honiton or Milanese, where the perceived wisdom over the years has been that you fairly rapidly remove alternate pins as you push the remainder into the pillow. What this does is to allow the threads to shrink (or possibly even move slightly?) and the lace is left with a permanent scallop edge. Look at many of the pieces in Elsie Luxton, Pat Perryman or Susanne Thompson and you can see quite easily the traces of in, out, in, out from pin to pin.
If the pins are too close together for them to all push in flat, push down alternate ones first, then settle the other alternate ones onto the heads of the first ones - but pins are rarely that close together. The worse problem I have ever seen resulting from removing alternate pins was a rib edge that was later filled with half stitch. The long, diagonal rows of passive threads pulling against unsupported pinholes turned the little cat in Pat Parryman's book into a frilly blob. As Jane said, I leave the edge pins in as long as it is convenient, and on a roller or block pillow sometimes even replace a few footside ones after each move to keep the footedge from 'gathering', but that is threads moving rather than the pinholes. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
