Hi all, I am going ahead with my proposed project of making my own Honiton pillow so I can get started on learning more about Honiton Lace. My dear friend, Celtic Dreamweaver showed me how to do this lace several years ago. But I was using her tools and pillow. And I really want to get going on this lace before my eyes give out!! :-D
I cut out two 14 inch circles of heavy tight woven navy fabric and a 3 inch by 44 inch long strip for the side. Sewn one circle to the side strip and then the other circle to the other side of the strip but left a 6 inch opening for stuffing. I secured the opening stitches with heavy thread and knotted, because I know from experience that the stitches get pulled really hard and the stress could make them come out while stuffing. Below are pictures I took of some of the process of me making my Honiton pillow. I plan on making a full tutorial and add it to my Bobbinburg (http://www.tat-man.net/bobbinburg/bobbinlace.html) section of my website. I found this bag of barley straw at a tag sale and knew that I could make use of it somehow with my pillows. This is the first good project with it. http://www.tat-man.net/bobbinburg/howtoBL/bag-of-straw.jpg Then you cut the straw into little pieces about 1 inch lengths. I wasn't too concerned about the little knots. I have read that they just float in the pillow and don't really cause damage. So rather than spend months of cutting and making sure I keep the knots out of the good straw, I just started cutting. I did make sure there were the unwanted twigs or rough junk not to be cut and put in the good pile. http://www.tat-man.net/bobbinburg/howtoBL/cutting-straw.jpg After cutting quite a bit of it in the bag, I scooped out a handful and cut it over an empty cat litter bucket I had on hand. We have three cats and we reuse these buckets for other things. The cuttings that go in this bucket are more fine and even. http://www.tat-man.net/bobbinburg/howtoBL/cut-straw.jpg After a few hours of cutting........and by the way, I do recommend you wear gloves. Use of scissors for that many hours gives you blisters and sores! I have a nasty sore to prove it :( ............I proceed to stuff my flat pillow case. http://www.tat-man.net/bobbinburg/howtoBL/stuffing-pillow.jpg This is how my pillow looks so far after 3 hours of cutting straw and stuffing it in the pillow. And this is only 2/3rds full!! I still have more cutting to do. Have to make it so full that I can't possibly stuff any more. The saying goes "a very firm pillow makes for better lacemaking" is true! http://www.tat-man.net/bobbinburg/howtoBL/almost-stuffed-pillow.jpg So far so good! -- Mark, aka Tatman website: http://www.tat-man.net blog: http://tat-man.net/blog Magic Thread Shop: http://www.tat-man.net/tatterville/tatshop/tatshop.html email: tat...@tat-man.net Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tatmantats - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
