[lace] Re: Architect's Linen Comparables
In a message dated 09/01/2011 16:28:55 GMT Standard Time, elationrelat...@yahoo.com writes: Bobbin lacers, do some of you pre-prick also (aside from the lace styles that are almost exclusively done that way). Yes, nearly always. Only two exceptions. The first would be a very course lace where in proportion to the hole spacing, it doesn't really matter if the hole is dead centre on the dot or just anywhere on the dot.* Pricking as you go, the latter is more likely to happen. Here I might do it first, or just start and prick as I go, or prick a bit ahead and then catch up, but the holes are not as 'available' once the threads are hanging across them. Apart from the accuracy, it is easy to miss dots when working and although even less experienced lacemakers usually grind to a halt fairly quickly, they are sometimes left in a quandry as to what the mistake is - pricking or lacemaking, so why make life harder than it needs to be. *If you don't think this is important, print a row of full stops from the computer then prick along it making sure the point goes through the dot, but deliberately going as near to a different edge of the dot each time. From the photocopy it will look OK as the odd spaced holes are inside the black dots, but when you see the row beneath it usually focusses the mind on pricking carefully. Some of the earlier books suggest that you actually prick along the edge of a ruler for important straight rows such as the footside and the first row inside the footside, as so long as these are absolutely straight, the eye loses unevenesses in the ground. The second is on an outline pattern for Withof or other such part laces. Milanese I far prefer to prick as I go, as the thread will tell me how far the pin needs to be placed from the previous pin and by carefully centering the pin on the line and then settling the edge stitch and tweaking the pin if necessary, the outside edge can be kept smooth, sometimes even better than the original drawing. This can however cause problems when I am doing designs for students to work, as I find it harder to trace over the holes on a worked pricking than to dot in over a continuous line. I need to get a new scanner and do it electronically instead. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Re: Architect's Linen Comparables
I think that the lines between needle and bobbin lace are blurred again. Bobbin lace - Plastic over photocopy of pricking, with extra paper layers or card behind unless the pillow is very firm. A bobbin lace pricking, whatever form it takes, will be rigid as it is on a pillow. Its job is to allow accurate placement of the pins, and to help support the pins to keep that accurate placement. Needlelace - Plastic over photocopy sewn onto a pad of several layers of fabric (old sheet, calico (UK) or muslin (US)). Its job is to support the outline of the design, be flexible enough to hold in the hand or curve on a bolster type pillow, and at times fold almost in half to allow the placement of difficult stitches, while at the same time being firm enough to not allow the tension of the stitches to pull it out of shape So althought the starting point is the same plastic over photocopy, the end use is very different. With bobbin lace it was often used just to give a contrast colour behind the (traditionally) white thread, now it seems sometimes to be considered nearly essential. However, as the lace just sits on top of the rigid pricking, so long as you can see what you are doing you don't *need* the plastic and I very rarely use it - only if I am going to stiffen the lace on the pillow. For my prick-as-I-go Milanese I photocopy onto coloured light-weight art card, for my other pre-pricked laces I photocopy straight onto the thinnest real pricking card - I have already drawn it all in on my design draft and don't see the need to do it again! For needlace the important thing is to have a surface which is going to make a barrier between the lace/needle and the paper whereupon sits the design - without the plastic (or architects linen) the paper would soon crumple and tear, and the fibres would work their way up into the lace. The contrast colour is also helpful! Many years ago now one of my students started several pieces of work at home which were in the form of white thread, white photocopy and we added the blue sticky plastic retrospectively in class. One week she arrived with a big smile on her face as she'd remembered the plastic *before* she started the lace, and yes, you've guessed it, she was now working with blue thread. Calico in the UK is a beigey/off white cotton fabric, available in different weights, with lots of dressing in it as you buy it. Once it is washed it makes a good base for needlelace, but before it is a bit stiff. The small cottage print type fabric, assuming you mean the weight that would commonly be used for patchwork and quilting is just called 'cotton fabric' (except in some patchwork fabric shops who are gradually being influenced by the US patchwork books and magazines and are beginning to call it calico!), or if it's plain colour, possibly cotton lawn. Muslin in the UK is a now loosely woven fabric, and not always very even, which is why Jane said course as in the sense 'not top quality', made of a fine thread, which is why she said fine. I think historically it would have been much better quality as it is the sort of fabric the Regency dresses were made from. I can see your confusion as she used two words basically meaning the opposite. Hope this helps. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Re: Architect's Linen Comparables
As Pat will soon find out, the nicest pricking to work on is one done on card, and then inked in. Without the plastic layer, you can feel where the holes are. With the plastic layer the holes close back up so it is hard to feel them and then hard to push the pin through. Make sure you use a needle in the pricker that is the same size or slightly smaller than the pins you are to use. Use either waxed paper between the photocopy and the card, or just rub over the back of the pricking with wax of some sort; I use beeswax as DH is a beekeeper so there's always some around, but a candle works just as well. The old way was to dip the pricker into a wax block ever few holes; a gunky waxy lump soon forms against the bottom of the needle. It was a light bulb moment when someone showed me how to rub the wax onto the paper to save all that extra work. But with the thick card it will be hard work pricking without any wax to lubricate it. The very heaviest card is only 'needed' for lace like Honiton or Duchesse where you are going to do a lot of needlepin sewings - so you don't end up scratching a hole right through as you try to achieve them - but it can of course be used for any lace. But you don't need to reverse technology as far as a dip pen, unless you are very comfortable using one. Lots of the fine fibre tip (0.1) pens are waterproof and indelible, and for drawing curves for spiders legs (my preferred method to straight lines radiating from the centre hole) or to be able to do the trails as a fluent continuous zigzag they are much easier to use. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Prickings
If you have cut the edges of the pricking parallel to the pricking, perhaps you could wrap a tape or ribbon around the roller at the edge of the pricking as to act as tramlines; as you work you just need to keep the pricking sitting squarely between them and do tiny tweaks as necessary. Obviously it is a good idea to make sure that you have started with your pricking absolutely parallel to the edge of the roller. After that, I find it helps to put a pin or two in as low down on the front of roller as I can get, to make sure it is feeding straight, and if it's moving sideways a little this is where you can tweak it; pin in several places across the pricking to move it back to straight. A tiny amount of ease just sort of works in, but if it is more than a a millimetre, you maybe need to straighten it back up over two or three sections. I never pad the roller to fit the pricking, so nearly always have a loop of pricking hanging below the roller - I don't see that your long straight feed should cause any more difficulty. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Architect's Linen Comparables - Prickings
Susan said Unfortunately I think the canaletto paper is more popular in Europe, but am very curious if anyone is familiar with it for this purpose. Perhaps those who prefer architect's paper over paper/stock covered in plastic have run across it or can provide insight. Did I blink and miss something here, or has Susan got confused? I always connect architect's linen with needle lace, as it's reasonably soft and flexible, but I think that Susan is talking about bobbin lace in this instance. The requirements for pattern/pricking for the two types of lace are fairly disimilar - for needlelace it needs to be soft and flexible, see-through to lay over the design, thin enough to be able to sew right through it to lay the foundation threads, but with a smooth enough skin for the needle to slide across it and not catch in it all the time once the lace itself is being worked. The pattern is usually only used once. Architect's linen filled all these criteria, with the added bonus of being a lovely matt finish, soft blue in colour, making it very restful to work on in both white and many colours. For bobbin lace the base needs to be firm enough to prick through and support the pins without tearing, (the softer the pillow, the more support is needed from the pricking!) it can be stiff as it will be laying flat or gently curved on a pillow or roller. Often the guide lines are drawn on after the holes are pricked so it doesn't 'need' to be see through (although it often is, as this saves the job of drawing in). Depending on how firm the original base material is, the pricking can be used several to many times. Jacquie in Lincolnshire. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
[lace] Lacemakers with MBEs
May I add that the lacemakers who are awarded MBEs get them because a group of their students has put them forward for the award. Unfortunately it is not because they are so famous that even the Queen or Prime Minister has heard of them. I know of one UK teacher whose nose was a little out-of-joint when one of the other four was awarded hers, but all it means is that her friends/students haven't thought to put her forward for the award, not that she is any less of a contributor to the lacemaking community. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] RE: lace-bobbins and types
Of course this all falls down when you consider Buck thumpers... Why? Many of my South Bucks style bobbins are quite small and light in weight, much smaller than those often thought of as Thumpers, and of course none of them have the weight of a spangle. Also, often the old spangles were much heavier than the modern ones, (and are usually changed when I buy old bobbins) so that would make the unspangled bobbins even lighter by comparison. Before you all throw up your hands in horror, I buy bobbins to use, not to look at. I don't believe that the spangle on the bobbin is very often likely to be the original one anyway, but I do keep the old beads separate from new ones and only use old beads on old bobbins; I mostly just need to make the spangle smaller to get a more functional spangle for my lacemaking style. This has the added bonus of leaving beads over, so when I buy old bobbins which have lost their spangle, I have authentic beads to use. To tie in with what Louise was saying, it is possible that one of the reasons why a some of the old bobbins have almost out of proportion heavy spangles (now, or since photography at least) was because the style/size of bobbins were originally used with finer thread, and the weight of the spangles were increased as the thread became thicker. There seem to be too many with these big, clunky spangles for it to be just someone's taste; I feel there has to be a logical reason for it. These were tools of the trade, not the fashion accessories our bobbins mostly are now. But as for the modern bobbins being thinner than the old ones, I don't necessarily agree with that. Many of my plain Old Maid wooden bobbins are very fine. It may just be that over the years these bobbins have been more vulnerable to breakage and loss than their more sturdy companions. Jacquie in a slightly foggy, cold, dank Stamford, just 50 or so miles up the A1 from Louise in foggy cold dank Cambridge. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Where can I get ...
A google search for crochet cotton 20 immediately brings up lots of places. Also many craft shops and probably even Hobbycraft will stock this thread. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Crystal Palace bobbins?
Without a lot more documentory evidence I am very sceptical about this claim. If the box was labelled with a little note on ancient note paper, in faded copper plate writing, it would be more authentic! In fact, it's labelled with 1960s technology, 100 years after the event. If the verbal history that these are from the Great Exhibition is anything like the verbal history of some of our family things, then I wouldn't pay any extra for these than their face value as bobbins. There are copies of the catalogues of everything that was at the Great Exhibition. If the seller wants this sort of silly money for these bobbins, then I think he/she should at least do the work of finding the catalogue number. Also, I thought ivory wasn't allowed to be sold freely these days. It says in the box lid that these are ivory. Although this is probably not the case, *IF* they really are special Crystal Palace bobbins, I suppose they could be, but that would have meant that either they were commissioned form India or wherever (and the Indian-made bobbins are often weirdly different) or that a Midlands bobbin turner was supplied with quite a quantity of ivory as a special order - why has a mention of these special bobbins never turned up in the books about bobbins etc? I would have thought it would have remained in the verbal folklore of either the bobbinmaker or the lacemaker whose pillow they were used on, and then been passed on to the likes of Thomas Wright. With the royal connection, I am sure it would have been recorded. Clay, do you think your bobbin bone or ivory? Anyone, if you can put your hand on the Springett's book, can you find a similar bobbin and date the manufacture? Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Crystal Palace bobbins?
Do you think there is any point in (lots of arachnes) writing to the seller, quoting the Springetts info and saying that she is most likely seriously misdescribing these bobbinsDymo tape labels in the lid of a box are not proof that the contents are what they claim to be. I am assuming that whoever is bidding on them is only paying that price because of the alleged provenance. I already wrote earlier this morning asking a) if she had any extra proof such as the catalogue reference, and b) if she knew if they are bone or ivory. No answer yet. I hate to think of someone paying all that for what are basically a just-a-little-out-of-the- ordinary bobbin, when they think they are getting a Victorian souvenir. And then they will keep them labelled as such, and this is how the myths are born. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Beginning Threads
Dear Joepie Although you didn't say Finca 30 was an equivalent to DMC 30, on the other hand you didn't say it wasn't, and it was an alternate thread to replace DMC30 that Alice was asking for. So I can quite see why Brenda was just making it clear that the two threads are different thickness and that patterns will need to be altered accordingly. Don't forget that these posts are read by lacemakers of all abilities, and it would be a frustrating shame for someone who had got it in their head that Finca 30 was a good substitute for DMC 30, only to find that it was working up too fine. Also for beginners or people who haven't used these threads before, DMC Fil a Dentelle 80 (30wpc) is actually about 10 percent thinner than the Venus 70 (27wpc), so if you are using a pricking where the DMC is towards being on the thick side, you may not find that Venus is a satisfactory substitute without enlarging the pricking a little. As always, although Brenda's Threads for Lace is an invaluable aid to lacemaking, it is still a good idea to work a sample for any new thread/major project combination. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
[lace] BBC programmes
They are currently considering a way of allowing overseas viewers to watch the programmes on the iPlayer, but on a pay to view system, as you don't have to pay the UK TV license fee. This has come up recently on the Radio 4 Feedback programme, where apparently they have had e-mails from overseas radio 4 listeners offering to pay something for listening to what they consider to be excellent programmes. Just in case you are one of those honourable people, don't feel bad about not paying - I don't either. Although you need a TV license, the money from which goes to the BBC, you can't (legally) watch *any* live TV on any channel, and the fine for getting caught is £1000. But, I can legally watch programmes as soon as they finish (and for the next week) via iPlayer on my computer, and I can listen to the radio. There used to be a separate radio license, but that was discontinued many years ago. Lace content? The lace that the overseas arachnids won't see on Edwardian farm for a while yet, and the lace that isn't being made by my students as my classes were cancelled this week due to the 12 to 15 inches of snow. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Help Needed
1.5m diameter diameter presumably? So this will be almost straight on the outer bands. It could be quite difficult to get a polar grid with so little curve Using an approximate pi (which is actually 3.1416), you can multiply the diameter by 3 for a guesstimate of the lengths requires, so you are looking at a little over 4.5 metres of lace for the outer ring (when you are nearer the final calculations you use the actual pi, ie 1.5 x 3.146 which = 4.719m, so you can see that x3 gives you a near enough for your original calculations). Also, although this is the mathematical length, your lace will almost certainly shrink a little when you take the pins out, so as far as the pricking length is concerned, you will be making more than 4.719m Depending on how wide your lace is, the next ring or two won't be a lot shorter. For example, once you have done 10cm width of lace, you take this off BOTH sides of the circle, leaving 1.3m diameter, x 3 is 3.9metres of lace, and so on. How are you planning on joining the next ring to the first? Sewn on the pillow or needle and thread afterwards (as in lots of old Maltese lace)? My sister Malvary is making a curtain in strips (and the pressure of everyone asking how she's getting on with it has helped her being near to finishing) which she has joined on the pillow to get a good tension at the joins, but she found even with only one strip to join on, it reduced the portability considerably. Or are you mounting the first ring on tulle, and then adding the next ring a little way in and so on, rather than joining lace to lace. You will be allowing yourself a little margin for error if you do it that way. And it could be used at any point, with more lace added later. another option would be that you could do some rings with shaped headside edge laces and just sew to the tulle along the straight edge, rather than all the inner ones needing to be insertion type lace. Another thought is that as you are working curves, what sort of pillow do you work on? The traditional tall Maltese bolster? Work out how the shape of the lace will fit on the shape of your pillow. In Spain, the lacemakers often use a thinnish foam pad (like a yoga mat?) under their pricking and if the lace ends up in an awkward place on their bolster pillow, they peel the pad off and push it back down in a better place. For a large/long piece, they use two or more pieces of foam in a similar way to how I would use a block pillow, with the bonus that they can place them wherever they want on their pillow. Perhaps if you draw out the circle (or a wedge from it at least), you could start drawing in the rings matching the widths of the various rings of lace you are planning on working. You will then be able to see the amount of curve needed for any particular band, and be able to draft the grid that you need. You'll only need about 20 or 30cm for each ring, which you can then copy a few times to give enough pricking to last the length to be worked. So many things to think about, but that's the pleasure of lacemaking. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
[lace] What are you making for Christmas?
Sherry asked So what are you all making for Christmas??? Have you thought that far ahead yet? It's not actually all that far ahead now! Less than a month!! So if anyone is planning to make things for Christmas (especially if they are lace things) now is the time to stop planning and start doing :-) Jacquie in Lincolnshire, with Christmassy snow outside the door. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] What are you making for Christmas?
In a message dated 27/11/2010 18:16:36 GMT Standard Time, po...@me.com writes: I get impatient waiting for the stiffener to dry. Hair dryer? Jacquie :-) - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Kortelahti Pattern
According to the book, there is section 1 and section 2, with separate bobbin counts, so they are worked separately. If you look at the small triangle of pricking (of section 2) at the bottom of the page - 1/6th of the centre - along the bottom edge there are a partly drawn on row of dots making the half stitch ovals all along the inner edge of the large section 1. On the three where it is drawn in there are little squares around the pinholes on the inside of the ovals. If you look at her symbols on page 4 you will see this is a sewing. SO, you work the outer border, then pin it back onto the section 2 pinning along both edges of the ovals, and do sewings at each inner pinhole as you reach it. It looks as if the inner pair (nearest the centre) of the half stitch ovals is worked as a cloth stitch and twist pair, to give a good edge to sew into. BUT, from past experience of large sectional prickings, may I suggest that you put the whole thing together as a cut and paste onto one large sheet of paper, so if there are any adjustments needed to make the big hexagon you can share them evenly over the six joins, and get the centre properly fitted as one piece. Do your whole outer pricking as one piece, then cut it back up as required to fit onto your pillow, numbering the pieces in order of use, and the centre as a separate complete pricking. Or of course, if you hate sewings and don't mind working with lots of pairs, there's no reason why you shouldn't work it all in one piece :-) Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
[lace-chat] Pub food
Lynne said I asked my daughter the other day did they cook from fresh and the reply was that salads and chips were made fresh... Define fresh, Lynne, or ask your daughter to :-) Many pubs cook their chips fresh from the bag of frozen chips. And the majority of frozen chips already have some seasoning on. One time Malvary was in the UK we looked at every variety available in Sainburys and there wasn't one brand or variety she could eat. I would define fresh chips as ones that are potatoes in the same kitchen, but most pubs cooking on a budget don't have the time to do the prep work, or for the extended cooking that's needed from raw. And when we do find somewhere that cooks from raw, we than have to check they will be served unseasoned, as a lot of places add pepper as standard even if they pass on the salt for the sake of our blood pressure. Jacquie in Lincolnshire To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com.
[lace-chat] Baby boomer quiz
David said This is NOT a pushover test. It's a Baby Boomer era test! And probably specifically an AUS or US one at that! I guessed Remember one Flick and they're gone because it made most sense, but have no idea where it cames from. Never heard of Get with the strength bank on â¦â¦.. (the Wales) or Guess whose Mumâs (got a Whirlpool) At that point I gave up. Guess whose Mum goes to Iceland is a relatively recent UK ad, but that wasn't an option! Jacquie To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com.
[lace] 'Lacemaking' is here.
Still no sign of 'Lace' but 'Lacemaking', the Lace Society Newletter, arrived this morning. Among the patterns included is a Honiton one from the Lace Society collection, and I can see part of it would easily adapt to make an excellent Milanese lace design. And an interesting article by Jenny Hudson about Kath and Mollie's lace. I was interested to read this and the connection to Pat Read as it was at the Swanley Lace Day two (or maybe three) years ago that Graham Hudson did the talk and one of the topice was his aunts, Kath and Mollie, and the Pat Read realised that she knew who he was talking about. Jacquie in Lincolnshire. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Adhesives for fans
A google search for fungicide free wallpaper paste will bring up (surprise, surprise) fungicide free alternatives. Apart from using it for pasting wallpaper, embroiderers use it for some of their textile crafts and gardeners use it to make a carrier to be able to squeeze fine seeds into drills like toothpaste. Jacquie in Lincolnshire. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] similar cotton threads question
Hi Sue What I don't quite understand is, as you already have not one but two makes of thread that you like, almost identical in size, and (assuming the Brok you have is 36/2) the only real difference between them is that one is an S twist, the other Z, why are you looking for another. The only one I might suggest you try is the 'other' Brok 36. So, if you do have 36/2, get the 36/3 and vice versa. The same wpc range but it will feel and behave a little differently because of the different construction - whichever way round. If you want thicker or finer, you can find those in the same ranges of threads, but there's nothing wrong with finding a make of thread that you like and sticking to it. For colour it's a whole different ball game because then you have the colour itself, and the extensiveness of the range of colours in any make, to take into consideration, so even if you were asking about the ivory, cream and ecru shades I could understand it better, but if you want white - why not stick to what you like and have. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Spangled Bobbins
I had already mentioned the Huetson book in an earlier post on Tuesday, when I compared what he said to Alex's different take on it, and neither of them are the reference I am thinking of. One of my books is far more particular about the different types of unspangled, bulbous Midlands bobbins. I have just looked in The Romance of the Lace Pillow, by Thomas Wright, 1919, and in that dumps and bobtailed bobbins are referred to as the early small, unspangled ones. Later he talks about yak bobbins, which he says were 7inches ling and the head some four inches in circumference, or over an inch across. After a while these reduced to five and a half inches long (and maybe thinner, maybe not? He doesn't say.) Further on still he talks about unspangled Huguenots from Aylesbury and Thame area, squat in form, plain to a wonder, and they have no spangles. Only three and a half inches long. And Huguenot trollies, the same size with loose pewter rings. As far as I can see at a quick peruse, he doesn't mention thumpers, so it's not this book I am thinking of. And whether he is right or not, is another matter entirely! Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
[lace] Devonshire bobbins
Particularly for Brian, but also for anyone interested, in The Romance of the Lace Pillow, mentioned in my last post, at the end of the chapter on bobbins there are two and a half pages about Honiton lace sticks and Trollies, ie for Honiton lace and for Devon trolly net. Not a lot of information but there are some of the inscriptions recorded, and some descriptions of the carvings. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
[lace] lace use for iTouch?
And don't forget our arachne founder Liz's app for the iPhone (would this work on the iTouch?) for keeping track of your sock knitting - these can be lacy socks. This was only 69p (UK) so maybe 99c or $1. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Spangled Bobbins
Thumpers I had thought that these were used for Downton rather than traditional Bucks No, Downton has its own specific bobbins. Thumpers are often called Bucks thumpers. Just wish I could work out which book it is that itemises all the different bobbins of this similar style, and which only calls specific ones 'thumpers'. It *could* be the Springett's bobbin book, but of course when I need it, I can't put my hand on it. Perhaps some kind person would have a quick look for me. It's like T4L, and goes invisible. I have solved it with the latter and have at least 4 copies around my bookshelves. Jacquie in Lincolnshire, back to teaching today (hurray) after a two week holiday (!) while DH had a quadruple heart bypass and I was in nursing mode. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
[lace] Lace - hand made vs machine embroidered, my thoughts
In a message dated 19/10/2010 Diane writes: Michael, this book may be a resource for you. Singer Instructions for Art Embroidery Lacework, a reprint of the 1941 edition is available at Lacis in Berekley, Calif. But it is s difficult to do. I have an original and it shows you how to embroider with nothing more than an early Singer zigzag machine. The degree of precision and control required is phenomenal. And close up, it is still obviously machine embroidery not bobbin lace. You will certainly be able to programme your machine, relatively easily, to embroider the paths that would be taken by the bobbin threads in these early laces, so from a distance of a couple of feet or so it will be a good aproximation of the lace. But any closer than that and *anyone that knows bobbin lace* will be able to tell. That isn't an enormous percentage of the population, but it depends on the scruples of the wearers! The shape and design possibly could be accomplished at the microscopic level but the method of production will not fool; if the SCA practitioners want it accurate to this level, they need to learn to make bobbin lace. If you are thinking of reproducing the pointed edges that were used on ruffs etc, also consider the after care. I supect that the most probable way you will programme to embroider is to have straight stitches marking the paths, which will then be satin stitched over. I also suspect that if this gets wet (in the rain) or needs to be washed that it will curl up and be even more of a B to block back into shape than the equivalent bobbin lace would be. With the bobbin lace the thread paths (in the plaits) are basically in the direction of the work. With the machine embroidery the threads paths will be fighting against each other (can't think of a better way to describe it). And don't forget you will have to do this too as you wash away the soluble fabric, but at least you have the advantage of being able to pin it out before you wet it, before it contracts and curls. The similar designs of early laces used as a braid and appliqued onto fabric would be much easier to look after. Usually machine embroidered laces have the open, dainty areas supported by more solid borders (as with real lace), and this is possibly for the above reason as much as to replicate handmade lace. I heard someone once say that one reason why Beds lace went out of favour (as a commonly worn lace) was that ladies maids also became far less common. In the same way as nine pin edge needs to be pinned out to regain its 'virgin' appearance after washing, this machine made lace would need intensive care. Make sure that the potential SCA lace wearers appreciate the amount of fiddly work the lace will need. If you can get access to the Lace Crafts Quarterly magazines (now defunct after only four years of production, in the late 80s/early 90s), possibly in the IOLI library? some of those have good articles on working reproduction handmade lace on a machine. But not the very early lace. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] RE: spangles/spangling
In a message dated 19/10/2010 16:11:27 GMT Daylight Time, he...@access-experts.com writes: I wonder if the spangling question has any relation to the fact that the English work their footside on the Right Not all English. Downton, for example, is made with the footside on the left, and with unspangled bobbins. Like fat Honitons, and Honiton thickness thread. Can't remember off hand which way round the Suffolk lace is made (Nicky?) but again, unspangled bobbins. But if the footside side and the spangles are connected, that would imply that it was changed from left to right as spangles were introduced, and I don't think that's likely. If you've always made a pattern one way round, and are doing it almost on auto-pilot, it would be bad enough (for a commercial lacemaker) to have to get used to using new style bobbins because you could no longer get the thread you always used, without working your pricking as a mirror image. You would also most likely teach others to make lace the same way you do. I have a lot of the fat, unspangled bobbins, but I don't think that Bucks Thumper is the correct name for all of them as a generic term., although most people would understand what you mean by it. Huetson (not always the most accurate of books) divides them into dumps - fine and short unspangled bobbins for fine lace is his description which he then says have often been drilled and spangled later (which fits in with some of the other things said on this thread), and thumpers which he describes as a bulbous bobbin, from the southern parts of the Midlands. Alex on the other hand refers to thumpers as South Buck Bobbins, and says they are also known as bobtail and dump bobbins. Anyway, they are my bobbin of choice for my Michailov lace which makes a good mix of cultures. Jacquie In Lincolnshire. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] RE: Wire lace
In a message dated 13/10/2010 19:22:17 GMT Daylight Time, he...@access-experts.com writes: Dyer, A. Copper wire lace. Denver, CO: Point Ground, 1995. Good book, with lots of ideas. Includes Ann's take on cloth stitch, which she works by lifting alternate passives and laying one worker across, then replacing passives and lifting the others before laying the second working in the other 'shed'. It looks more like warp face weaving (which is what it is) rather than cloth stitch, but gives a successful alternative to half stitch. The only thing I don't like about her method of working is that she doesn't use bobbins at all. I prefer to have a handle on the end of the wire. I made a sample brooch with her at a Lace Guild workshop a few years ago and found it physically difficult doing the above described technique in particular (even though I understood exactly what I was *trying* to do) as it was very tricky to keep the short curly ends in the right order as they were laid back and returned. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Posh Bags
From Arachne, a few days ago: Malvary wrote about a post she originally sent in March - OK - I give in - I went down to the basement to find a Lace Society Magazine. The Address is: *Posh* *Bags* Janette Smith P. O. Box 2114, Salisbury, Wilts SP2 2BD Tel: 01722 320161 Malvary in Ottawa Unfortunately for those of you not in the UK, no website. Perhaps someone who has one could post a photo. I guess she must be doing enough business not to need to think about going global. Jacquie in Lincolnshire. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Tying thread on bobbins
our teacher in a lace class today suggested using double sided tape to help hold the metallic threads in place. Unless you are using really small lengths I don't see how this would help. The problem with metallic threads is usually in keeping the hitch on the head, rather than keeping the thread on the bobbins. And if you have such a tiny amount that there isn't enough thread to hold itself on the bobbin, I wouldn't think that double sided tape would hold the thread to the bobbin securely enough to hold it if the hitch does come off as you are tensioning. This is one of those times I would use a knot. So long as you use a slip knot, all you need to do to remove the thread from the bobbin is to pull on the short end, and the knot will open. To keep the hitch in place with metallic and other thick threads, quite a lot of UK (and probably worldwide) lacemakers use the tiny sprung hair clips over the thread on the neck of the bobbin. Personally I don't, as I have found that the awkwardness of them being there slows me down much more than redoing the occasional hitch. Jacquie in Lincolnshire. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Re: Posh Bags
Although there wasn't an ad in the August Lace Society Newsletter, there was in February (and possibly in May as well but I can't put my hand on it), so I see no reason why she shouldn't still be in business. I certainly haven't heard on the grapevine that she is not making bags any more. (One of my students is an affiliated member of the UK lace grape vine, if not the founder member, although she isn't on the internet and therefore not on arachne - some of you will know who I mean!) Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Copyright etc.
In a message dated 02/10/2010 11:10:21 GMT Daylight Time, ac...@achims.de writes: I know of a pattern creator who doesn't even allows for the lace made from her patterns to be displayed! But surely, if you have legitimately paid for the pattern, the lace you make from it is your own copyright as it is now the actual *thing*, with your personal differences due to thread choice etc. I'm sure that when in the past we have had posts about the minutiae of copyright and lace patterns, if you sell (or even lend) a book you are technically supposed to destroy the patterns/photocopies you made from that book, as those are what is copyright, but the lace you made from those patterns is exempt because it is your interpretation of the pattern. Not quite sure how the display aspect versus copyright would come into play if you want to display it via photos of your lace on a website (with proper credits, of course) but I really don't see how you can be stopped from displaying it in the flesh, as it were. Why doesn't she want as many people as possible to see her designs anyway? And surely if it is shown made by people other than herself, that demonstrates it is a good workable pattern. And what would she do if you did display it? Surely not have a hissy-fit in public, or ban you from her classes? Jacquie in Lincolnshire. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
Re: [lace] Working Bobbin Lace PAtterns using Wire
Personally, not sure what you mean by 'wire vice thread'. Trying to work out if it was a typo, but can't get anything else to fit in there. But if it's a fine, soft wire of some sort then it will be good for lacemaking. Do a search in the arachne archives ( http://www.mail-archive.com/lace%40arachne.com/ ) under wire lace etc and you'll find lots of previous posts, both about making it and where to see pictures of finished items. There are also a couple of web sites which give ideas on the bobbins and some techniques help. These I found quite easily via google when I was looking for info. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] LaceNews Blog - new
I find that arachne and a blog are completely different to use as a reference document. Something coming into arachne is there and then it's gone, unless you go to the archives to look for it. If there is something I think I may want to respond or refer to at some point in the future I tend to mark that post unread. This means at any one time I may have quite a few such posts in my incoming mail box. On various topics I currently have over 100! Time for a weed out of the oldest ones I think. A blog which is only about lace doing-things that involve active participation, such as lace days, or e-bay sales or competitions and exhibitions, all in one place together and subdivided into their categories seems to be a good idea to me. No-one has to join unless they want to, and once joined you can have notifications sent or not as you choose, but it does give a one-stop-shop for checking up on dates for things, or for finding the link to that obscure event without having to trawl through all the other interesting arachne stuff - which I consider to be about the best lace resource there is. I have joined the new blog, and asked for immediate alerts to things, but because I know that they are on the blog I can delete the e-mail immediately, and know where to find it easily, if I want it again. Just my take on it, Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] fan handles--2nd time around
What fee! Surely the shipping is based on the size/weight of the item not its value - unless she is insuring the package (optional to the buyer, surely?) which for an $8 item I'd probably pass on. But anyway, she won't be the one who is paying that, the buyer pays for the shipping. Duh. OK, she might not get many sales overseas once the additional costs are factored in, but not to even offer it.. She has only to price the shipping of each item in its packing once and keep it on record; in fact she must already roughly know the size and weight of the packed items to send it within the States so it shouldn't be too hard to apply those figures to overseas shipping costs. I don't know if I'd buy one of her fan handles or not, I was tempted until I saw she didn't do overseas shipping, but at that point I also didn't look any further at her website. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] fan handles again
The handle bit would be easy enough to make or have made, but I'm not sure the ring of wire is actually a circular ring; I think it could actually be a circle with four corners' or a 'square with curved sides', depending on how you think of it. Either way, quite a hard shape to replicate without making a jig first - time consuming if you only want one. Even with a big circular ring of wire you'd have to use the right wire for it to hold its shape securely unless it is absolutely for display only, (and as a teacher, none of my lace is in that category; it all has to travel around, be packed and unpacked and withstand handling to 'see how it was done') and that sort of wire isn't the easiest to shape in the first place. I have been subconsciously playing around with this in my mind since Susan's first post, and thought the easiest, neatest way would be to sew the lace to the wire as you work, like a big bangle, and if the design was worked from the bottom up, the handle would be at the back of the pillow out of the way. I wasn't thinking of working around it in the way of the Christmas decorations, as I thought a pictorial lace would be pretty on a fan, and perhaps made in a finer lace such as tiny Torchon or point ground so it actually works as a fan to some extent. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] Springetts adaptation
Talking about the fans has reminded me of this: Yesterday at the lace meeting I went to someone was just finishing off a Springetts decoration and he had only been able to get a bangle which was quite a bit bigger than recommended. It is a simple design from their little green book of patterns, with two rings with beaded spokes between them. As he didn't want to enlarge the pricking and have to find bigger beads, he just did a sewing onto the ring at 'every' outside pinhole, with several twists to bridge the gap, instead of at intervals as shown on the pattern. He'd used red for the workers, a glittery, paler-than-usual Christmassy green and biggish gold beads. The bangle he was using had a notched outer surface, and the sewings settled into the notches and looked very neat, but the long sewings gave an extra red ring around the design and it was stunning. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] e-bay Fan Handle query
Looking on e-bay for the chinese fan handles which Jean told us about, I found item number 400090757426, described as a 'Collection of ten 19th century Victorian fan handles' with a buy it now of £350. Can someone tell me what they are, please. I know what he says they are; fan and face screen handles, and I can believe that's what they are if he says so, but my question is, were these detachable and you had several which you could mix and match with the top half, or are they sample ones or..? Looking on Google there are a few fans with carved handles of this sort, but the fan leaf fits into a slot at the top. I have been looking hard at his photos and can't see such a slot, although it is possible to imagine it there on a couple. (WHY, when he wants £350, is it good enough to say the photos don't do it justice Pull your finger out, sunshine, and take better photos with some decent close-ups. Gr.) It just seems strange that there is this big collection of something in apparently mint condition, but unfinished ie no screens. Although I'd be the first to admit I'm not a great fan fanatic, historically speaking, I know however there are several Arachnids who are, who could perhaps enlighten me. Are they like yours, Jean? I also have to confess they look quite modern to me, not particularly Victorian, but perhaps that's just because they are in apparently pristine condition - they remind me of some of the show-off turning on 1980s bobbins which I bought because they were pretty but rarely use because they just don't feel good as I work. I can't help thinking that this is the sort of thing which, if it was being sold by someone else and hadn't been arranged into a fan shape, would be being sold as lace bobbins! If they aren't fan handles, what are they. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Fan handles on ebay
Thank you for the link, Jean. Those screens are pretty and I see how they work now. But without the leaf/screen, I wouldn't think just the handles are worth that much money, and would anyone want all ten anyway? Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] Edging for a handkerchief
Do you prefer to do a straight edge lace . or do you prefer a pricking that is square with sewing at the end? I prefer the neater look of a worked corner, and the interest of doing the corner as a change from the straight. and attach it to a handkerchief blank If you literally mean ready made 'blank', never. Even if I was making a straight edge to gather at the corners, still never. They are very rarely square, very rarely on the true grain of the fabric, never made from a top quality, light-enough weight fabric and the stitching is too heavy. Add to that they are an expensive way of buying the fabric, and you have to take what size they are offered in. I use fine quality linen and cotton fabric, a lot of which I have bought in Spain. My reason for this is that they have fabric which is both light in weight but not densely woven. These days the fine cotton lawn available in the UK is very closely woven making it extremely difficult to pull threads for straight grain, or to be able to see how many threads you are working over. The Spanish cotton and linen fabric has a little space between each thread so it is possible to sew accurately. The fabric looks much the same as the cloth stitch areas of the lace Do you prefer linen or cotton? No preference, but a lot of my students don't like linen (to make the lace with) because of the slight unevenesses in the thread. Can the fibers be mixed, as a silk edging on a linen handkerchief? I would put cotton lace on a linen fabric, or vice versa, IF that was the only way I could get the right colour/weight of fabric for the lace I was making, but I doubt I would use silk for a lace hanky at all, or mount it on cotton or linen. I always pre-shrink my fabric and my lace. It would partly depend on what the handkerchief was being made for. If it was a one-off super-duper wedding hanky, and it was to match a silk wedding dress, then maybe I'd make the silk lace, but why then not mount it on silk and know the after care is for all-silk. I personally would feel more confident about the long term afterlife of an heirloom made in cotton or linen as you don't know that future owners will take care of it properly. Even without archival storage, cotton and linen stand a good chance of being around in a hundred years or more, as evidenced by the big box of Victorian clothes we found in Mum's workroom, stored in a brown cardboard ex-supermarket box, with not a trace of acid-free wrapping, and still as white as when it was last boiled. If you have done mainly Torchon, you might find some of the Claire Burkhard patterns of interest. Many are basically Torchon but with an interesting twist . Her 50 New Bobbin Lace Patterns has two or three hankies in, as well as lots of other interesting pieces. Another book which you might find interesting is Dentelle de Mirecourt, which has some not quite Torchon patterns, but very pretty, with excellent diagrams as well so it doesn't matter if you can't read French. There is a good chance that the first of these books is in the IOLI library, if not both of them. btw, I love your spinning showing on the July blog entry. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] thread/yarn
In a message margerybu...@o2.co.uk writes: So is sock yarn the same thing as fingering? Not necessarily! 'Sock yarn' is just a wool with nylon (polymide) of some sort added for strength. *Most* of the sock yarns are 4ply, and I would think that is probably the one which is usually thought of as generic sock yarn and the one meant by the questioner. Within the 4 ply range there is a variation of thickness - Opal is thicker than Trekking for example - but this shows by giving a more 'solid' fabric when knitted on the same needles. It is not enough different to need bigger needles, but maybe enough different to spoil the delicacy of a lace pattern. But there are also 6 ply sock yarns made for boot socks, 3 ply for a lighter sock, and more and more people are selling lace weight sock yarn in response to the demand for thinner socks. Although I am a great fan of my own socks, the standard 4 ply sock yarn ones (however well they fit) are bulky compared to shop bought cotton ones and so I can understand why the finer yarns are in demand. My personal favourites are made from a 3 ply 90% alpaca 10% nylon, making them that bit slimmer in the shoe, as well as being so comfortable to wear. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Re: dentifying a piece of lace
Looking at the picture again, I second Tamara's view. If this piece was crisp and straight off the pillow, it would look vastly better than it does in its rumpled state, and apart from the not so good leaves it is actually quite well made - in its fashion. In the hands of a beginner the passives would have been far more likely to have migrated to inside of every curve; in reality they are mostly spread evenly across the braid with the single gimp centralised, and this is far more difficult to do when the thread is on the fine side for the width of the lace. Also, we don't know how big the original piece of lace was, but this sort of vague wandering braid is more usually found on a long length where the quantity overides the lack of quality (or any?) design, and that suggest to me at least, that it may even have been made for sale. In which case, if the lacemaker knows that her leaves are never her best point, is she going to keep undoing to try to make them better, if she knows she can sell the lace anyway? Is this an actual size photo (I see it at about 9 wide on my screen) or is the lace much narrower, maybe as narrow as 2 or 3 inches? If this is the case the uneven leaf edges, although poor by our modern exacting standards, would be far less obvious. Although holly leaves, they are a reasonably consistant shape and size, each for its own area of filling, and for a beginner that is almost harder to do than avoiding holly leaves. Also the plaits carrying the leaf pairs around the edges are neatly and inconspicuously made and attached, another area of difficulty for a beginner. Just my interpretation, Jacquie in Lincolnshire. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] Netting
Jane said We used netting needles at college - look like a rod with a tuning fork at either end - you need something thinner than a shuttle if you are aiming for a fine mesh. It's the mesh stick, not the needle, which controls the size of the holes in the net. But I think that a shuttle shaped thread holder might be fiddly to hold, and you'd need to have the convoluted loops of the knot bigger than they perhaps need to be to thread it through. The knot is tricky enough to do anyway without fighting with the equipment. Having said that, the needle and mesh stick need to be in proportion with each other. If you are making a course net with a thickish thread, then a fine netting needle wouldn't be able to hold much thread. Conversely, if you are making a fine net, a large netting needle with a fine mesh stick would be awkward to handle. I have quite a collection of both new and antique netting tools - no-one seems much interested in the old ones and I have found them at good prices - but have yet to dedicate the time needed to become relaxed and speedy doing the knot. The actual embroidery bit seems like it should be a piece of cake compared to doing the net. I read yesterday about an analogy for doing things in life. If you take life as being a glass jar, and the things you must do or really want to do as large stones, then you have to fit the stones into the jar. The things that you would quite like to do are medium size stones, and they will fit into the spaces between the big ones. Finally all the things which take up time, but aren't really important are sand, and of course there is room to get lots and lots of sand between all the stones. The problem is when the sand, like playing computer games or staying in bed way too late, starts pushing out the stones. You need to allow the space for those big, important stones. Netting is a middle size stone, and I have too much sand. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Agnes in Elloughton
I can second Malvary's post - We have brittle bone disease in the family - osteogenisis imperfecta not osteoporosis - and it certainly doesn't stop her. I am obviously 'only' a carrier as are my three children, but we think our maternal grandmother probably had it as we have some photos of her at various times with an arm in plaster, and two of my grandsons have it. There is also the possibility that my first great-grandson (son of elder OI grandson) has it too, as his eye-whites look blueish. We will have to wait and see. A few years ago when Malvary had demolished her right wrist falling on ice, with a plate on one bone and traction supporting the other, she still worked on her Milanese all week at the workshop I was teaching, with the only help being on some awkward sewings. The quality of her work was as good as usual. And I am fairly sure that some considerable chunks of the curtain which many of you have seen in progress have been done as she waited for her two more recent breaks to heal (first upper arm, then the other wrist from above). Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Agnes in Elloughton again
Oooops, I also mean to send best wishes to Agnes for a speedy recovery - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] Springett's bobbins
Sherry said I so wish the reserve would not be so high. You are right about the exchange rate problem between the US and the UK. I have admired alot of things over the years that I would have love to purchase...but there is such a gap between our money here and the money in the UK that I can't usually afford anything too much. Even postage from the UK to the states is high sometimes. For potential overseas buyers - also remember that you will almost certainly want to have insurance and/or tracking on the shipping so ask how much that will be before you start bidding, and to find out at what value import duty will start. Ours here in the UK (from overseas) is made worse by the flat fee handling charge added by Royal Mail - it doesn't feel too bad if it's a high figure but on items which are only just over the limit, the handling fee can be as much as the taxes. So make sure you know what you might be letting yourself in for in additional costs before you bid. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] veil with 'crenulated' footside on lace from ebay
I just read it that you'd 'added' it to your collection VBG Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] what is it?
This is a child's circular knitting machine, see http://www.amazon.co.uk/Character-Options-07525-Knitting-Machine/dp/B0001RFCI2 for a modern version. As you say, nothing like a daisy wheel, but hey, I've got this 'thing' and I've got some instructions, so they must belong together. At least it's not listed as a lace bobbin. Jacquie In Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Point de Paris laces
From the quality of the photo it's hard to make absolute comments as from the lack of definition it could even be machine made lace VBG so I'll just talk in general terms. First I wonder why you think it is Point de Paris as distinct from another Point Ground type lace? PdeP is usually a narrow edge/insertion lace rather than a large shaped piece. (It was also copied on machines from the 1830s, another VBG) Do you have the pieces so you can look at the ground with a magnifying glass to make a proper identification? To answer your questions, 1) how many bobbins would be needed to make these laces. How long is a piece of string? Lots and lots. Hundreds of pairs probably. 2) how long would it take approximately? How long would it have taken a professional lacemaker? Or how long would it take a good lacemaker now? The two things are vastly different. Assuming the former, a long time, but not as long as we think it might take. Apart from the fact that they could make lace very much faster than we can, they didn't keep getting up to make a coffee, answer the phone, let the dog out and all the other petty interruptions we allow ourselves. And of course they would work at it for eight or more hours a day, every day, so long as the light was good enough. I always remember Doreen Fudge at the Luton Museum (? I think - it's the museum not the person that I am unsure about) holding up a fairly ornate Bedfordshire lace collar and telling us it was a day and a half's work for the professional lacemakers of the time it was made. 3) which side is the beginning and where does it end? Vertical? Horizontal? Short end start, work the length of the piece, otherwise the hundreds of pairs of bobbins would be thousands, even with the smaller piece. On the smaller piece, which is the one with a slightly better photo, there looks to be a slight difference on the right hand end, this could be the finish. The end should be easier to find than the start - unless it's machine lace. If it is yours, could you take a couple of much clearer close-ups for us to see? Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Point de Paris laces
You're quite right, Devon, I answered quickly before I went out this morning, and the made-in-pieces bit got stuck in the recesses of my brain. Another reason why it would be excellent if stevienixed would post some more, much better pictures of details. The rest of my answers still stand though (I have re-read them and I think they make sense). They are very difficult questions to answer, and unusual to find on Arachne in quite that way, so I wonder if the questioner is a bobbin lace maker. They seem more the sort of questions that a collector who doesn't actually make lace would ask. I realise that for example, when David made his Miss Channer's Mat, we were all interested in how long it was taking but that was more because we were impressed how steadily he was progressing through it. But he wouldn't earn a living at the speed he was working. Thinking about the UK for a moment, there may be records somewhere of how much yardage, or how many motifs an average lacemaker could produce in the week/month gaps between seeing the dealer, but I doubt if there are records which would also show how many hours a day those people were working. And the lace schools where the number of hours could be better estimated probably sold their lace as a block, so there the problem might be knowing how many lacemakers there were. So, as before, the answers of necessity are tenuous; but better photos would help us to answer the number of bobbins and the start finish places questions, or to even say if it's handmade at all. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] re NORMAL lace magazine
From Sister Claire Will people who are interested in discussion of privacy issues please take it to the chat list? I would be very grateful if we can continue to limit conversation on this list to lace issue. Although I agree with the fact that the topic has segued from why people might have got the new(?) lace magazine to privacy issues, Francis has an excellent point that there is nothing *strange* about it as a magazine, it's just that it apparently arrived unexpectedly for most people. As shown by the subject matter of his post, that was his most important point. And many of the comments about privacy issues were about how they affect lace groups and teachers trying to get their name to a larger audience, which I think therefore makes it allowable. Jacquie in Lincolnshire. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] Re: Strange Magazine - I want one too!
Susan said The magazine that most were sent recently, must have been trolled from this list,.. To which Jean replied How? Home addresses are not on here... What I want to know is how did they select who to send them to? What is the common factor among the lucky people who have had them? Some of you who had them seem to be unable to remember signing up to anything, and I don't remember anything about it said on Arachne at the signing up stage. It's obviously not the membership of any particular lace organisation or more of us would have got them. Were you all at OIDFA in the Netherlands and signed up there? I am presuming this is the same magazine that was talked about at the beginning of June, then referred to as Dutch, now as Belgian. I have looked at the Kant in Vlaanderen website and can't see anything there which looks as if I can order a sample copy. Is there anyone with the appropriate language who could tell me? Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Strange Magazine
But I would have liked to have received one, as I'm sure would many others of the arachne membership. If they got the snail-mail addresses somehow from people's e-mails addresses, how/why did they select the relatively few who received the magazine and reject the rest of us??? It may be 'possible' to get postal addresses in the way Susan suggests, but I'm sure that in this case they wouldn't have bothered. They were already giving away a magazine and shipping costs, so I am sure they had an easier to obtain list of suitable people who they were confident would be interested. It looks as if there was a link to sign up for the sample issue and I missed it. Maybe as it was a while ago some of the others of you who got the magazine forgot you had asked for it? I had a look at the website and can't find the proefnummer (proof number? ie sample copy?), the only likely looking page is Lidmaatschap, but that is to sign up. Can someone tell me the difference between these price bands. It looks as if the 23 and 26 euro are two different European prices (which is the UK?), but what is the 18 euro one. Clubs, something, schools(?), and individual something. Can I qualify for this as a teacher? Clubs, verenigingen, academies, individueel lidmaatschap: ⬠18 Landen binnen Europa ⬠23 Landen buiten Europa ⬠26 Handelaars: ⬠75 (deze worden in het tijdschrift Filum vermeld) Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] re: lace on ebay
In a message dated 30/06/2010 19:33:11 GMT Daylight Time, jokep...@btinternet.com writes: you can see that the lace was worked as a straight piece and then expertly sewn together at the corner Unless the final join was at the corner, and the other three are join free. I did look at it, and noticed the join across the corner, but assumed that was just the easiest place to do the join. I didn't look at other photos to see if there were signs of joins there too. To Clay, the other pictures are quite a long way down. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] re: lace on ebay
In a message dated 30/06/2010 22:49:18 GMT Daylight Time, laceandb...@aol.com writes: I didn't look at other photos to see if there were signs of joins there too. I meant to say, I didn't look at other *corners* to see if there were signs of joins there too. Oooops. Jacquie, still in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] Pricking card and cereal boxes
In a message dated 28/05/2010 14:35:26 GMT Daylight Time, hottl...@neo.rr.com writes: Now a question--has anyone used a cereal box as an inexpensive alternative for pricking card? All the time under either graph paper or a photocopy pricking. Not so often if I want to ink onto the card. It's good if you want to prick-as-you-go because it is a little softer than real pricking card, so you can use all but the finest pin to make the hole. It's what we were given to work on at the lace class in Moscow, so now I wouldn't dream of teaching Michailov lace using anything else VBG I wouldn't use it if I wanted to use the pricking more than once - in the way you might use two lengths of pricking to leapfrog on a block pillow or round a roller pillow - as it does break down more easily than the very compressed pricking card. Also the backs of greetings cards, or just two layers of the 160grams per sq metre art type card, that will feed happily through a photocopier. Now a question, does anyone know what *real* pricking card is actually made for. I don't believe it's made for lace makers only; we just re-purpose it as it does the job we want. In much the same way as the very fine silk mesh which is sold for an exorbitant figure in tiny pieces for doll house scale embroidery is actually silk screen printing mesh. (When I bought it as a length about 20 years ago it was nearly £100 a metre, but selling it on to the dolls house club members in 10cm squares, at considerably less than the small-piece commercial going rate, I still trebled my money.) And another example would be architects linen which was obviously never made for needle lacers. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] Knot name.
Can some of you let me know what name you would understand as referring to the sort of knot commonly used to finish Bruges lace, where one thread at a time is picked up, knotted to the other which in turn is put down across a row of closely sewn in ends, before returning in the opposite direction. If you know this knot, you will understand which one I mean :-) I want to refer to it in some notes and know that not everyone recognises it from the name I normally use, but when I start to show them they say Oh I know how to do that. Many thanks, Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Knot name.
In a message dated 27/05/2010 19:18:00 GMT Daylight Time, f...@cobweb.net writes: Do you mean the entire sequence of knots? Yes I do, where you do a half reef knot with two threads, put one down and pick up the next all the way across, then return reversing both the direction of the knot (as in right over left or left over right) and the bobbin put down. I'm not going to tell you yet what name I give it, but either not everyone uses the same name as I do, or some teachers show the student how to do it without giving it a name at all, as the name I use and which my students would understand is not universally recognised. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Sunday Edition, CBC One
In Galithia, in the north of Spain, there is still handmade-in-Spain lace for sale, including in Santiago de Compostela airport. In Camarinas I bought a metre of beautiful lace, about 1 1/2 wide, for 8 Euros. I could have had exactly the same design worked in a courser thread, giving a lace (I think) about 2 1/2 wide for 12 Euros! There are several shops with lacemakers working all day, and a wide range of excellent handkerchiefs, clothing with lace and household lace of all sorts. If anyone wants to buy any, I have the addresses of a couple of the shops! When I was there one of the groups was working on a motif (about 3 x 2) for which they had an order of a large quantity (1500 comes to mind) and they were delighted as the rate of pay was higher than usual. They were starting with long ends and finishing in the same way, which obviously speeded up the process. The order was from a bottled water company, and the motifs of lace were to be hung around the necks of the bottles (hence the need for the ends). So, if you are holidaying in Spain and there is lace on the bottles, it could well be hand made. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Re: Lace on Airplanes ( spiraled wire comment)
In a message dated 22/05/2010 18:42:53 GMT Daylight Time, elationrelat...@yahoo.com writes: Some bring a prepaid, self-address mailer, just in case their expensive or favorite needles are at risk. That means either stepping out of line, or trusting someone else to post it, but perhaps helpful to some. Another hitch here, no post boxes at most UK airports, and those that do have them they have a teeny narrow slit so parcel bombs can't be posted into them. Litter bins are very thin on the ground too, for much the same reason. Also, once you are as far as security you are in a sort of no-man's-land, (at busy periods this can be after queueing for quite some time) and it would be very difficult to pass things back to anyone still in the airport. (I am talking about the large airports here - Heathrow, Gatwick and Stanstead are the three I know best. At Inverness on the other hand, which is a small airport with probably mostly (only?) internal flights, although they take the security just as seriously, because of the size and layout you probably could hand things back to someone waiting 'just in case'.) I'm not trying to be awkward about this, but as I said previously, after decades of being very aware of taking security very seriously following the Irish problems, we try not to leave any easy targets around. If our government decide that a thing must be done in a particular way, that is the way it will be done. It is said, and it could well be true, that the UK is the only country to follow all the EU directives. All the rest of the countries follow the ones that benefit them, or fit in best with their lifestyle. Same sort of rule-following mentality. I suspect that the airports thing is just that it is easier and fairer to treat the security as if we are always on the highest level of alert, so the passengers know where they are. Although it might be a pain, it is actually easier if you get used to never having x, y or z in your hand luggage, than it would be if you could take it sometimes and not others, depending on what intelligence the authorities have received recently. I don't think that bobbins, as bobbins, would be a problem although they might want to see them to find out what all the x-rayed rings of wire are, but it would be unwise to push it and try to have a working pillow in your handluggage. However, despite all our other problems, they aren't paranoid about wood and bone yet. I did have a few anxious moment when I remembered that a couple of my bobbins on the pillow in my suitcase were probably ivory, not bone, and might have all sorts of restrictions on them, but I wasn't asked to open my cases so I can't have looked too guilty. I am sure that anyone who has room to make bobbin lace on a plane must fly on a much posher airline than I do. When the seat in front is only an inch or two off your knees, and your elbows are kept fairly close to your sides, lacemaking is not going to be comfortable enough to tempt me - however small the pillow is. Just give me a good book and I'm quite happy. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Re: Lace on Airplanes ( spiraled wire comment)
In a message dated 22/05/2010 22:51:21 GMT Daylight Time, malva...@sympatico.ca writes: however on my most recent return to Canada Jacquie and I noticed that they have opened a Post Office on the departure level of Terminal 3. But note that this is among the shops at the departures end on the land-side part of the airport, so not really any help if you have already committed yourself to going through security on the way to air-side. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] lace on airplanes, was Bobbin lace carry pillow
I don't think it depends entirely upon the airline! It also depends largely on the security restrictions at the airport you are flying from. As I have already posted to MariCarmen off forum, Malvary normally knits on her way to the UK but isn't allowed to knit on the way home. This is nothing to do with Air Canada, but the higher security at the UK airports which will still not allow scissors, nail clippers, tweezers, knitting needles or anything that could possibly be considered to be a weapon (or possably a detonator?). Although you *may* get through, is it worth the risk as your hold luggage is long gone, so you have no choice but for the item to be confiscated. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Thread amount per bobbin
Unles it's a tiny bookmark, they probably won't be long enough as an 18 length only gives you 9 per bobbin. At a usage rate of 2 to 3 times the length of the lace, that gives you 3 to 4 1/2 of lace, IF you don't have any workers, and if you work right to the very end of the thread. As Jo said, you can add leashes so you can do this. You'd get more options if you start and end with a tassel, as then you can have a bobbin per thread, and will only 'waste' say 4 for the starting tassel and anchoring the threads. You'd have enough thread for 18 pairs wound in that way. Why don't you work a simple all ground book mark, with a point and a tassel top and bottom. That way you'd know how far the thread will go. Once you know that, you can design a bookmark with spiders, grounds, rose grounds etc, but avoid designs with cloth stitch areas. Narrow half stitch trails would probably be OK, so long as you DON'T do an extra twist as you go around the pin, as then you'll use a different worker every row. What I am more worried about though is if this is a silky rayon thread, it is often difficult to get it to tie a firm knot. This would make it difficult to finish off the tassel - you may find you need to use a matching cotton thread to do the final knot around, and even then you may find that the ends slip. I used a rayon thread of about this thickness as a gimp with cotton as the main thread and the ends just kept slipping out of place. So do experiment before you spend the time doing lace. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] lace sizing
A few things to think about:- First of all, although lace shrinks when it is no longer under tension, it can be easily made to return to it's original size. Think that when you repin the start of a lace project ready to finish off, sometimes years later, it is still relatively easy to put the pins back. From this, you can appreciate that you don't need to allow the 10% shrinkage, as the lace needs to be in stretched-mode to stay in place. Just allow the minimum shrinkage you need to get the pattern repeat to work. It must be at least the circumference of the bauble, but not a lot more. Secondly, unlike ribbon, lace has movement within itself. If you are making a pattern with straight edge passives, these don't stretch more than their starting length, but if the pattern has ground and spiders in the centre, these will distort slightly to give some ease. Therefore, for this type of design, you can see that the length of the lace actually needs to be at the point where the edges of the lace will be (think tropics of Cancer and Capricorn) as the bit of the lace which passes round the equator, will actually strech to fit. The lace will end up slightly narrower than on the pillow, so allow for this. A design which has central passives and fans or whatever at the edges is often less satisfactory as the fixed length bit is on the equator, so the edges stand out from the curving away shape. While this can be pretty, it is much more difficult to get a good fit as it will slip and almost certainly need glue, which the first described doesn't. But even if it is being glued, you still want a snug, stretched fit. Perhaps an ideal combination would be a small fan at each edge - the french fan would work well - with ground filling in the triangles to get a straight edge inner edge. At this point have straight passives. Then in the centre have a design with diamonds, rose ground, ordinary ground, spiders, half stitch trails, in fact anything which is flexible, but keep to a very short repeat so it will fit the circumference of different size baubles. When in place, the centre should be able to bow out around the equator, the straight passives sit on the tropics and the fans make a slight frill on the edges. Off to R-XP! As far as joining it, except for the very narrowest laces, this needs to be done on the bauble, with care and delicacy. Start the lace as neatly as possible, using a zigzag diagonal start, not a straight line. At the end, make one extra row of ground past the start line, and reef knot the ends while the lace is still on the pillow. Cut off the threads leaving long ends at the sides, then use these to sew the start on top of the last extra row of ground. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Curious
M, interesting. These other definitions of curious would also put another meaning to A Cabinet of Curiosities which these days we tend to think of as just a collection of weird and unusual things, but which more correctly may have been a collection of the best of everything. So Arachne is a curiosity of lacemakers. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Curious
In a message dated 30/03/2010 17:19:38 GMT Daylight Time, nnef...@yahoo.com writes: like a curiosity of lacemakers as a collective noun, as in a herd of sheep, a murder of crows, a business of ferrets. Is that what you meant, Jacquie? In a way, yes, as I think Arachne has as members a goodly proportion of the best of the world's lace people, lacemakers, designers, collectors conservators and philosophers. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Chaos Stitch
In a message dated 28/03/2010 09:46:42 GMT Daylight Time, jpartri...@pebble.demon.co.uk writes: CTCT is whole stitch (confused yet?), whole stitch twist, cloth stitch twist - I haven't come across linen stitch twist. And you most likely won't as linen stitch is the continental version of cloth stitch (ctc) - elegantly logical as both produce a plain woven cloth or linen fabric, and they use whole stitch for tctc (ctct). As far as I know it is only the UK lacemakers who insist on using cloth and whole stitch as synonymous terms. Elsewhere there is a clear distinction between cloth/linen stitch and whole stitch, which as it's name suggests is two half stitches - also very logical and surely less confusing for learners. I do so wish we could bring this difference into common usage here, as my tongue gets tangled and my fingers tired saying and typing all the and a twists. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace-chat] Bottle of Wine
A woman and a man are involved in a car accident on a snowy, cold Mondaymorning; it's a bad one. Both of their cars are totally demolished, but amazingly neither of them is hurt. God works in mysterious ways. After they crawl out of their cars, the man is yelling about women drivers. The woman says, 'So, you're a man. That's interesting. I'm a woman. Wow, just look at our cars! There's nothing left, but we're unhurt. This must be a sign from God that we should be friends and live in peace for the rest of our days.' Flattered, the man replies, 'Oh yes, I agree completely, this must be a sign from God! But you're still at fault...women shouldn't be allowed to drive.' The woman continues, 'And look at this, here's another miracle. My car is completely demolished but this bottle of wine didn't break. Surely God wants us to drink this wine and celebrate our good fortune. She hands the bottle to the man. The man nods his head in agreement, opens it and drinks half the bottle and then hands it back to the woman. The woman takes the bottle, puts the cap back on and hands it back to the man.. The man asks, 'Aren't you having any?' The woman replies, 'No. I think I'll just wait for the police...' MORAL OF THE STORY: Women are clever, evil bitches. Don't mess with them. To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com.
Re: [lace] Plimoth Jacket/Waistcoat photos published
In a message dated 26/03/2010 13:14:49 GMT Standard Time, jeria...@aol.com writes: For those who do not receive guild magazines, I just found a 4-page article in the April issue of Early American Life magazine at my local chain bookstore. Two photos show the jacket on a model; one of which is photographed by candlelight. As you may know, you can find a chair and read magazines from the racks in large bookstores in America and in public libraries. The article is on page 68. And for those of us not in the US, (and without chairs in most of our bookshops,) this is the link to the magazine mentioned showing the photo of the jacket by candlelight. Very beautiful it looks too. It must have been fascinating to see it part constructed. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Plimoth Jacket/Waistcoat photos published
Ops! Thank goodness I've got a sister. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Shredding threads
In a message dated 24/02/2010 08:40:39 GMT Standard Time, francis.busscha...@telenet.be writes: so the threads will never ever shred on the surface the leather is highpolllished Hi Francis, Leather or plastic is nice to use with continental bobbins, where you want them to slide, but with spangled bobbins I find that I need the slight amount of friction between the cloth and bobbin to be able to 'get hold' of them. But so long as the cloth is thin, and the bobbins aren't overwound, the thread shouldn't touch the cloth very much anyway. Even with leather or plastic there is still the same risk of the leash rubbing on the edge of the cloth. I haven't found that the threads break because of the cloths. They snap, fairly cleanly, if they are handled too roughly or if they are too dry and brittle, or they fall apart with long whiskers if they untwist. Neither of these are really due to the cloths. I suspect that having your pillow at an angle contributes a lot; as someone else pointed out, if the pillow is angled the bobbins will roll to the lowest point and one side will twist more and the other side will untwist. But again, this affects unspangled bobbins more than spangled which slide rather than roll. Malvary worked on a pillow that was Mum's, finishing off a piece of her lace. Two bobbins out of all of them kept untwisting. There were other bobbins of the same design on the pillow - no problem with them. One was one of the two fan workers - no problems with its partner. The other was working ground, pattern, footside - again, no problems with any other bobbins. We observed and analysed and puzzled. Never did solve the mystery, unless, possibly, had been wound those two bobbins with a different thread somehow. But if they were, it wasn't observable even with strong magnification. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Shredding threads
In a message dated 24/02/2010 11:11:09 GMT Standard Time, jpartri...@pebble.demon.co.uk writes: Could they have formed the first pair wound Unlikely. Mum was of the school to wind her bobbins in pairs, and as I remember there was a *pair* working the cloth stitch fans. Different enough to tell one from the other, but bought as a pair - like different pictures or whatever. There was also a partner bobbin on the pillow for the other one, but that had separated doing half stitch. As I said, we puzzled over it for several evenings, and all the while Malvary had to keep retwisting those two bobbins to stop them falling off. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] More thoughts on cover cloths
In a message dated 24/02/2010 06:47:18 GMT Standard Time, alexstillw...@talktalk.net writes:Personally I would not choose satin. I think the shine would bother me, but there is no reason why not,.. I can think of a reason why not. The way satin is woven is by having long floats on the front face of the fabric, so the threads catch the light. Those floats won't be as hard wearing as a usual one under, one over weave. Although it might be ok to use when new, tiny filaments of thread could start to wear and break off more quickly and easily than on other weaves. The reason I was given to use cotton rather than poly cotton fabric for cloths was that the static from the poly cotton in some way weakens the thread. I am not at all convinced by that as I don't have problems with threads breaking, and have mostly used poly cotton because as Alex said, dark plain cotton fabric is very hard to find. But it is possible that the same static could attract more dust, fibres and hairs to the cloth What is more important I think is that the fabric is thin, the cloths are big enough to go right to the edges of the pillow and that there are no bulky hems - just tear the fabric into squares, pull off loose threads and washing machine it a couple of times. It rarely frays after that. After folding under a couple of inches and creasing it well, pin it drum tight across the pillow so that bobbins can slide over the edge without catching and so there is no bulky edge rubbing on the threads. Keep a couple of flat-headed heavy, steel pins on your pillow to do this with; brass lace pins aren't strong enough. Pin low down on one edge, with the point of the pin angled up, stretch the cloth really tightly across the pillow, and pin low down on the other side, again angling the pin. The pins should be quite hard to remove if the cloth is tight enough :-) If the cloth is too bulky, or not pinned tightly (or even at all!), not only will it stress the thread, it will also easily transfer tiny dark filaments to your lace as the threads are rubbed back and forth across the sticky-up edge. Also don't forget to wash them after every piece of lace, not only to remove hand oils but to wash off dust and other detritus. One of the pleasures to me of starting a new piece of lace is dressing the pillow with a clean, crisply ironed cover cloth. Like getting into bed on clean sheets day. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Does anyone recognize this?
Nothing at all to do with lacemaking, this is a set-up basket for a vintage circular sock knitting machine. I have suggested they change the description as sometimes these sell for £100ish, usually going to the US. It is used to cast on. Opened out, it sits inside the cylinder of the machine and the yarn is passed as a zig-zag alternately around a needle and a prong of the set up. The weights are hung onto the loop at the bottom of the handle, and when the crank handle is turned the knitting starts. So long as nothing goes wrong, the set-up isn't needed very often. At the finish of a sock the knitting is changed to scrap yarn, and after a few rows the next sock can be started. The yarn in the top selvedge just pulls out, and the stitches across the top of the foot at the toe are grafted together for a smooth finish. So socks are knitted as a continuous sausage. Jacquie in Lincolnshire, where I have spent the last couple of weeks dyeing wool and cranking socks ready for the Unravel Show, at Farnham next weekend. If you are in the area, come and see me and one of my machines in action. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Re: and a purloined solution...
There are lots to be found on a UK google search. A new one I have just seen, priced at £4.80, is one with a bamboo handle - (http://www.lakelandflytying.com/40/Hackle_Pliers.aspx). You need the 4 version. But there are lots of others on other sites. I would say though, if you work with fine thread, avoid the ones with a brass handle as they are quite heavy. I am still using the one Tamara gave me when we couldn't get them in the UK, and using a brass one belonging to one of my students, I found it too heavy to attach to a whisker, as it was too 'robust'. They are immensely useful for broken and for running-out threads, as they just drop in place as a bobbin replacement, so more than one in your workbox will find a use. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] More hackle pliers
I should have scrolled down! On the same website they have a pair very like the one Tamara gave me (Griffin Rotating Hackle Pliers) and if you go right to the bottom of the page, one with a cocobolo wooden handle. I've not seen so many all on one site before. Obviously this style is becoming more popular with fly-tyers too. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] More hackle pliers
In just the same way as you use your tweezers! Squeeze and they open, release and they shut. Once on, you have both hands free. One of my students has some reverse action tweezers that one of the suppliers sells, and she's as pleased as punch with them BUT, they are quite a bit bigger than a bobbin so although they grab an end well, they are *inconvenient* to use as a replacement bobbin. Also, because this long, thin style of hackle plier has the swivel/hinge at the top, they lay flat on the pillow alongside the bobbins, so you don't knock the device by mistake. I have seen this happen with the longer, rigid tweezers. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] raised and rolled
Hi Karen I was told a more precise definition by the lady who gave me a taster day in Honiton many many years ago, and several years before I studied it first with Pat Read and then Pat Perryman. I was told partly raised is basically flat work, except all the sewings are done as top sewings, leaving the clean footside edge lines slightly proud on the right side. This makes a bigger difference to the piece of lace than you would think. Raised work is when ribs are used, for example up one side of a leaf, and the cloth or half stitch is sewn into it on the return journey. What I don't think it tells you in the books, but the teachers do, face to face, is that unless you are absolutely confident with sewings, twist your leader four times before the edge stitch, pin, work the edge stitch as usual then put a fourth twist on the returning leader. This extra twist makes the pinhole slightly larger and helps offset the way the rib pinholes tend to close up, probably because the work isn't supported on the other edge. Rolled work is when you carry a bundle of threads from one place to another, sewing them along the edge of existing work. It can be done for purely functional purposes, purely decorative or a combination. Unlike Withof and Milanese, these rolls are mainly inside the work, whereas in the other two laces the roll outlines the design features and is as commonly found on the outside edge as within the design. So, in Honiton you may work half a leaf, sew the bundle of threads along the vein side of the leaf to get all the pairs back to the top, and then work the second half of the leaf over the back of the bundle, which disappears for the time being until you turn the finished work over - TaDa. Raised work makes pinholes for the next piece to sew into, rolled work needs pinholes already there. Sometimes the two are used in combination, most commonly for leaf veins, where an off-shoot rib is worked at an angle to the main one, and then a roll bring the pairs back again. Later cloth or half stitch is worked over the back of the whole caboocle. Enjoy your Honiton lacemaking Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] Bamboo yarn
Brenda On some bamboo yarn I bought in America, it is actually labelled rayon from bamboo fibre, which I think is a much more honest way of describing it, and rayon is exactly what 100% or nearly 100% bamboo feels like. Someone I was talking to thought that it was made from the inner pith of the bamboo canes, and spun directly from the fibres there, a bit like linen. I wonder how ecologically friendly these new fibres are, by the time the raw materials are shipped to the factory, and then undergone some fairly major chemistry. They sound as if they ought to be, but I suspect they're not. Jacquie In Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Raised and rolled Honiton, now books
Also Cynthia Voysey's Honiton Lace, A Practical Guide This book is unusual in that it has many photographs of the lace in progress to illustrate the text, along with a few diagrams. Wherever possible, I would recommend that you have more than one book. That way you can read the same technique described in more than one way. It is incredibly difficult to write instructions so the reader can understand exactly what the writer means, so reading more than one writer's take on something can be very helpful. Where the same technique is worked in subtly different ways, try them both and see which suits you best in each situation. For example, I have three different turning stitches and use all three as appropriate. I am incredibly lucky to have had Pat Read as my main teacher. One day in class she explained that she would show us one way to do something, but other teachers might well show us other ways. The other way might suit us better, in which case she would not be offended, but it might also be the case that her way is best with one thread, bobbin style, or pillow combination and the other ways work better with other combinations. Just have a good notebook so you can keep all the options available. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Arachne Mailing list.
Neither have the rest of us :-) Look at the archives to see if there have been any posts recently before you think you're being ignored. http://www.mail-archive.com/lace%40arachne.com/ The last post was on the 16th. And if you are on digest, you have to wait for one to be filled - arachne doesn't work like Yahoo where they are sent at the same time each day, even if there's only one post. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] A Point Ground Question
Where you are talking about is presumably as you pass from side to side over a vertical gimp. Sometimes the gimp is 'vertical' for only one pin hole (as on a six hole honey comb ring), sometimes for several (on lozenge shapes, for example). If you don't do this stitch as a catch pin, the ground stitch with its uncovered pin, will move sideways towards the gimp and compress the gimp against the honeycomb stitches. By doing the catch pin, the gimp has its own space. This is how I was taught it by Pat Read, and how I have always taught it to others. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] Lace for Dolls clothes
A friend of mine is sorting out her mother's belongings and has come across three or four porcelain doll kits which came from George White, probably many years ago. They include head, lower arms and legs, and wigs. As I write this, I realise I have forgotten to ask her if the fabric for the upper limbs and body is in the pack. She would like a small amount of money for them. If you are in the UK and are interested, please write to me privately and I will pass on her phone number. I think I am right in saying that Alexander Stillwell's next Bucks book will feature doll's clothes as an idea for using some of your lace, so don't miss this opportunity to have a doll ready to be dressed. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Sugar Veil Mat
It has to be an icing that will stay flexible so long as it has a little moisture content. If you look at the site that was given, there is a place on there (in the text, near the top) where you can access an instruction leaflet, and in that there is a link to youtube demonstrations. The icing dries enough to be able to take it off the silicone mould, but then it it is kept in a jiffy bag or similar, stays flexible enough to be able to shape in the future to fit a cake or whatever. There is also one where they put melted chocolate behind the lace, and that was still flexible so they made little tubes to fill with mousse or sorbet. Really pretty. They were also cutting the sheet into lace motifs to use for garnishes, or to float in the top of a drink. They had also coloured it black somehow, and that was stunning around a white cake. Very tempting, but we probably can't get it in the UK, and I'm not going to look as I don't *need* it. Jacquie in the UK - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] THE KANTCENTRUM IS SAFE
I have had this e-mail from one of my friends today, so I thought I'd pass it on - Hello everyone, I have just received an email from the organiser of our yearly trip to Brugge, who is also a good friend of Anne-Marie and she says that she has just got off the phone from Anne-Marie this morning who wanted to pass on the good news: THE KANTCENTRUM IS SAFE Thank you all for filling in the petition and passing details on to others of our persuasion. There are 3 new directors. the magazine will be published but in a new format to include advertising, and Anne-Marie and all her girls are dancing around like a dog with 2 tails. Of course there are other details, like having to move into the old school building in Ballestraat whilst the main building is renovated and decorated. Also there are plans for an on-line shop. I am sure that there is a lot more, but these are the main details. I have been asked to thank you from Anne-Marie, in fact she said BIG THANKS, so now I have duly passed on the message. Also Anne-Marie mentioned that the previous director 'Dumon' is no longer involved. Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you know who will be interested - good news always travels fast :- ). Our group, Mole Valley Lacemakers, went to the Beguinage in October since the English Convent closed the guest house side of things and it was absolutely great :- )) Now to hear the Kantcentrum is safe just feels wonderful. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] Re Kantcentrum delight
Hello all. I was so excited at the e-mail from Jill about the Kantcentrum that I didn't register if was actually from arachne, not direct from Jill, and I couldn't wait to pass it on. In my defense, she doesn't post to arachne *that* often. Still, there's no chance now that people will miss the good news :-) Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Re: Kantcentrum and Kant magazine
- To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Alexandra Palace
Sue said Went to the Ally Pally on Sunday to the Knitting and Stitching Show and Oliver Twists Threads were there , so guess who is sitting here drooling over the beautiful coloured silk threads and wondering what to do first, what a dilemma. Are you supposed to *do* something with them Most people seem to keep them in their little colour-range packets. They are much easier to drool over that way and they don't get damp! VBG Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Chantilly - opinions?
In a message dated 25/09/2009 04:23:49 GMT Daylight Time, lswaters...@comcast.net writes: Handmade blonde Chantilly lace or not? I vote not. From the only photos where you can see anything like enough detail (4th, 5th and 9th) the cloth work area look like the very linear machine produced work to me. If this is really hand made, why doesn't she put on better photos. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] Shipping and Royal Mail charges
I think if the handling charge part of it was more than the pound stated, I would write to Royal Mail and demand a refund! The Royal Mail handling charge for a parcel from overseas where VAT and/or customs/ import duty needs to be collected is £8. Not negotiable. But if this is the only charge and was added simply because they weren't able to deliver, there shouldn't be a charge at all. At this end, I doubt if they'd know if the postage was underpaid in AUS$, so it shouldn't be that. If you think the import duty etc is wrong then this can be challenged. DH recently got £90+ pounds back on a customs bill of about £120 because the sender had for some reason overvalued the items considerably on the customs form. Using a print off from the e-bay or Pay-pal pages he was able to prove what he'd actually paid for the item. Mind you, he did suspect that the refund was for too much but if that's what they said it should be, he wasn't going to argue. But the £8 handling fee is always the same. Out of interest, we recently received a large A4 envelope which had been stamped with a standard 1st class stamp and so there was a £1.17 charge for it (ie handling and excess postage), but because they hadn't put a card through the door to tell us about it, we didn't go to collect it! A month later it turned up through the letter box with the £1.17 crossed out. As I don't think they are allowed to destroy mail, and there was no return address, I guess there was nothing else they could do with it. Fortunately it wasn't urgent. For those out of the UK, we now have a higher priced, large letter stamp, for these big envelopes. So long as you aren't sending just one or two sheets of paper, it can work out cheaper as they no longer weigh them, but instead have a slit through which the envelope needs to pass. For lace content, classes have started this week and no, I'm not surprised that most students have done very little or none at all during the break. The excuses that they come up with are very ingenious and quite unecessary, but it has meant a very busy three days as they have all forgotten what they were doing. Little and often is the key. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] Double edged leaves
This 'twice around each end' is how Bridget Cook showed me for Russian leaves. She said You do know how to do the leaves for Russian lace, don't you? U, just run it past me again, please. And was shown the three bobbins held in one hand, the two edge passives going out sideways almost and the centre one with a shorter thread (so the tension is the same on all three) held in the centre (surprise, surprise). The weaver then passes back and forth through as for a normal leaf, except that as Christine says, it does a complete turn around at each end. I didn't find it any easier or harder to keep the leaf edges even, but don't like holding the bobbins in my hand (which is on the small side, if that makes a difference) as I get cramp in it. I also don't like the finished leaves as much, as I like my weaving to be 'full' and the extra bulk at the ends means the centre is a little starved. When we were in Moscow a couple of years later we were shown how to do the leaves, in our hand as above, but not passing around the ends twice. When I did it to show them, there was much head shaking and why would you want to do that looks. Perhaps it is a technique confined to Valogda lace, which is the type of Russian lace in Bridget's books. We had a good laugh (Nicky, do you remember this?) when we were told the name of the technique, which the young girl who was showing us had obviously looked up in a dictionary and rehearsed for our benefit. Sheep, she said, repeating it a couple of times looking at our completely blank faces. Sheep, sheep. Then she did an undulating movement with her hand and the penny (or should that be rouble) dropped; not sheep but ship. The weaver passing through the passives is the ship. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: Fw: [lace] Making tallies
Sue I don't think you need a separate video of the square tallies; they will be worked in much the same ways as the leaf ones. The only difference will be that on the first row where David is balancing the pull between the two passives around the pins with the worker and he pulled it to a point, for a square tally you pull it in tightish (to get rid of any slack in the starting off threads and twists) and then keeping some tension on the worker, use the two passives to pull the top to the width you want the tally to be. After that, just make sure that on each row the turn in the weave is exactly below the previous rows. David did this in the centre of the leaf. Once you are started, square tallies are easier to work than leaf ones, as you don't have the increasing/decreasing to worry about. If you have a loopy edge it is far more likely that you aren't tensioning the worker enough, than that you are pulling it too hard. They are temperamental at the end though, so follow David's finishing instructions very carefully. Lay the worker to the back as he showed, and then work the complete pair as far as you can into the ground. Then bring the worker down, and take that pair into the ground but be very conscious of which was the tally worker bobbin and, for the first few stitches, every time you gently tension it keep your eye on the tally as you do so. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] Lace fence archives?
Having seen Rosemarie's post about the fence, and noticing that she has included all her contacts details in with her signature, I went to the archives to see if it showed up there. Strangely, the only one I can about the lace fence is the most recent from Jo Falkink so I am unable to tell. I did go to one of Tamara's and that shows her trademark formerly of Warsaw so I suspect it would or will show all Rosemarie's details. So, a question and a comment. Do all the posts go to the archives, and if they do, surely it happens automatically, so where have all the previous ones about the fence gone to? And as they get bundled by subject, is there a time warp which kicks in so that, for example, this group of posts about a lace fence don't get added onto previous posts with the same subject heading but a different fence in mind? Or if they have joined a previous batch, why is Jo's left here by itself? You can see I have been puzzling over the different possibilities And remember that what you write could or does end up in the archives and that Google searches take you to the archives - if you don't believe me, Google 'arachne archives'! You may not want your address and phone numbers available to chance visitors to the archive even if you are happy to use it in arachne posts. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Pretty object, but what is it?
Clay, I think these may be grape scissors. A friend has something very similar, but larger. Why they are shaped like this I don't know, but I'm sure someone will tell us. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] Reticello
Hi Bronwen I think Lorelei's reply refers to joining needlelace motifs, whereas I think you are asking about working the long needlewoven bars and the brides making the geometric pattern blocks in the big squares left after you have pulled out threads. What I have in front of me at the moment is the 'Ruskin Lace and Linen Work' book by Elizabeth Prickett. This embroidered lace from the 1880s was made in a related way to the work you are studying, and from its first chapter I read Mounting on Leathercloth. This is to maintain the size and shape of the cut-out area, regardless of how small this area is to be, whilst working the pattern. In this particular lace, the pattern areas are outlined with four sided stitch, and this band of four sided stitch is used as the frame in which to do the stitches to hold it onto the leathercloth. Only after the square is supported on the leathercloth, are the threads cut and removed, thus ensuring the hole created is the right size and undistorted. Looking at the most ornate and developed of the Reticello patterns, where very little of the original fabric is leftt, I don't see that it is possible to do the work unless it is attached to a background so I am sure you are on the right lines. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
[lace] Breaking threads
Breaking - snap, snap - or falling apart because the thread is untwisting? I have seen this lots of times and Madeira is nearly always the culprit. Colour seems to make no difference; in fact most people use the white thread. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] polystyrene pillows
Sue Babbs wrote I have also used thin sheets of Foam (about 1/8 inch thick) in this way, with considerable success. But if you have to buy it, in the UK anyway, then it's could well be another example of Brenda's comment. We don't have Michaels here, and Hobbycraft (our equivalent) is not so inexpensive. You will need to cost it out well, otherwise you will find that you are spending as much money (and a lot of time) on the cure, when it would be far more satisfactory to buy a new pillow. Depending on the size of the worn patch, you may find that you can use the pillow a couple more time to make an edging, where the pricking surrounds the soft area rather than crossing it. Or it may be alright for another piece or two if you choose one that uses thicker pins (and therefore heavier thread) than you usually use, or just push your pins in a little further than normal. What I would say though is to take measures to make your new pillow last longer. Buy and uncoverd one, and first of all use a couple of layers of the felt suggested previously as a cure to your problem, as a prevention instead. This will stop your pins penetrating so deeply while still giving a good grip. If you make a variety of lace, use it first of all for those that use fine pins. Avoid using thick divider pins on a polystyrene pillow, and although you should use heavier pins to pin your cover cloth so you can stretch it tightly, make sure that these pins are pushed in on the vertical face of the very edge, not on the top of the pillow at all. If you choose the shape of cookie pillow that has a bigger flat top rather than a domed one, and you make a lot of bookmarks and similar, you can often position the pricking slightly off centre to use as much of the area as possible. When it becomes softish for fine pin lace, use it for the heavier laces such as Torchon and Cluny where you use thicker pins, and also push them in a bit further. Sound familiar? Here we are around the full circle. And of course, if you get a block pillow, you have both sides of the blocks to wear out. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Victoria Albert, lace availability
In a message dated 07/08/2009 04:25:27 GMT Standard Time, dmt11h...@aol.com writes: Does anyone know if the lace room at the V A is currently open? Asking a different question, does anyone know if the VA will answer an e-mail if Clay was to contact them direct. If this is an important part of your trip, it seems to me that it would be safer to go straight to the horse's mouth to get an accurate answer. And if you were to take a print out of their reply with you and find something less-than-expected when you arrive, you would be in a stronger position to be able to pursuade them to take special steps for you. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Lace sold at Auction
It went for £1500 - I wish I knew what I missed seeing! It's quite possible that you didn't miss anything. It may be that someone else thought they were getting something far more special than they actually did. Don't forget how many times we see *Antique* *Rare* and *Hand Made* attached to relatively modern, quite ordinary, machine made lace on e-bay. Also remember that sometimes, and for some purposes, machine made lace is more valuable than hand made. A good few years ago now I was at a talk given by a textiles expert from Philips auction house. At the end she was shown a Maltese lace collar (in excellent condition) which a friend had recently bought for about £30, which was a lot of money at the time. She asked for a valuation, and was relieved to here she had paid about the right price for it. The expert picked up a machine lace collar which she had brought with her, and said At auction, this would probably fetch as much or more than that yours She then went on to explain that in fact lace collectors were in the minority when it came to buying lace; more people were buying for theatre, fashion and interior design use and for these purposes the bolder style of much of the machine lace is more suitable. So perhaps whatever was in the box, although not anything special in our eyes, was perfect for some other use and a bargain to the person who bought it. Jacquie in Lincolnshire. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
Re: [lace] Lacemakers of Glenmara- fiction, clearly
In a message dated 09/07/2009 05:14:02 GMT Standard Time, dmt11h...@aol.com writes: What lace technique are they using in Glenmara? The only one I can think of that would produce lace at the speed needed for even the most expensive, exclusive line of designer lingerie would be tamboured net, in the style of Limerick Lace. If it's anything else I think the reader could complain to the publisher/author under the trade's description act. If someone out there in arachne-land reads it, do let us know. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
