Re: [lace] Re: lace Hand or Machine
If I mount by machine I use a narrow zig-zag with the distance of the lengthways holes about the same as the distance from one side to the other - similar spacing to the hand sewn triangular stitch but on a smaller scale than I can manage by hand! Brenda On 11 Dec 2007, at 07:28, Joy Beeson wrote: To avoid cutting the threads of the lace, it might help to use a stretch (ball-point) needle, and use a slightly-open zig-zag. Slightly-open is more secure anyhow; when you try to lay threads exactly side-by-side, the holes punched into the cloth come perilously close to overlapping. Brenda in Allhallows, Kent http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.uk/index.html - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Buddy map
Sue has said: I was amused when looking at the map to see that I have been relocated to living in the middle of the neighboring town's golf course! I had an email from Liz Pass to say that she'd looked at the map, and it shows that I live at the Old Power Station site on the other side of Holes Bay to where I actually live, Eve Morton lives on top of the Towngate Flyover and Helen lives on the Seldown roundabout, none of which are residential areas of Poole. Is there a way of positioning yourself correctly in the right area of a town on the satellite map, where I can zoom in on my house? The buddy map doesn't seem to take notice of postcodes to position a location marker. Jean in Poole Dorset, UK - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Buddy map
On the old buddy map I positioned myself fairly accurately (wrong side of the road though) using the postcode, but there doesn't seem to be a way of editing this on the new system - or have I missed something? BTW, The email doesn't work properly with Safari, it just puts oops into the address line instead of the email address. Brenda On 11 Dec 2007, at 09:03, Jean Nathan wrote: Is there a way of positioning yourself correctly in the right area of a town on the satellite map, where I can zoom in on my house? The buddy map doesn't seem to take notice of postcodes to position a location marker. Brenda in Allhallows, Kent http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.uk/index.html - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: [lace] New buddy map / mailto on MS-IE
Hello spiders I installed a quick-and-dirty solution for the MS-IE mailto problem. The dirty aspect you'll notice by the needles empty page that comes along with popping up a new e-mail. But at least it works now. Thank you all for your patiente. Jo - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] My Beds Lace tips.
Elizabeth Ligeti wrote: I tie my knots, and leave longish ends, and then pull the knots through to the wrong side, and weave the ends in. You can avoid the tedious business of pulling the threads through to the wrong side by knotting the threads over the ones already tied off. It's a bit difficult to explain in words but basically you tie the first knot with the innermost threads (of the trail) and lay them down between the threads waiting to be tied. Tie the next knot over these threads and again lay the threads between those waiting to be tied. The next knot is tied over two sets of threads and so on. You end up with all the threads underneath. Much easier than taking each thread in turn through to the back. Jean in Glasgow where it's cold and sunny - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: [lace] Buddy map
You can't edit, but re-enter and follow the instructions, that is: drag the green marker to the correct position. Then click the 'report abuse or mistake' in the old bubble and convince the moderator to delete the old entry (as I mailed on Arachne before, at least I intended to). I suppose the safari oops will be solved together with the MS-IE solution I just announced. On the old buddy map I positioned myself fairly accurately (wrong side of the road though) using the postcode, but there doesn't seem to be a way of editing this on the new system - or have I missed something? BTW, The email doesn't work properly with Safari, it just puts oops into the address line instead of the email address. Brenda On 11 Dec 2007, at 09:03, Jean Nathan wrote: Is there a way of positioning yourself correctly in the right area of a town on the satellite map, where I can zoom in on my house? The buddy map doesn't seem to take notice of postcodes to position a location marker. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Bobbin Lace Survey
I don't mind winding bobins, sewings or tallies. Making prickings and sewing on to fabric are ok too. What I do hate is taking out pins and finding a mistake or a long loop where a thread has got caught round a pin. Jean Glasgow, Scotland - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Lacy Portrait on Cover of December 2007 Antiques Magazine
An interesting thing about that portrait is that there is another portrait in the same collection, also attributed to William Larkin, of Anne Cecil, Countess of Stamford in which she is wearing the same dress as Diana but the lace ruff and cuffs are different. The background is the same and the lace handkerchief looks the same too. I bought postcards of both portraits a while ago when the collection was in the Ranger's House and the assisstant in the shop referred to them as the blonde twin and the dark twin! If you're in London a visit to Kenwood House to see the Suffolk collection is definitely worthwhile. Among others are the portarits of the 3rd and 4th Earls of Dorset. Jean -- Jean Leader Glasgow, Scotland, UK http://www.jeanleader.co.uk - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Buddy map
What green marker? There's a purple one where it thinks I am, and red ones appear when they think they will, but nothing green. Jean in Poole, Dorset, UK - Original Message - From: J. Falkink To: 'Brenda Paternoster' ; 'Jean Nathan' Cc: 'Lace' Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 10:24 AM Subject: RE: [lace] Buddy map You can't edit, but re-enter and follow the instructions, that is: drag the green marker to the correct position. Then click the 'report abuse or mistake' in the old bubble and convince the moderator to delete the old entry (as I mailed on Arachne before, at least I intended to). I suppose the safari oops will be solved together with the MS-IE solution I just announced. On the old buddy map I positioned myself fairly accurately (wrong side of the road though) using the postcode, but there doesn't seem to be a way of editing this on the new system - or have I missed something? BTW, The email doesn't work properly with Safari, it just puts oops into the address line instead of the email address. Brenda On 11 Dec 2007, at 09:03, Jean Nathan wrote: Is there a way of positioning yourself correctly in the right area of a town on the satellite map, where I can zoom in on my house? The buddy map doesn't seem to take notice of postcodes to position a location marker. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Buddy map
On 11 Dec 2007, at 06:24, J. Falkink wrote: I suppose the safari oops will be solved together with the MS-IE solution I just announced. Yes, it works properly now. (I kind of liked oops as an email address :D ) Margot Walker in Halifax on the east coast of Canada Visit the Seaspray Guild of Lacemakers web site: http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/quinbot - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: [lace] Buddy map
Please do read everything below the map. I wrote it for that purpose, but if its clear as mud please explain what needs more explanation. After all English is not my native tongue. Fill in the form between the map and the horizontal line, hit the go to step 2 button and continue to read all instructions. What green marker? There's a purple one where it thinks I am, and red ones appear when they think they will, but nothing green. Jean in Poole, Dorset, UK - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Re:To the lace makers/using our lace
Bev, this sounds lovely and to hear the sounds of people who do appreciate the beauty of it is brilliant. I will have to investigate somewhere that can really make use of a little something annually, I often wish there was something for them to go towards helping their appeals for funds but haven't yet come up with the right thing. Time to get my thinking cap on. I did give another piece away this summer hoping it would help them to raise funds but they chose to hang it in the church instead and as it is the church my ancesters would have worshipped in many years ago, that felt quite nice too. Bringing the old art and in memory of past generations felt rather good. I am hoping my husbands hand engraved glass will have helped with their fund raising. It is good to know what others do with their beautiful work. Sue T, Frosty but sunny Dorset UK. Hi Sue and everyone I have enjoyed being able to make money on two pieces, so was able to send that to the Shelterbox trust who send out tents and life saving equipment to help in disaster zones. This is an excellent way to use our lace - every October I donate a piece in pink, white and silver to a raffle basket with proceeds going to the cure for breast cancer. I wouldn't otherwise choose this colour combination, then it is great fun to find a piece that sets off the threads (and vice versa). Last year I donated a Torchon doily designed by Fumie Kanai. I enjoyed every bit of that project, the winding of bobbins, preparing the pattern, working the lace, joining the lace to itself, then attaching it to fabric with neat tiny 'basting' stitches. And then, because I have nowhere to show off such a lace, it was a pleasure to give away - the oohs and aahs at the receiving end were the best! -- Bev (near Sooke, BC on beautiful Vancouver Island, west coast of Canada) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Buddy map
Decided not to be on the map any more, whether it be out in the cold at the old gas works site or where I really live. Seems there's no way to delete your own entry. I've asked the moderator to remove my bubble completely. Hope she does. Jean in Poole, Dorset, UK - Original Message - From: J. Falkink To: 'Jean Nathan' ; 'Brenda Paternoster' Cc: 'Lace' Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 11:58 AM Subject: RE: [lace] Buddy map Please do read everything below the map. I wrote it for that purpose, but if its clear as mud please explain what needs more explanation. After all English is not my native tongue. Fill in the form between the map and the horizontal line, hit the go to step 2 button and continue to read all instructions. What green marker? There's a purple one where it thinks I am, and red ones appear when they think they will, but nothing green. Jean in Poole, Dorset, UK - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?
Clay speaks of doing laborious hand mounting only of things to be judged. Speaking from the perspective of a person who has been called in to judge lace on occasion, I find the hand-finishing issue troubling. Some pieces are very beautifully hand finished, representing a huge amount of time spent on that aspect. These pieces don't always have the best lace on them. Sometimes there is a piece that has been nicely machine finished, or even not so nicely finished, but is a much better piece of lace. What is a judge to do? How much credit should be accorded on finishing? Even on a point system divided between different aspects, a nicely hand finished piece picks up 10 points over one that is not. But my emerging feeling is that, since judging impacts the development of the craft, I would like to encourage more and better lacemaking, not laborious French sewing. I almost see spending a lot of time on attaching a piece of lace to a piece of fabric as something that poses an obstacle to the greater goal, if we are to survive as a craft, of making more and better lace. At what point does the lace judge say, this is the 21st century and what would have been extremely important in the mid 19th is becoming irrelevant? Frankly, I am beginning to notice that most of the things I was raised to believe are important are now irrelevant. Devon proposing a radical concept **See AOL's top rated recipes (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop000304) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: [lace] Buddy map
Sorry for not counting to ten and reacting a bit impatient. It has been a weird day and still is. All your questions slowly teach me what I should have put on the map page and didn't. There is allways a struggle between telling too little, or telling too much. Shortly after my impatient reaction I added a section to the map page that tells what I explained here in emails. But then I got called away. Jean, I hope it wasn't my impatiente that chased you away? The possibility to alter or delete entries is not very common with guestbooks. The original buddymap only halfheartidly implemented that posibility. I decided to do it only via the moderator (read Lacefairy) to prevent the same and other kind of bugs, pitfalls, privacy and security issues. Please do read everything below the map. I wrote it for that purpose, ... - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?
Even on a point system divided between different aspects, a nicely hand finished piece picks up 10 points over one that is not. But my emerging feeling is that, since judging impacts the development of the craft, I would like to encourage more and better lacemaking, not laborious French sewing. This worry of Devon's, and underlying most of the posts on the subject with all the 'jokes' about the lace-police, is that there is something wrong or inferior about machine mounting lace. Let me please make a couple of points for your consideration. Firstly, it is just as difficult (if not more so) to mount a piece of lace really well by machine as by hand. As I said in an earlier post, you need to practise and practise, you will need to be meticulous about the tension on the machine and the settings and accessories you use and you will need to concentrate just as much as when you are mounting by hand. But, if you don't enjoy or are bad at hand sewing, the challenge of getting your machine working just right may be less threatening for you. And once you have that different skill available, it is certainly quicker to machine mount. Sometimes too quick :-) one of the skills you need to master is sewing slowly enough that the machine does what you tell it to do. The other point is that just because you have used a machine, it doesn't doom that piece of lace to a life of eternal shame, and in the same way our ancestors would unpick and re-use lace on another garment, machine stitching can be undone so the lace can be 'saved' by a future owner if that's what they feel strongly about. If you are really worried about this, consider making an extra, narrow 'entre-deux' which can be whip stitched/oversewn to the lace by matching the pinholes and machine sewn to the fabric. Using the same graph size and thread it ends up very inconspicuous. A six-pair braid, consisting of two passives and four worker/edge pairs, that ctct to the centre, kiss and work on the the other edge is the sort I have in mind. This is really quick to work and if it gets snipped at some future unpicking, is no great loss. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] To the lace makers.
- Original Message - From: Marin Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED] I have a question for all of you: What do you do with the lace? Do you sell it or embellish you linen or clothing? This year my DD and DIL are getting hand towels with a lace edging as Christmas gifts. Someone in our guild starting adding a lace edging to towels and we all have started doing it for gifts. The lace is worked in a thick thread so it goes quick and the towels look wonderful in a guest toilet. Another member this year made Cluny edgings for pillowcases for her daughters and that is my project for the birthday gifts for the New Year. The lace goes on ready-made pillowcases and it looks very luxurious. Through the years I have donated several pieces of lace for raffles and have always been disappointed by the sum of money generated. Maybe I overvalue my lace!!! Jeanette Fischer, Western Cape, South Africa where summer is only starting to arrive. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] To the lace makers.
Hi Jeanette, You are not overvaluing your lace. A few years ago I was showing a fellow seamstress my lace (it was yardage) and her comment was I don't know why you would spend so much time doing that when you can go and buy lace for $! a yard at Walmart I knew there was no sense in even trying to respond to that. But it emphasizes the fact that many people don't understand the quality or value of what we make. Cindy - in the northwoods of Wisconsin At 11:48 AM 12/11/2007, Jeanette Fischer wrote: Maybe I overvalue my lace!!! - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] New buddy map / mailto on MS-IE
The Lacemakers' World May works fine. I registered the other day but never showed up until the repair. It's great! Who are you- Lacy- in Blacksburg on the world map? I didn't know of any bobbin lacemakers there. Is it Dearl? Maybe we could get together! Happy Lacemaking, Betty Ann Rice in Roanoke, Virginia USA - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] To the lace makers.
Cindy wrote : I don't know why you would spend so much time doing that when you can go and buy lace for $! a yard at Walmart I had a similar instance to that one day when I was demonstrating. One lady asked if I ever sell my lace and I said no because people don't want to pay what it is worth. She asked how much I'd charge for the piece I had on the pillow. I knew how long it had taken me as I'd been keeping a note of time spent. I said how much an hour would she pay $45? She said that was too high, I replied not if you are a plumber or a car mechanic, but ok we could go lower. She finally decided that $5/hour was plenty. The piece of lace (about 25 inches) was going to cost her over $200. So she looked sadly at it and said that it was too expensive even at $5/hour. Malvary in Ottawa, Canada where it is snowing big fluffy snowflakes - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: [lace] Hand or machine
Robin, I couldn't agree more about the rudeness of just the occasional rare lacemaker who puts others off making lace. A met a lady recently who had just sold her pillow, bobbins and the couple of books she had because of such a remarkI'm attempting now to get her interested again - she has one arthritic hand, and I'm introducing her to the square bobbins which are bigger and easier to hold. But somehow I don't think any Arachne spider would be guilty of such a remark! Maybe a good dose of supporting, friendly internet chatter would do wet blanket lace police the world of good. Noelene in Cooma Very thankful for all that Arachne spiders taught me when I was just learning, and continue to teach me. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Maybe not confiscate, but I've known Lace Police who will tell someone to her face that she's an inferior lacemaker because she mixed techniques, tell her she's not good enough to take a workshop, etc. Such rudeness boggles my mind, but I've met people who believed they would never be able to make lace because of trying to belong to a lace group with Lace Police. Robin P. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: [lace] Hand or machine
Does it ever occur to the tradition fusspots that if those women had machines, better lighting, better pins, etc., they would not have availed themselves of the convenience of machine sewing their lace onto garments so they had more time to make lace? I did a Christening gown with my handmade torchon attached with a machine and then had the audacity to do machine embroidery on the gown. I didn't put it in a competition because I was told it wasn't traditional and that it wouldn't comply - do I care - nope - I just don't enter competitions. I make lace for me and those I love. Lynn in Wollongong, Australia - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
FW: [lace] To the lace makers.
I have a question for all of you: What do you do with the lace? Do you sell it or embellish you linen or clothing? I make lace for gifts for friends who will appreciate it. When I first started I made a lace owl and put it in a brooch for my daughter. Smeone saw it in a shop and when she discovered I'd made it asked if I would make her one. It snowballed and I ended up making 18 of them. One a day. I'd make one and leave it on the pillow for 24 hours, then I wound the bobbins for the next one ready for the next evening and mounted the one I'd taken off the pillow onto felt and put into a brooch mount. I asked for enough to cover the cost of the mount and a small donation which I gave to my church - charging nothing for my time or the thread. I was sick of that owl by the time I'd finished and was most unimpressed when someone complained that the pin had bent when they tried to put it onto a thick wool coat. I had to exchange the mount which left me with a duff brooch that I couldn't use. The best thing I've done was when we did a demo we did a competiton to win a brooch with a piece of Bucks Point in it. I made the lace and when I'd finished I counted all the pins and alongside the brooch I displayed the pricking. The question to be answered was 'how many pins were used in the pricking?' We supplied a list of numbers for them to sign off against from about 50 to 600. The actual number was about 450 if I remember correctly. It was interesting to see what people guessed. Most of the lacemakers underestimated wildly. Great fun, a bit of a fundraiser and made people think about the actual making of the lace. The nearest guess won the brooch. Lynne Baldock, North Herts, UK [EMAIL PROTECTED] Where it's very cold and I've just walked back from town where we had our lace class Xmas dinner at the fish and chip shop. Great fun! - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] To the lace makers.
One of my students *used to* make assorted quick crafts for a local self-help group. One year they asked her to make them some lace, so she chose some simple bookmark patterns that she could do in a couple of evenings and made several. She finished them off in a plastic sleeve with a 'hand-made lace' sticker. At the next class she said she'd been asked how much she should charge for them, and would I advise her. I said that perhaps the best thing would be to tell them how much they had actually cost for the thread and sleeve and how long they had taken to make, making sure she included the time doing the prickings and winding bobbins, and then they could decide on a price and also have the information to explain why they cost that much. At the next class after the sale I asked her how they had sold. 'Oh', she said, 'they all went very quickly, but I'm not ever making anything for them again!' 'Why not?' I asked. 'Because they sold them for 25p each, which was less than the cost of the sleeve. I'd rather have given them a couple of pounds and used that time to make lace to give to someone who would have appreciated the work that went into it.' And she meant every word of it. She was so upset that she has never made anything else for them again. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] To the lace makers.
Hi All, I just saw my mistake - it should have read '$1 a yard'. Cindy At 02:47 PM 12/11/2007, Malvary J Cole wrote: Cindy wrote : I don't know why you would spend so much time doing that when you can go and buy lace for $! a yard at Walmart - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Lace Police
not good enough to take a workshop - Isn't this what workshops are for -- to improve one's skills, and learn something new? Thought Police should be a banned group!! :) I am a bit Radical, so they have a 'field day' with me!!! One or two of them have given up on me, - so I consider that a win for me - and other like-minded lacemakers!!! :)) Regards from Liz in Melbourne, Oz, where it is a pleasantly warm, sunny day! (but where is the rain?) [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] My Beds Lace tips.
Jean L. Many thanks for that tip on tying off the knots without having to pull them through. I can understand what you say, and will try it next time. Sounds very clever and easy! Isn't this list Great, when we can share ideas so easily from across the world.? Regards from Liz in Melbourne, Oz. [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Re: Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?
On Dec 11, 2007, at 10:30, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Devon) wrote: Clay speaks of doing laborious hand mounting only of things to be judged. Speaking from the perspective of a person who has been called in to judge lace on occasion, I find the hand-finishing issue troubling. Some pieces are very beautifully hand finished, representing a huge amount of time spent on that aspect. These pieces don't always have the best lace on them. Sometimes there is a piece that has been nicely machine finished, or even not so nicely finished, but is a much better piece of lace. What is a judge to do? [...] Devon proposing a radical concept Personally, when I was asked to judge, I concentrated on the lace, not on the mounting, unless the mounting was so horrible, that that was all you could see. For basically the same reasons as Devon -- time spent on meticulous mounting is time taken away from improving your lace. For me, there are also other reasons (apart from being cack-handed when it comes to hand-sewing g). One is that, 100 or so yrs ago, most women knew a lot more about hand sewing than most women do today. Even if they didn't know how to make lace, they knew how to attach it nicely. The second reason is that the fancy-stitched attachment tends to be *permanent*; those 3- and 4-point stitches last and last and last. Long past the time the fabric gives up the ghost. So then, if you want to reuse the lace, you have to pick the fabric threads out, one by one and even then still risk the ruin of the lace. These days, if I ever make lace for something like a hankie, I tend to hem the hankie separately (either by machine or a rolled hem by hand) and attach the lace by overcasting (by hand). It's not as pretty, but I can tak the lace off easily. But this by hand vs by machine thread reminds me of something which, several years later, I still have not resolved. I think it was in '99, that the IOLI Convention was in Bethesda, Maryland. The competition theme was handkerchiefs. And the first place (in the original lace category) went to a beautiful, multicoloured piece, the lines of which were very irregular/sinuous not only at the headside, but at the footside as well. Sheer h..l to mount I thought when I saw that piece What colour thread would you use? And all the cutting and hemming of that fabric edge to fit it inside the lace Eeek. Apparently, the lacemaker found the task equally daunting... So she didn't mount the lace at all :) The edging was just pinned to a piece of fabric, which extended past the outer edges of the lace. Because the lace was strongly coloured and the fabric was white, the fabric provided the contrasting background and the lace was visible -- not something that one could do with white lace. But, neither was it a *handkerchief*, in the way I understand a hankie. Yet, it got the first... And it made me wonder just how many points other people -- who did bother to attach theirs -- lost to inexpert attachment, un-necessarily. -- Tamara P Duvallhttp://t-n-lace.net/ Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Hand or machine
Lynn in Wollongong wrote: I did a Christening gown with my handmade torchon attached with a machine and then had the audacity to do machine embroidery on the gown. I didn't put it in a competition because I was told it wasn't traditional and that it wouldn't comply - do I care - nope - I just don't enter competitions. I make lace for me and those I love. Hi, all, Hmmm. Sewing machines have been around for 150+ years, about, what, 6-7 generations? When does using them become traditional? As far as I can tell from looking at mid-19th-century examples, mixing hand and machine techniques has been done by all textile workers, ever since machines were invented. Hand-crafters have been using all and every technique available to them, before and after the industrial revolution. Now, I have no way of knowing if most of the laces and embroideries I've seen were ever entered into any kind of competition(s), or how they placed if they were. But machine finishing techniques have been used on hand-worked items for a long, long time. In many shows and competitions, it's often hard enough to get enough lace entries to constitute a whole category, never mind a new and separate one, but embroidery categories usually have plenty of entrants. Maybe the solution is to have a category defined as traditional, all hand worked, and allow machine-embellished work in the slightly more general sections. There is and should be a place for all the older hand-work skills, and those of us who enjoy using or trying them should have anyone else's opportunities to put them out there for recognition. There is a place, however, for revised techniques and alternate solutions, too! I have no real problem with excluding machine-embellished items, *as long as that is stipulated in the rules* -- especially if there IS a place for machine-finished hand-made works elsewhere. I do have a problem with assumptions being made that potential entrants don't pick up from reading the entry rules (or policy-and-standards documents), but have to investigate (or be told) in order to find out. I have a BIG problem with inconsistency, especially within one or some of individual judges' own standards. Do judges of hand-embroidered items mark the piece down if it has machine-made lace on it? How about machine lace applied by hand, and machine lace applied by machine? Some competitions allow a great deal of leeway to the judges, who too often allow unquestioned assumptions to support their judgement. There is frequently no way for an entrant to know what those assumptions are before entering! Before allowing this to happen, competition organizers really need to state their standards publicly, clearly, and well in advance of the entry date -- even if they have to get the judges themselves to set them down in writing (such as in state fairs and the like, where the organizers want competitions in areas of which they themselves aren't knowledgeable). Lynn, was there a clause in the rules that said that this category only allowed hand-embroidered, or hand-sewn, or machine-sewn-but-hand-finished entries? Just out of curiosity, what was the competition for? Christening gowns, or hand-made lace, or traditional French sewing,...? I suspect we all suffer from the rarity of our products, and amongst some judges a sort of tyranny of the exquisite kicks in: this stuff is, automatically, so-o-o beautiful for being hand-made, that *all* of it is now supposed to conform to some exquisitely high standard of excellence, and *only* that high standard, whether the maker wants it so or not. The bottom line is, people need to question their own assumptions before judging someone else's work. There is a big difference between I really love seeing the works that are all hand-made, every stitch! and, It's so obvious: people entering this competition should already know that only hand-made is suitable, we shouldn't have to tell them *everything.* The rules should be nit-pickingly clear, and publicly stated. Then the burden is on the entrants to read the rules correctly, which is only fair! Cheers! Beth Schoenberg --- in beautiful downtown Kambah, Canberra, where the recent warm spring rains have finally allowed my privacy shrubs to re-grow enough leaves to actually do their job again. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Re: Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?
These days, if I ever make lace for something like a hankie, I tend to hem the hankie separately (either by machine or a rolled hem by hand) and attach the lace by overcasting (by hand). It's not as pretty, but I can tak the lace off easily. I do this, too, for much the same reason. It's not that I don't know the traditional hemstitches; it's not even that I can't do them evenly - I can, but I don't use them because I'm absolutely sure that there's no way I could remove the lace again without, at some point, cutting into the lace threads. Also, I'm really not fond of the tiny-geometric-hole look; I know it's traditional but I think it clashes with the more sweeping shapes of the lace. There are some embroidery stitches that are fast, pick out easily, and go well with lace. I particularly like the combination of Bedfordshire and feather stitch (If you don't know that stitch you can see an example here: http://inaminuteago.com/stitchdict/stitch/buttonhole-feather.html ) A handkerchief I made with beds motifs and feather stitch is still one of my favourites. I tacked the hem and tacked on the lace, then worked over both with the feather stitch. I'm sure there are lots of similar surface embroidery stitches that complement lace and don't take a lot of time, skill, or minute work. Adele North Vancouver, BC (west coast of Canada) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: How much credit should be accorded on finishing? Even on a point system divided between different aspects, a nicely hand finished piece picks up 10 points over one that is not. But my emerging feeling is that, since judging impacts the development of the craft, I would like to encourage more and better lacemaking, not laborious French sewing. I see your point, Devon, but I'm not entirely comfortable with it. I agree that the lace itself should be more important than the sewing. However, shouldn't presentation and finishing count? Should delicious jam not lose points for being put into competition in a dirty, cracked container? Should a garment not lose points if it's entered into a contest all wrinkled and stained? Should framed lace not lose points if the background is warped and rippled? I agree that the points for execution of the lace should be greater than points for the presentation, but there ought to be points for both IMO. Robin P. Los Angeles, California, USA - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] :) Fwd: My confession: true story
May have seen this one before.. From: D. D. It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then -- just to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to think alone -- to relax, I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I turned off theTV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's. I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't help myself. I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau, Muir, Confucius and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, What is it exactly we are doing here? One day the boss called me in. He said, Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job. This gave me a lot to think about. I came home early after my conversation with the boss. Honey, I confessed, I've been thinking... I know you've been thinking, she said, and I want a divorce! But Honey, surely it's not that serious. It is serious, she said, lower lip aquiver. You think as much as college professors and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money! That's a faulty syllogism, I said impatiently. She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama. I'm going to the library, I snarled as I stomped out the door. I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors. They didn't open. The library was closed. To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night. As I was leaning on the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye, Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life? it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinkers Anonymous poster. This is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was Porky's. Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking. I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me. Today I took the final step...I joined the Republican Party. -- Tamara P Duvallhttp://t-n-lace.net/ Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland) To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
