I had my notes on the Mat all written up, and ... poof.gone. I'll try to
recap it.
Bobbins. The story I heard was 500 bobbins. I wound 270 pair (540). I used
them all, since they were wound. Some more than once. I like fairly solid
cloth stitch so added in lots and had to throw them out when I came to the
ground sections. I wound about a yard on each one. Sometimes I used only an
inch of thread. After going through the wound bobbins, I just tied two threads
together and wound the knot down to a bobbin. I wouldn't have needed all the
bobbins since a lot of the spent their time in a box.The most I had on the
pillow at one time was about 300 on the widest center section. Probably
around 400 would be adequate for the project.
Gimp. I don't remember. Maybe 6-8 pair, but I had extra bobbins and lots of
gimp thread on hand, and wound up more as needed. Some of them were used only a
short time, but lots of gimp trails went quite a ways. I tried to use
continuous gimps which often required gimp loops. If you use loops instead of
lots of short gimps, wind plenty on your bobbins. Have plenty of gimp thread on
hand. It uses a lot.
Thread. The sample on the pattern papers was made in cotton 100. I thought it
looked a bit skimpy so I used 70, which I had a lot on hand. I would suggest
80 for a nice but still dainty product. It's only a tad thicker than the 70.
Pattern error. There are four large flowers around the center section. One of
the side ones has a gimp line error. Note that there are petals curving up
both sides of the flower middle. The gimp should follow the edge of the
petals. On one flower, the gimp lines cross where the petals are closest
together. You may want to redraw the lines to match the other 3 flowers.
Use a large pillow. You need space at each side to hold the bobbins. I used
Midlands and had knitting stitch holders that went through the spangles to herd
the bobbins in order. The filled holders were stacked on each side of my
pillow. I used long stick pins to keep the stacks from sliding around.
(I had a wide roller pillow with a 14 inch roller that I used. I had nice wide
areas at each end of the roller to stack bobbins.)
Yes, David did his Mat in black. I saw his when he was visiting here in the
USA a couple years ago. He used black silk but shrank the pattern a bit to fit
his thread. Black is hard to work with. I don't recommend it on this project
unless you want a really hard challenge.
I also suggest working the pattern 'from the back'. There are some flowers or
motifs with tallies on top. It is easier to work if you do the tallies first,
then do the half stitch on top of them. This makes the 'front' of the pattern
be facing down. If there weren't any tallies, there would be no front or back
to the Mat. I forgot this suggestion and worked the tallies on top. That's
much harder. Next time maybe I'll remember.
Just take the pattern a half square inch at a time. It's all basic flower
Bucks techniques. Have patience. It takes a while to work through the whole
pattern, but very pretty when done.
I did my Mat in 400 hours. It may feel like 1000 but isn't quite.
Alice in Oregon -- where the sun is shining but it's not yet really warm, and I
spend my days in my house and yard. Getting many little chores done, and
working on craft projects.
On Thursday, April 16, 2020, 11:11:08 AM PDT, Malvary Cole
wrote:
I had a look back in Arachne Lace Archives and there are several (many)
references to this subject.
One item says - 200+ pairs of bobbins.
Another, and this is copied and quoted from 2004 "Drum roll! After 2 years,
9 months Over 1000 hours 500+ bobbins More pins than you can shake a stick
at! On Monday, March 1st,10:30 P.M. I finished Miss Channers Mat. Does
anyone else go thru post-partum depression after a big project?
So before you start, make sure you have enough bobbins.
Malvary in Ottawa where it isn't bad to be house-bound because it has been
snowing again today.
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