Re: [lace] Hand or Machine Sew

2008-06-21 Thread Carol

Hi Wendy,

I always used to hand sew my edgings to whatever but ...

One of my friends volunteered to attach a hankie edging to the hankie, and I 
didn't realise that she meant to machine sew it, but this is what she did, 
as mounting all sorts of items was her profession.   I was on pins until I 
received it, but to be honest, the way she had done it was lovely, and far, 
far neater than I could have managed by hand even then - and now my 
handsewing is even less worthy, as I have arthritis in my hands. I 
certainly feel that it is better to have it attached neatly and beautifully 
by machine, than clumsily and untidily by hand ...


She had used a very tiny zigzag stitch, in fine cotton, and believe me, that 
is what I usually do now too.It doesn't work too well for round or 
ovals, but for squares or straight things, it is ideal   Like anything else, 
though, it does need practice, and I practiced for ages with cheap old 
bought lace from Woolworths or haberdashers, until I was satisfied with the 
result.


However, if you want methods of attaching lacxe by hand, you could do worse 
than invest in the book on Bobbin Lace Techniques - I think you can still 
get it in soft back, possibly from Amazon.But - if you want any forther 
info, do feel free to eMail me!


Carol - in Suffolk UK
- Original Message - 
From: "Wendy Davies" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

To: 
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 10:18 AM
Subject: [lace] Hand or Machine Sew



Hi Spiders


Now then do you hand sew or machine sew

your lace on to material.



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Re: [lace] hand or machine

2008-06-20 Thread Clay Blackwell
In my experience with invisible thread, it works well on pieces that are 
heavy by nature, and therefore do not have much drape - for instance, in 
applique quilting.  Even then, the thread ends always seem to manage to 
escape and are like little barbs on the back of your work...  and very 
hard to tame.  So, I would think that on something as light as a lace 
handkerchief or a veil edging or any other edging in lace, the invisible 
thread would take on a life of its own and would be a real detriment to 
the overall effect.  I've never tried it - this is just my guess - but 
I'm pessimistic.


Clay

Agnes Boddington wrote:

What about cheating: use the sewing machine but with invisible thread?

Agnes Boddington - Ellougthon UK
www.sixpennybobbins.co.uk

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RE: [lace] Hand or Machine Sew

2008-06-20 Thread Karen
I always prefer to hand sew because I believe that the value of handmade
items is next to nonebut when I was in Camarinas for their annual fair
last March, I noticed that the Spanish dealers (for want of a better word)
use a sewing machine. Apparently it is not an ordinary machine but sews a
special stitch. My sister, who is married to a Sicilian, says that there is
a lady who lives in Trapani who accepts commissions to sew lace on to fabric
with her machine and the finish is beautifulso I suppose one should do
what he should to achieve the neatest results. I definitely would not want
to attach my lace to fabric with an ordinary zig-zag stitch as the
commercial shops in Gozo do though because I think the effect is horrible.
Karen in Malta

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
Brenda Paternoster
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 6:41 PM
To: Wendy Davies
Cc: lace@arachne.com
Subject: Re: [lace] Hand or Machine Sew

I usually hand sew hand made lace to fabric, but I would much rather 
see well mounted lace which is machine stitched to the fabric than 
badly hand stitched.  Do whichever you can achieve the best results 
with.

> I thought I would post this to start a debate ( maybe the wrong word) 
> but
> hopefully you will know what I mean..  Now then do you hand sew or 
> machine sew
> your lace on to material.

Brenda in Allhallows, Kent
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.uk/index.html

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Re: [lace] Hand or Machine Sew

2008-06-20 Thread Brenda Paternoster
I usually hand sew hand made lace to fabric, but I would much rather 
see well mounted lace which is machine stitched to the fabric than 
badly hand stitched.  Do whichever you can achieve the best results 
with.


I thought I would post this to start a debate ( maybe the wrong word) 
but
hopefully you will know what I mean..  Now then do you hand sew or 
machine sew

your lace on to material.


Brenda in Allhallows, Kent
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.uk/index.html

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Re: [lace] Hand or Machine Sew

2008-06-20 Thread Adele Shaak

Now then do you hand sew or machine sew
your lace on to material.

I was told once that it is better to machine sew than have a loose 
piece of
lace in your workbox but then while at Laceday last year we had 
Biggins there

and she said she always machine sews hers.


I use small handstitches to unobtrusively attach the lace. When I look 
at lace that has been attached by machine my eye is always drawn to 
that even line of steady stitching, no matter how well it has been 
hidden. I know there are very skilled machine sewers out there who 
would swear that they sew on invisibly with a machine, but I've never 
seen any of their work.


And for me there are also practical considerations: with handsewing the 
sewing threads aren't locked so I can easily take the lace off again (I 
don't hemstitch it on as I don't like that look). Plus, I can probably 
have the project half handstitched before I've gone through the process 
of setting up my machine.


Some lacemakers say you must always handstitch, but some people have 
difficulty handsewing, or they're just not used to it and their 
stitches are very visible and rather odd-looking. They'd probably do 
better with machine stitching, and I don't have any quarrel with anyone 
who wants to do it that way.


Adele
North Vancouver, BC
west coast of Canada

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Re: [lace] Hand or Machine Sew

2008-06-20 Thread Sue Duckles

Morning All

I would hand sew, but that's because I can do it in the garden, the  
car, and not have to worry about the sewing machine being heavy!!   
Also, I learned to sew before I went to school!!


Sue in EY

On 20 Jun 2008, at 10:18, Wendy Davies wrote:


Hi Spiders

I thought I would post this to start a debate ( maybe the wrong  
word) but
hopefully you will know what I mean..  Now then do you hand sew or  
machine sew

your lace on to material.

I was told once that it is better to machine sew than have a loose  
piece of
lace in your workbox but then while at Laceday last year we had  
Biggins there

and she said she always machine sews hers.

Happy lacemaking
_

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Re: [lace] Hand or Machine?

2008-06-10 Thread Alice Howell
Leavers lace is definitely machine made.  Nottingham is one variety of Leavers 
lace.  The 'handmade' in the title was either an error (since I didn't see if 
in the other titles of lace she is selling), or just an attempt to attach more 
search words to the item.  If the word has been removed, them maybe someone 
wrote to the seller.

Alice in Oregon -- getting ready to leave for OIDFA in a week.  Hope the 
weather improves.  It's chilly there now.

- Original Message 
From: Patty Dowden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: lace Arachne 
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 2:25:08 PM
Subject: [lace] Re: [lace-chat] Hand or Machine?

At 01:11 PM 6/10/2008, you wrote:
>Evening fellow spiders
>
>I've just found the following on ebay (the english site)
>
>http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Cotton-Lace-Fabric-Handmade-Patchwork-Quilting-Dress_W0QQitemZ310058003136QQihZ021QQcategoryZ19319QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
>
>Now which is it hand or machine?
>
>Sue in East Yorkshire
This is machine made lace.  As the listing says, Nottingham machine 
lace.  What made you question this?  Or have they changed the listing 
since you saw it?

Patty 

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Re: [lace] Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?/judging

2007-12-12 Thread Rochelle Sutherland
I'm a judge in Australia and this is a real problem. The piece is judged
overall, so mounting is certainly taken into consideration. You can't know in
our competitions if something has been mounted by another person unless you
are told by the stewards. They should have asked or be informed when the piece
was entered in the show or competition. If we are told we ignore the mounting
because it is not the work of the entrant. Otherwise we have to judge it as
the whole work. Unless it is heirloom sewing where machine work is accepted by
most judges, we favour hand mounting over machine mounting. 

The biggest
problem for us in Australia is patchwork quilts where the quilt has been
machine quilted. We have trouble when people don't declare they have sent the
quilt to a professional for quilting. Some quilters have long arm quilting
machines at home now so we have to give the benefit of the doubt and trust
people to be honest. When they have declared it to be professionally quilted,
we only judge the patchwork. There are sometimes challenges which can be very
unpleasant.

As for size, I know small pieces against large pieces is hard,
but I do dock pieces hard for mistakes. I once had a crochet tablecloth and
although there were no mistakes the tension and starting circles weren't as
neat as they could be. I had to give it a lower mark than other smaller
pieces. There was a challenge to it, but it comes back to doing something
exactly so each time, and if there is one example or thirty there must be that
consistancy.

I am a hard judge on lace, because I am not swayed by fine
thread or big pieces, but most people who have been judged by me haven't had a
problem with it. I am able to speak to competitors after judging most
competitions with CWA and actively encourage people to challenge or to ask me
to rejudge pieces and give them feedback. I really believe in trying to
promote excellence and pushing people to try harder each time in a nice way.
---
Rochelle Sutherland 
&
Lachlan (9 yrs), Duncan (8 yrs) and Iain (6 yrs)
www.houseofhadrian.com.au



>  And in a competition on the continent, would
this possibility be 
> taken into account, or do the rules state the lace must
be finished by 
> the
> lacemaker.
I can't answer this question but it is an
interestin one and I will ask 
other people here.


  Make the switch to
the world's best email. Get the new Yahoo!7 Mail now.
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Re: [lace] Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?

2007-12-12 Thread Ilske Thomsen

Hello Jacqui and all,
in my opnion there is no must except this must you give yourself. So if 
you feel so you can let do the mounting by another person. And people 
which do mounting every day are perhaps better in doing so than 
oneself. till now I did all the work including mounting myself  and I 
didn't want that somebody did anything for me - but perhaps  one day... 
I try not to say never ever  you know.


 Is it better for the lacemaker themself to mount the lace, even if 
it's by machine, than to hand it over to a third party. 

I think that's the decision of each of us alone. Ther isn't a role.

 And in a competition on the continent, would this possibility be 
taken into account, or do the rules state the lace must be finished by 
the

lacemaker.
I can't answer this question but it is an interestin one and I will ask 
other people here. In the competition of the DKV there are seldom 
doilies or handkerchiefs so I guess the question doesn't appear yet. 
But if the competition is about such things than in my opinion both had 
to be done by the same person because the whole thing will be judged. 
If it is only about the lace than other rules will be.  I'll tell you 
if I found out something.

Greetings

Ilske

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Re: [lace] Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?

2007-12-12 Thread clayblackwell
As I understand it, the people who have been joining and mounting lace 
professionally (and for such reasonable rates) are getting older and less able 
to do the fine work.  Unless others learn to do this, we may find ourselves 
with no one to do it for us - yet another reason to learn to do the joining and 
mounting ourselves.

Clay

--
Clay Blackwell 
Lynchburg, VA USA 


-- Original message -- 
From: Aurelia Loveman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 

> I'm with you, Clay. After reading everybody's thoughts and climbing 
> in and out of everybody's shoes, and sympathizing absolutely with 
> everybody's opinion in turn, I think you've got it, Clay! -- 
> Aurelia 

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Re: [lace] Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?

2007-12-12 Thread the Mouzons

I love what has been said by Clay about "finish"...

In a little self published booklet(1984), "Laces for a Lady" (which is 
one of my most prized books), the compiler, Fiona Birchall quotes from 
the "Complete Book of Baskets & Basketry" by Doreen Wright, in which the 
author states, "Craftsmanship is knowing how to do something, refusing 
to do it less well than one can, knowing one's material and giving to 
everything made what may be called finish.  Finish gives an 
inevitability to any piece of craftwork whether pot, basket, leather 
bag, knitted sock, piece of embroidery or papering a room.  What is 
finish?  It is the difference between the handmade and the homemade, 
clean endings and beginnings, the beauty of order which is only achieved 
by competence, by craftsmanship.  Those who cannot see it have not 
achieved it."


This quote has been my personal "challenge" to myself in regards to my 
own lacemaking.  I do intend to achieve "finish" by hand one day :)  
someday...
I also agree that it is a personal choice.  I have a friend who does 
french hand sewing techniques by machine.  Her work is beautiful to me. 

Remember once lacemakers had to come to terms with using machine spun 
threads, but hand finishing is not something that we will ever be forced 
to give up.


Debbie in Florida

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Re: [lace] Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?

2007-12-12 Thread Aurelia Loveman
I'm with you, Clay. After reading everybody's thoughts and climbing 
in and out of everybody's shoes, and sympathizing absolutely with 
everybody's opinion  in turn, I think you've got it, Clay!  -- 
Aurelia




I've judged at our State Fair, and in that venue there is no 
requirement for things to be hand finished.  And yes, it is sad to 
see a beautiful piece of lace badly mounted (regardless of *how* 
it's mounted). Most competitions are specific in their requirements, 
and this is the time to consider whether or not to use hand 
finishing.  I still say that it is up to the individual, and have no 
quarrel with Devon's point. 

On the other hand, I am personally committed to learning to attach 
lace by hand  (that's my obsessive choice. ;)).  It seems absurd to 
have spent ten years learning to make exquisite lace as it was made 
in the 17th - 18th centuries, and then blow off the finishing.  It 
takes me the better part of a year to complete Binche lace for a 
handkerchief, and to spend a week getting the mounting right is not 
too much to expect.  I'm not worried about the problem of picking it 
apart again after the handkerchief disentegrates - I don't plan to 
use this on a daily basis!!  Part of the appeal to me is to hold the 
finished object and know that 300 - 400 years ago, someone once held 
a handkerchief very much like this and it was considered as valuable 
as a gem.  The thread and the handkerchief fabric aren't linen 
because we can't get fine linen today.  But otherwise, it is a 
faithful reproduction. 


Clay







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Re: [lace] Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?

2007-12-12 Thread Laceandbits
Even in Bruges today, the lacemakers don't (mostly) mount their own lace. 
There are still specialist needlepersons who do it for them.  Some of my
students try to make sure their Flanders /Binche lace is finished to coincide
with a
trip, so the overlap join and mounting task can be handed over to the
experts.

Now, there's a conumdrum for you.  Is it better for the lacemaker themself to
mount the lace, even if it's by machine, than to hand it over to a third
party.  And in a competition on the continent, would this possibility be taken
into account, or do the rules state the lace must be finished by the
lacemaker.

Jacquie in Lincolshire.

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Re: [lace] Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?

2007-12-12 Thread Sue Babbs
I know - my plan (if I ever start the piece of Binche I dream of doing) is 
to get it finished in Bruges. And they don't even charge a fortune for 
overlapping and mounting. I have no great desire to spend the time sewing - 
and practising to get a good result - when I can pay someone else to do it 
for me in an expert fashion and leave me the time free to make lace.


yes, I wondered what the rules on finishing would be in a competition

Sue
- Original Message - 
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 8:24 AM
Subject: Re: [lace] Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?



Even in Bruges today, the lacemakers don't (mostly) mount their own lace.
There are still specialist needlepersons who do it for them.  Some of my
students try to make sure their Flanders /Binche lace is finished to 
coincide with a
trip, so the overlap join and mounting task can be handed over to the 
experts.


Now, there's a conumdrum for you.  Is it better for the lacemaker themself 
to

mount the lace, even if it's by machine, than to hand it over to a third
party.  And in a competition on the continent, would this possibility be 
taken
into account, or do the rules state the lace must be finished by the 
lacemaker.


Jacquie in Lincolshire.



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Re: [lace] Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?

2007-12-12 Thread Sue Babbs
On the other hand, I am personally committed to learning to attach lace by 
hand  (that's my obsessive choice. ;)).  It seems absurd to have spent ten 
years learning to make exquisite lace as it was made in the 17th - 18th 
centuries, and then blow off the finishing.  It takes me the better part 
of a year to complete Binche lace for a handkerchief, and to spend a week 
getting the mounting right is not too much to expect.  > Clay




I suspect that in the 17th - 18th centuries the lace was mounted on the 
handkerchief / garment by someone completely different from the lacemaker.


We know that lace was bought by the yard by lace dealers and each step of 
the needle-lace process was undertaken by a different person. We are now 
trying to learn every step in the process, whereas then people worked with 
their strongest skills to earn as much money as they could (which wasn't 
much).


Sue Babbs

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Re: [lace] Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?

2007-12-12 Thread clayblackwell
I've judged at our State Fair, and in that venue there is no requirement for 
things to be hand finished.  And yes, it is sad to see a beautiful piece of 
lace badly mounted (regardless of *how* it's mounted). Most competitions are 
specific in their requirements, and this is the time to consider whether or not 
to use hand finishing.  I still say that it is up to the individual, and have 
no quarrel with Devon's point.  

On the other hand, I am personally committed to learning to attach lace by hand 
 (that's my obsessive choice. ;)).  It seems absurd to have spent ten years 
learning to make exquisite lace as it was made in the 17th - 18th centuries, 
and then blow off the finishing.  It takes me the better part of a year to 
complete Binche lace for a handkerchief, and to spend a week getting the 
mounting right is not too much to expect.  I'm not worried about the problem of 
picking it apart again after the handkerchief disentegrates - I don't plan to 
use this on a daily basis!!  Part of the appeal to me is to hold the finished 
object and know that 300 - 400 years ago, someone once held a handkerchief very 
much like this and it was considered as valuable as a gem.  The thread and the 
handkerchief fabric aren't linen because we can't get fine linen today.  But 
otherwise, it is a faithful reproduction.  

Clay

 

--
Clay Blackwell 
Lynchburg, VA USA 


-- Original message -- 
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 

> 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) 
> 
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> To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: 
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Re: [lace] Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?

2007-12-11 Thread robinlace
 [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

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RE: [lace] Hand or machine

2007-12-11 Thread Lynn Scott
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

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RE: [lace] Hand or machine

2007-12-11 Thread Noelene Lafferty
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.

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Re: [lace] Hand or machine- emerging sensibilities?

2007-12-11 Thread Laceandbits
"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

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Re: [lace] Re: lace Hand or Machine

2007-12-11 Thread Brenda Paternoster
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

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[lace] Re: lace Hand or Machine

2007-12-10 Thread Joy Beeson

On 12/9/07 6:35 PM, Daphne Martin wrote:


She finally decided that sewing machines were not around
when our sister lacemakers made lace for a living. If
they had been I feel they would have used them.


They would have been too poor to afford them.

And the lacemakers didn't mount the lace -- they sold it.

So the question isn't what's authentic, but what does 
justice to one's lace.  If you like the appearance

(as established on practice scraps), and if you can do it
without damaging the lace, go for it -- hand or machine.

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.

--
Joy Beeson
http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/
http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/
http://n3f.home.comcast.net/ -- Writers' Exchange
west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A.
where the freezing rain is gone and we still have a thin
cover of snow.

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Re: [lace] Hand or machine

2007-12-10 Thread robinlace
Once again, I think it's time to remember that there really aren't any "lace 
police" who will confiscate our work 

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.

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Re: [lace] Hand or machine

2007-12-10 Thread clayblackwell
Once again, I think it's time to remember that there really aren't any "lace 
police" who will confiscate our work and destroy it if it has been worked or 
finished in non-traditional ways!  It really is a matter of personal choice - 
every step of the way - and if the end result pleases you, then continue to do 
it that way.   In my opinion, the only time you would want to stick to specific 
techniques would be if the piece you're working will be judged, either in 
competition or to meet requirements of proficiency.  Otherwise, do it however 
it gives you the most pleasure.

Clay

--
Clay Blackwell 
Lynchburg, VA USA 


-- Original message -- 
From: "Jean Nathan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 

> I agree that if you can't mount by hand, the a sewing machine is fine. If 
> you can't do it by hand because of dexterity problems, then neat sewing 
> machine mounting is much better than poor hand sewn mounting. 
> 
> If it was a piece of lace that I though was special (like the garter for my 
> niece's wedding) then I'd wait until I felt I could do a good job by hand if 
> that would be likely to happen, or have some else mount it for me. 
> 
> Depends on the lace and what it's for. 
> 
> Jean in Poole, Dorset, UK 
> 
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