On Friday 12 January 2007 12:51 am, Robin Netherton wrote: [snip] > Sometimes you see a criss-cross pattern in styles that are normally > associated with spiral lacing (e.g. 14th century fitted dresses). In the > cases I'm thinking of, this is not done with a modern criss-cross, but > with two spirals going in opposite directions. This creates a pattern of > connected X's (or diamonds, if you like) down the visible side, and a row > of "dashes" on the inside. It is very, very strong, and also doesn't have > the issue of the sides going slightly offset from each other as with a > single spiral lace, because the two laces are counterbalancing each other. > Also, with this sort of double-spiral lace, each lace goes through all the > holes, rather than skipping in zigzags the way modern criss-cross lacing > does, so it is very different from a modern criss-cross in several ways. > However, I've seen people point to the occasional double-spiral pattern on > a medieval brass as an example of criss-cross lacing. It isn't.
Right. Jen Thompson has a good discussion of spiral lacing, with pictorial examples and discussion, here: http://www.festiveattyre.com/research/lacing/lacing.html -- Cathy Raymond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "A civilized society is one which tolerates eccentricity to the point of doubtful sanity." --Robert Frost _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
