On Sun 15 Jun 2003 (18:23:59), [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >Brenda: > >Could you please do me a favor and tell me if there are linen thread >sizes in Fresia and Bockens that are equivalent in wraps/cm to Egyptian >and Brok cotton thread sizes 70/2 through 120/2? Most of the altar >linen I need to darn would be best matched by a linen version of cotton >thread that is between 100/2 and 120/2 in weight.
The finest Fresia is (was) 140/2 which is 36 wraps/cm the same as Brok 60/2 The finest Bockens is 120/2, 34 wraps/cm so marginally thicker. > >All I have from what you sent me and what is on your web site is that >both Fresia and Bok 100/2 are about the same thickness as standard >sewing thread. With Anne's samples, it looked as if Londerry 80 or 100 >might conceivably do the coarsest of the altar linen (which has three >or four different weaves). Fresia 120/2 or Bockens 120/2 compare in thickness to "ordinary (3ply) sewing thread" Brok 100/2 at 56 wraps/cm is quite a bit thinner. > >Sue sent me a bunch of Egyptian thread samples, and Anne Toney, who is >on the Lace List, lives in Austin and manages to go to the same church >I do and sing in the same choir, brought her notebook to church today. > It contains absolutely everything imaginable but the finer linen >threads. I compared threads to the altar linen. > >First thing I noticed is that, beginning darner that I am, I could >really use linen thread. There is a huge difference in texture >between the linen thread samples and the linen thread of the altar >linen, and cotton thread. The cotton thread is smooth (Egyptian cotton) >or evenly and tightly wound (other cotton threads) while every linen >thread or fiber that I looked at reminded me of one of those toy >plastic necklaces for babies. Kind of like beads on very thick >string or plastic. > The very nature of linen means that it is slubbed - much less even than cotton threads, regardless of the quality. >Linen thread looks easier to handle for darning, too. It is crisper, >easier to pick up, and feels likely to stay where and how I put it. > I would especially particularly have trouble filling in the space with >fine and smooth Egyptian cotton. Paradoxically, I would find the >stiffer, ropier, more tightly wound and coarser cotton threads people >are telling me are the last thing I want, like Cordonnet, and Madeira, >easier to work with. (Cordonnet apparently is not at all fine.) DMC Cordonnet is differetn again - it's a doulble plied thread intended for crochet or tatting. At first sight it looks like a 3 ply thread but each of those plies is itself a 2 ply thread, so really Cordonnet is a 6ply. The finest size now available is 100, at 32 wraps/cm it is the thickness of Sylko 50 > >Do I correctly understand that any long fiber thread is going to be >more like Egyptian cotton thread than like the sort of thread I am >looking for? The length of the fibres in a cotton thread depends on the variety of cotton it comes from, and that depends on where it was grown. The longest fibres are from Sea Island cotton, followed by Egyptian, then American and shortest of all is Indian cotton. Good quality brands (Brok, Madeira, DMC etc) are usually Egyptian. > >I did some practice darning (with fine polyester thread) - and I wnat >thread that is going to tend to stay where I put it, as for instance, >leaving a loop at each end for shrinkage, and that is going to be easy >to see and to pick up with my needle as I am weaving through fine >threads that are very close together. Linen is less slippery than cotton (especially mercerised cotton) but unless you can find a source of old linen thread you won't get anything finer than ordinary Sylko > Brenda http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/paternoster/ Supporting the [EMAIL PROTECTED] campaign -- Brenda & Terry Paternoster http://users.argonet.co.uk/users/paternoster/ Supporting the [EMAIL PROTECTED] campaign - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED]
