My current project isn't making lace. I've just finished a fan edge from La Encajera, and used a 22 inch flat, round pillow. I don't like moving lace, so I don't. Although the pricking fitted on the pillow with a couple of inches spare at the edges, the bobbins still hung over the edge at the beginning and the end, which made them very tricky to handle. As I would find it very difficult to reach the other side of a 24 inch pillow, I decided I needed something to support the bobbins when making something when the pricking only just fitted the pillow. So I'm in the middle of making a pillow extension. I use the SMP type pillow stand with a peg that fits into a hole in the centre of the base of the pillow.
I marked the outline of the pillow on a piece of quarter inch MDF, and then drew parallel lines from the top and the bottom of the circle for about 12 inches. I then drew an arc of a 34 inch diameter circle using the centre of the pillow circle to meet the parallel lines, so it added 6 inches to one side. I rounded off where the arc meets the parallel lines. DH cut it out and I drilled the hole in the middle of the circle. I found some one inch and 2 inch polystyrene insulation boards at Wickes (builders merchant) - the only place I've ever managed to find anything else that might be suitable. The only problem is that the boards were 2 feet wide by 8 feet long - more than a bit too long to fit in the car. The staff wouldn't cut it in half for me, so, after paying for it, I ran the blade of a pair of scissors I had with me down it, and broke it in half. After all I only need a piece about 12 inches by 22 inches. I'm sure the rest will come in handy for something. I've cut a brown paper pattern of the shape I need, and this morning, I'm going to cut the polystyrene to fit the extension part, cover it in felt and then dark blue polycotton, and then stick it in the appropriate place on the MDF. I might put a shape in th MDF where the parallel lines met the pillow circle to save having a pointed bit of polystyrene at that point, but will decide that when I do it. To use it, when necessary, I'll put the extension board on the pillow stand - the peg sticks through by over a quarter of an inch - and then put the pillow on top of that. I can turn the pillow within the extended shape, and I can rotate the extension base to where I want it - left or right and at any angle. It will also make my circular pillow almost and oval one, if a project ever calls for that. It means I only have to use it when I get to the part where the bobbins are hanging over the edge. I made it the diameter of the complete pillow plus the extension so that it hasn't got all the weight on one side, which would make the stand fall over. It works well without the polystyrene stuck in place, so should work with it. Jean in Poole - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED]
