In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, alice howell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes "When the slightly domed 'cookie' pillow was developed, the spangled bobbin was developed to lay better on the pillow..... If a person has a sore thumb or can't squeeze anything, this process is difficult to do with comfort or speed."
Then Annette in London asked: "The bolster pillow - is that a sausage- shaped (cylindrical) pillow, with the bobbins hanging of it? Can this be used to make Torchon and Bucks Point?" and Ann-Marie suggested: "Do consider a roller pillow for making lace in length, you wont have to move the lace up as when you use a block pillow. Just go round and around" I was rather under the impression that spangled, Midland bobbins were developed before the cookie pillow, rather than afterwards - certainly there are a number of bolster pillows in the museums in the East Midlands which have Midlands bobbins on them, and various old photos show the same - I don't think I have seen anything to suggest that cookie pillows are older than 20th century, but I may be wrong. (I can't get at my books to check at the moment). So, if 19th century lacemakers were making lace with spangled bobbins on bolster pillows, I don't see any reason why Annette can't do likewise now. Last year at OIDFA, being somewhat captive audience to the Finnish pillow stand (I was on The Lace Guild's stand, next to them), I went mad, and splashed out on one of their travel roller pillows. This, now, is my favourite pillow, whether travelling or not! As I already have sufficient (yes, I know you can never have enough!) Midlands travel bobbins, I negotiated buying the pillow without the continentals they were selling with it. I had always thought that if you had velvet on the pillow, and, as we have, two cats around the place, you would have problems with bits and cat fur getting into the lace - this doesn't appear to be the case. Neither does the velvet shed. The roller is made from tightly wound felt (probably the engineering kind), and unlike my other (SMP) roller pillow with its polystyrene roller, has stood up to continuous working without the problem of using the same pinhole in the pillow over and over again - it does appear to self-heal. The other thing I like about it is the speed of moving up - the roller is controlled by a ratchet type system rather than being held in place by ribbon-braids and pins. For long lengths (I'm working two and a half yards of edging to go round the hem of a petticoat - adapted from one of the first set of patterns from Retournac) it is better than using my block pillow, as I don't have to keep moving pattern pieces. I use my block pillow more for pieces that are too long to be worked on a cookie pillow, or need to be worked in more than one direction (like the body and legs on my Giles the dog bookmark) - I'm not fanatical over flat pillows. As to picking up the bobbins - I tend to find that quite often I start off picking up between index finger and thumb, but move naturally to bending my index and middle fingers and picking the bobbin up between them. I haven't had problems with my wrists from making lace, but a few years ago when I was working about eight hours a day for a month on one of my City & Guilds projects (a Bucks pillow case edging), I had RSI type pains in my right shoulder from the movement of taking the pins from the pincushion and putting them in place - switching to using my left hand for that job helped, but was incredibly difficult to do as I am right handed! While I have been typing this we have had a fairly decent shower of rain - much to Bobbin's disgust (our elder cat) - after yesterday, when I spent the day demonstrating in a very hot marquee, it is very welcome! One couple came up and told me about their discovery of lace (and bobbins) that had been made by his great, great grandmother and her family in the museum in Budleigh Salterton (?sp) in Devon - I think he said the family name was Pile - something to look out for if we holiday down there again. I had one lady ask if I was tatting (but corrected herself quickly when I started to explain the difference) and a man ask if what I was making (Honiton) was Welsh or Nottingham lace! Great fun! -- Jane Partridge (Tamworth, England) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
