Can anyone tell me if there is a way to estimate how much thread to put on a
bobbin?
I have just started in bobbin lace (formerly a tatter) and always seem to get
way too much thread left at the end.
Winding too much is preferable to running short an inch before the end... :)
This said, you don't want to end up with *way* too much, either -- it's a waste of resources (though there are always those small projects where you can get rid of the excess, "profitably", instead of discarding it)
Hopefully, your pattern/s will have come equipped with a diagram; look at it closely (blow it up, if necessary), and try following the paths of the various threads. You'll estimate the amount of thread needed on the basis of the pair's *function*.
While areas of half-stitch are a bit of a "wild card" in general, the "rule" is this: THE PAIRS WHICH MOVE LATERALLY USE MORE THREAD THAN THOSE WHICH MOVE VERTICALLY. Sorry for the shouting :)
So.
A straight (cloth stitch) passive in the footside will need only a little bit more (plus the "leash" on the bobbin; that's a "given" in all situations) than its "real length" on the pricking; if your project is 10" long, wind 11"+"leash" per bobbin, and you're home dry... Unless you break the thread and need to "patch" it :) Add at least 4" for breakage. Add another 4" for finishing, if you're going to use a needle-woven method; that and the 4-6" of the "leash" will give you enough "room to maneuver". Since you're a novice at BL, you might want to allow for *two* breaks... :) A *twisted* passive in the same position will need a bit more thread -- each twist takes up some; say pricking length and a quarter per bobbin.
A straight passive *in a fan* will need more thread than a straight passive in the foot because it doesn't travel in a straight line; going around in circles (even if only half) is more thread-consuming (a twisted passive in a fan will use even more). If you're *really* "anal-retentive" (or on a very short string, financially), notice that the fan passives on the outer edges use more thread than those on the inside -- the inside ones make less of a detour than the outer ones. Still, even for the outer fan passives you don't need more than length and a half on a longer project (twice, maximum, on a short -- bookmark type -- one). Or, you can *measure* the path of the outer passive on a single fan, add about 1/8" (for safety), multiply by the number of repeats, and add the "safeguards" (that's what I used to do, early on)
Pairs which make honecombs should be considered as twisted passives -- they travel down in an almost straight line, but with a few more twists on the way. Pairs which make rose ground will differ (depending on the particular "rose" used) as will the ones used for spiders (the bigger the spider, the longer the thread) but, in general, twice the length of the pricking or a bit less (plus all the "safeguards" - leash, breakage, finishing) ought to be sufficient.
The real "thread gluttons" are the *workers*... If you can, on your diagram, isolate the worker pair (say, for the fan, or for the cloth/half stitch motifs within), wind 4times the length of the pricking for that pair, and expect to run short... :) As you progress in your BL, you'll learn that it's possible to swap an "exhausted" worker bobbin for an overwound passive one (one at a time, please <g>), to make all of them reach the end of a project with no more than 6-12" of the thread left.
Another "thread glutton" is the weaver of tallies; every time it goes to work, you have to figure 6" of thread *minimum* (more, most often). It's easy to "twiddle" workers in leaf-shaped tallies, which start at a point; somewhat more difficult in square ones.
It's relatively easy to estimate how much thread is needed if you're making something in Torchon, where the individual pair paths are fairly obvious. It gets progressively worse as you move to more complex laces (though some are still more "bitchy" than others). Eventually, you'll learn to overwind by just a bit, and that little bit will no longer bother you... :)
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Tamara P Duvall
Lexington, Virginia, USA
Formerly of Warsaw, Poland
http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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