Ok, now I have another question, what kind of thread is used, I have used DMC
what I usually use for cross stitch, and I have used tatting or crochet
thread, (I like the strength of that.) I am sorry to be such a bother.
It's no bother at all -- the problems associated with thread choice are something we *all* agonise over with every project... :) But that's exactly the point: the threads *change* from project to project; there is no "one size fits all" solution.
Each new project is likely to call for a different thread (though some authors of *books* try to limit the choice to one or two threads which will "serve" all the projects in the particular book). Naturally, 9 times out of 10, the recommended thread is *the* one we don't have (though we have a roomfull of others) and can't get (for various reasons)...
If that happens (ie, the recommended thread is not in your stash) you have, essentially, two choices: 1) you can find a substitute *thread* from your stash (same thickness, or close) and make the pattern as is, or 2) you can *re-scale the pattern* to fit the thread you do have. Both "solutions" have advantages and disadvantages (long story; better not un-leash me on the subject <g>), and there are cases (especially where two different thicknesses of thread are used in the original pattern) where *neither* "solution" is very satisfactory.
Whichever path you choose, and however much you have to "trim the pattern to the fabric" (to use a Polish phrase) -- that is, no matter how much you have to skimp *elsewhere*... Get Brenda Paternoster's "Threads for lace, edition 2" booklet
http://users.argonet.co.uk/users/paternoster/threads/threads.html
It'll let you substitute one thread for another, and *across fibers*, too. It's also helpful (with some extra calculations) in re-scaling patterns to suit the threads.
And, if youre still "howling in the wilderness" (to use another Polish phrase <g>) as I had been the first 7 yrs of my "lacemakng career" -- no teacher in sight, not even another lacemaker in vicinity... *Another* book you "have to have" -- even if you have to milk your Santa dry <g> -- is Bridget Cook's "Practical Skills in Bobbin Lace".
When I first started learning (in '89), Practical Skills was the *only* "leg" I had to hop on; Brenda's book of threads was not available then, and neither was Arachne (which started in April of '95)... It is, now, possible to cut many corners because of Arachne but, IMO, those are the two books that should be carried away "from a burning house", if one's serious about lacemaking. *And* both are inexpensive; Brenda's is self-published and The Cook Book is vailable via Dover
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
- To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
