I'm working my way through the Nobecourt/Potin book on
Bayeux Lace, Yesterday's Lace for Today, and I've come across a question. How
do most of you handle lots of small, separate gimp rings? [...]
Do you work these rings with the gimp on a bobbin? I can't
imagine how else but even with putting just enough thread onto one bobbin to
keep it on it seems to waste a lot of thread.
If your gimp thread is either scarce or expensive, you can cut down on the waste by about 4-6" per ring.
Wind one bobbin full of gimp thread. Wind the other gimp bobbin with some "throwaway" thread. You can, for example, use something left over from a previous project, or thread that's cheap/easily available, as long as it's reasonably sturdy. My favourite for the purpose is the tatting thread (80); somehow, a thread that's more than 2-ply seems to work better (for me).
Tie your gimp thread to the "throwaway" thread with the lacemaker's/weaver's knot and cut both ends short. Wind off enough gimp from the full bobbin to make a hitch and to allow for about inch of the "leash" (thread between the lace and the head of the bobbin) on the other one. That's about 1.5-2" of gimp all told, as opposed to at least 6" (depending on the length of the "leash") you'd need if you wound the second bobbin "cold", from scratch. It is, however, more than enough to surround a half of a small (6-pin) ring, to cross and secure the two gimps, and to leave a "tail" that's long enough to grab and cut flush with the lace later on. Cut off past the knot, on the "throwaway" thread side, lay to the back to deal with later, same as the full bobbin. Repeat as many times as necessary.
Please note (for future use) that the "patched up" gimp will *not* work if the gimp has to make a loop; the knot will not go through the already made stitches and the loop will be impossible to tension (been there, done that <g>). Therefore, on the bobbin which will make a gimp loop, there has to be enough thread to surround the element *and* to make the loop; even if only about half an inch is needed to surround the element, the shortest I've ever been able to get away with was about 9-10" (wasted).
On the up side of learning a new lace I have successfully managed to switch
footsides
Congratulations! It always feels a bit awkward at first, doesn't it? As Pompi Parry said in class (when I suddenly realised that I couldn't remember how to make left-hand picots) -- "makes you feel cack-handed"... :)
Yours, also starting the New Year "right"; a new project was drawn and "dotted" yesterday, "sandwched" and pricked today, will be on the pillow tomorrow. I was alternating between looking into space (trying to decide how I was going to work the pattern) and onto the colour wheel (trying to decide which colours to use), when DH plunked a piece of his pound cake in front of me, to "have with your tea." "And you don't have to look at it as if it were a dead cat" he added. Useless to explain that the "dead cat" in question was a problem trying to fit a square peg into a round hole... Why, oh, why, are there only three primary colours??? I *need four*!!!
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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