Noelene wrote: Somewhere in the depths of my addled brain I recall when discussing this topic before, someone mentioned that if you use too large a needle in your pricker, that your lace will ride up the pins? Is this right?
I used to have this trouble, but not recently. But a friend of mine has just finished a wide edging which seemed to want to climb right up to the top of her pins, and we really can't figure out why. Flat pillow, side angled pins (maybe not angled enough, but the work really did want to fly up like never before with same pillow and pinning method) Another "incidental" - does anyone else have the same problem? if I work in linen, I find I have to put the half hitch around the notch at the top of the bobbin, then the linen thread can be eeasily released. But if I do this in cotton, the thread is continually slipping off, and I find I have to put the half hitch on top of the wound thread itself. ===================================================== Hi Spiders (especially newbies) Last year when I had Beds clas with Holly Van Sciver at IOLI, I was having some problems with the thread riding up. Almost in passing, she mentioned something to the effect of "let's see about your pin placement". The point of our discussion was that, especially in this particular Beds cuff, where the thread paths are everywhere at once, each pin has to deal with the threads meeting at that particular place. And I found myself angling the pin, ever so slightly and ever so differently at each pin. You know when you have it right, because the lace just seems to squat down flat on the pricking. Usually I was "encouraging" the pin just off vertical to the back and then just off vertical in the opposite direction to the direction of travel of the pairs meeting at that pin(Pretty much left or right). The edge pins are tilted to a much greater degree than this "encouragement". And when all else fails, sink the pins to the pricking. I like rollers because they almost automat! ically get you to place your pins correctly. What I do when I re-tension levitating lace is to pull the pin out not quite all the way and just twiddle it until the lace squats down, then put the pin back in at whatever angle works. Over time, you get the control to just make very slight adjustments, so your pins are almost vertical and don't interfere with each other. Another thing that enters my mind is that very short leashes to the bobbins can simply not allow the thread to lay flat enough to the pricking, especially as you get to the bottom of the pillow. I always have less trouble with longer rather than shorter leashes. This is a pretty subjective, individual thing (as I bow to the Duchess Tamara, famous for liking very short leashes), but it wouldn't hurt to try. Prickings that start rising off the pillow usually have overtensioning as the culprit. If the pins are bowing in, then you really know that's your problem. Since natural plant fiber threads (cotton and linen) don't stretch, something has to give if there is too much tension. I think a rising pricking would be more sensitive to pinholes that are pricked with a hole larger than the pin. Then there wouldn't be much friction to hold the pricking down. As far as the linen vs. cotton issue, I find that linen takes one wrap on the half hitch and cotton usually two wraps. If you don't have a double headed bobbin and have to put your half hitch on the thread itself, there is a way to help prevent the hitch from digging into the thread. When winding the thread onto the bobbin, I wind from top to bottom very closely and then take the thread from bottom to top in a single turn. This leaves a vertical thread on the bobbin that prevents the half hitch from digging into the layer beneath it. I alternate the close horizontal layer with a single vertical thread. I find it helps a lot with sticky linen. (Note to newbies: linen thread has slubs, especially in the larger sizes and simply feels a little sticky compared to cotton threads) Well, I am just full of advice and opinions this afternoon, aren't I? Analytically . . . Patty Dowden - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
