Hallo Tamara and all spiders, Reference which bobbins to use for Milanese, I have only made two pieces of Milanese to date and have used my usual Midlands spangled bobbins with no trouble at all. The second piece I have just finished ( the peacock from New Braids and Designs in Milanese Lace by Read/Kinkaid ) I am very pleased to say that I won the competition cup on Saturday at the Norfolk Lacemakers Laceday, I was so pleased so please excuse the brag. Sue M Harvey Norfolk UK where the sun is shining but it is still quite cold.
From: "Tamara P. Duvall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "lace Arachne" <lace@arachne.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 2:47 AM Subject: [lace] Re: Bobbins for Milanese > On Mar 7, 2005, at 16:51, Mary Robi wrote: > > > I'm about to start learning Milanese (I hope some day to do Tamara's > > swan.) > > Flattered, thanks. > > > I'm wondering which bobbins to use. I want a smooth bobbin and have > > been looking at rosaline bobbins? They look great for sewings, but are > > they too heavy for milanese? I've also looked at swiss bobbins. Are > > they too light for milanese? > > Unless you're planning to work on a bolster pillow, the weight of the > bobbins doesn't matter much. On a flat pillow or even a slightly domed > cookie, the bobbins are supported by the pillow, so they don't put > stress on the thread, even if they're heavy. You do the tensionsioning, > not the gravity. > > As for bobbins being too light... If you've always worked with > Midlands, any unspangled bobbin is likely to feel a bit "funny" at > first. But you get used to it fairly quickly, though I admit that I > prefer the slightly heavier ones to the lighter ones (one of the > reasons I designed my own). > > Whether you'll get used to the rolling quality of the so-called > "Continental" bobbins is something else. I never did learn how to > control more than 2-3 pairs of those with any degree of comfort, which > is another reason I have mine made to order (squares). > > I think, more than the weight of the bobbin I'd consider its > construction. As Claire pointed out, Milanese can be done with spangled > bobbins. It *is* done with Midlands by Pat Read, who is, probably, the > final authority on present day Milanese. Personally, I found making > sewings with spangled bobbins totally frustrating (even before I came > to Milanese and finer threads), which is when I started re-inventing > this particular wheel (my first "frequent tie-rs" had round bodies, not > square ones, which is how I know I have problems with rolling bobbins. > I may yet use them again, if I ever get myself a bolster pillow, where > rolling's not as much of a problem). > > And Milanese lace can be made with bobbins which have a single head. > Again, I found working with single-headed bobbins more trouble than it > was worth; I like to be able to *see* that my double hitch is all > present and correct. And, with frequent sewings, when there's little or > no tension on the thread, half of the hitch likes to slip once in a > while. And lengthening/shortening is easier if the hitch is separate > from the rest. True, you can wind your thread further down on the neck > and hitch close to the head, but... I definitely prefer a double head > (such as in the Swiss bobbins). > > > How about the "new international squares"? > > If you mean the ones on Holly Van Sciver's webpage, they'd be fine. > They may be a bit on the light side - the neck is very long, which > means a lot of weight has been removed from the bobbin right there, and > then there's been another big gob removed from the "waist" of it. But > they're made of pear wood, which is dense, very pleasant to handle, and > gets smoother with use (unlike some woods which respond to the sweat in > my hands with raised grain). Also, they *do* have a double head and > they're very reasonably priced :) > > I have a small set - 9 pairs - of an earlier version of those and it > seems to me that, in comparison to the photo on the website, the head > has been improved a bit (sharper definition). But even with the old > head, they'd been very nice to work with, even with thicker threads (I > used to use them for Russian Tape, since I only had 9 prs and dislike > working with mixed weights/shapes). If you'd like, you can have them - > free, since I got them free myself and no longer use them. Then, all > you'd need is 2 dozen from Holly and you're all set for most Milanese > projects - even the Swan, which, at one point, uses 23 pairs all at > once... :) > > -- > Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/ > Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland) > > - > To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: > unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
