In a message dated 7/27/05 6:38:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> it isn't the problem with it slipping > out of stitch while the piece is still being worked. it is the > loosening of the stitches once the wax has faded that i am worried > about. once the lace is washed a few times and the thread becomes > thinner, it will slip a little. this would defintely mess up a picot. > > Dear Lacemakers, As many know, I have washed a lot of lace. It is not noticible that "it will slip a little" if it is a standard lace, and not an experiment. Experienced lacemakers allow for shrinkage, sometimes by making a small sample to test, if it is a new thread to them. If it is a weak lace, as suztq fears, it may fall apart for many reasons. My observation is that a weak lace (either through poor techniques or poor threads) would not have been "saved" by waxed threads for any length of time! Lace has been made for 5+ centuries by thousands and thousands (surely over a million) lacemakers who have refined the process through the centuries. It was known from the beginning, I am sure, that picots would close up in water and that if one wanted to restore them to original shape it was necessary to make lace of a scale that they could be pinned out when the lace was drying. In antique laces, closed picots is one way I can tell if a lace has been washed - an advantage, because then I automatically know it can be washed again (other conditions being considered), without having to "test" it!! And then, it is up to me whether to pin it out. Part of the instructions to new lacemakers is to leave a new bobbin lace on the pillow overnight so the last few inches of crosses and twists will "set" and keep their definition. This is probably because the teachers know that many new lacemakers have not established the correct tension yet. Hopefully, a teacher will have specified an appropriate thread. The professional lacemakers of Europe would have put their pillows right to work on a new lace. Once a piece of lace was complete, it was quite necessary to start another. They depended on the lace made each day for their daily bread, while we have time to "play" with it. While it is nice to be inventive, it is wise to first learn what has been done successfully. I recommend reading more of the history of laces, which is quite affordable on the Professor's web site, before coming up with something that lacemakers before us have surely tried and discarded as being unnecessary or impractical. The subject of wax reminds me of the story Angela Thompson told us about a carefully stored beaded gown of probably the early 20th C. Mice got into the box in her storage closet, and they chewed on the waxed threads (usually used for beading because of strength and less possibility of beads cutting the thread) for nourishment. The beaded dress became a pile of beads and tiny pieces of waxless thread! Waxed lace, applied to some delicate fabrics, could mean staining of the fabrics, because you have not considered storage conditions and climate differences in different nations -- Arachne is an *International* list! Consider that wax is quite hard to remove. If you've ever tried to get candle wax out of table cloths, you can understand (one reason why I always recommend white candles - not brightly-colored ones)! By the way (for people who have never taken home economics classes) thread is wound on spools so that the cut end will be inserted into the needle on a sewing machine. You should also insert that cut end into a sewing needle eye to keep the thread from twisting and knotting up when you hand-sew. Otherwise, you are hand sewing against the grain of the thread. If you are using up sewing machine bobbin threads, reverse the end you put in your hand sewing needle. If any of this information I keep putting on Arachne is of value, once in a while I'd love to hear from some one or two of the 1,200(?) lurkers on the Arachne list. Same goes for the other responders who keep trying to be of help - if they hear from you, they know their time is of value. Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace & Embroidery Resource Center - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
