Thank you Sally and Jeri for your helpful information I have printed it out so that I will have it ready for when the lace is completed and ready to assemble Happy lacing Sue M Harvey Norfolk UK
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Sally Schoenberg Sent: 01 August 2006 23:27 To: [email protected]; Sue Subject: Re: [lace] mangling at the Montreal Convention Sue asked.... > Silly question time, I am at present making a linen tablecloth edging with > a > very expensive piece of Irish linen centre piece, before mangling the lace > do I still have to wash it in the normal way or is it mangled straight off > the pillow I would hate to get any distortion on the lace after all the > time > it has taken to make it. > I wash my lace in barely warm water with a little dishwashing liquid and rinse a couple of times. It is important to get the lace thoroughly wet. Put the lace in a towel and roll it up. Let the lace rest in the towel 30 minutes to blot out most of the water. Mangle on a smooth hard surface with a rolling pin, moving the lace around so it is rolled in all directions until it is the correct shape. I judge the shape entirely by eye. Trust your eyes, they know more then you realize. If there's room, let the lace lie flat to dry or hang it up. Do not ever put linen in the dryer. The lace is a lot stronger then you think. It is a weaver's maxim that, while individual threads may snap easily, groups of threads are very strong and do fine under pressure. I warp my loom with a warping trapeze. Don't worry about the details, you just need to know that the warp threads hang freely 8 feet down off the trapeze in bundles of 150 threads or more. I weight the bundles with 5 or sometimes 10 lb weights without anything snapping. Lace is not much different from handwovens. One thing I can guarantee is that your lace will be distorted and will have the hand of tailoring interfacing if you DON'T mangle it. When it's washed and dried without mangling, it'll look like a bedraggled rag. If you still are afraid to mangle your linen lace, get some linen and mangle it for practice. Or, use those linen dish towels, wash them, and mangle them. Or, you might contact some handweavers in your town and talk to them. They might be able to talk to you about mangling, and show you examples of before and after mangling. Or, you might make a small length of linen lace and practice mangling it. PS. I would wash the linen for the tablecloth and wash the linen lace separately, mangle them and let them dry, and then put the two together. I would make the lace the size I wanted, then cut the linen to fit the lace. That's what I do with handkerchiefs. You're very courageous to make lace for a tablecloth. I tip my hat to you! Sally - 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]
