Hi Donna,
<<My daughter and I have decided on a torchon pattern by Louise Colgan that
has mirrored sides with a ribbon running through the centre. The edge of
the lace has hearts which my daughter has decided she wants done in blue in
order to bring in her "bit of blue". I think it will be a pretty effect-at
least I hope so.>>
I recently finished a garter which sounds very similar to your pattern,
though not quite the same one. I don't know who produced the pattern I have
as I only have a photo copy given to me years ago by someone, at least 15yrs
ago. My pattern uses 28prs and 2 pairs gimps and uses No. 50 Cotton Thread,
I used the Spanish made Finca Bolillos no.50 which I can get here very
easily. I used a perle 12 for the gimps in pale Blue.
The two headsides have heart shaped fans to them and these I outlined in the
blue gimp. the other pair of gimps goes around some honeycomb circles in
the ground.
<< The recommended length of the garter is
24". If DD is 21" around the thigh, is that long enough? And if I
remember correctly one can estimate 4 times that length for each bobbin or
approx. 100" of thread needed / bobbin. >>
I made my garter about 36" or so long. Your pattern saying 24" inches
sounds very short to me, you would have hardly anything to gather and the
garter would look starved of lace I think. I have no idea about how much
thread you would need to put on your bobbins to begin with though. It would
depend on the width of the pattern and then how long you decide to make the
strip of lace, of course, and, to some extent, your tension would affect the
length of the thread necessary.
I can recommend the technique, given to me by Arachne listers a few weeks
ago, of using Shirring Elastic to gather the garter once you get it off the
pillow. Thread a medium eyed sewing needle with shirring elastic and pass
it through alternate footside pinholes on each of the two inner footside
edges. Then pull up the elastic carefully to fit comfortably and tie a knot
in the ends. This method leaves the "ladder" up the centre of the garter
free to thread the blue ribbon through which can then be tied in a bow once
the bride is wearing the garter.
Another thing I did was to starch my garter once I had threaded the shirring
elastic through but before I added the ribbon. I found the lace as without
starch was too floppy and didn't show itself of enough, after all my hours
spent making it. I pressed the wet lace in kitchen paper to remove the
excess, then I put the garter over the pointed end of the ironing board so
that it was stretched out quite a bit and ironed it dry using the tip of
the iron to pull the heart shaped fans into shape along the headsides. I
took care not to put the iron over the elasticated footside edges so as not
to damage the elastic.
If you would like to see the photo of my finished garter I can send you a
copy as an attachment but I don't have a web page to add it too.
Perhaps if you find you have lots of shorter pieces of the silk thread left
over you could use them to make some little silk flowers to decorate a
wedding card for your daughter. You can buy plain greetings card in craft
shops quite often and can add your own decoration. If you bought a coloured
card you could add white silk flowers to it, it could look very nice. Make a
couple leaves in a leafy green shade to complete the effect. when I make
flowers for this sort of thing I use a liquid called Stiffy, I believe it
comes from the USA but I bought mine in the UK years ago. You can paint
stiffy on the back of the flowers, pull the petals into shape and leave them
to dry for about 24hours, the same for leaves give them a bit of a curl. I
pin my flowers and leaves to a cork tile, which I previously have covered
with cling film, to hold their shape while they dry. Alternatively make a
silver horseshoe in lace to give to your daughter on her wedding day when
she and her husband come out of the church/registry office. Add some silk
flowers to that as a decoration. I can let you see a photo of the horseshoe
I made for my niece if you would like.
Regards
Jenny DeAngelis
Spain.
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