Some thoughts and free advice: For teaching very beginners, use the best you can find for materials, else they are fighting with substitutes for the real thing, and that can be off-putting. If you don't have many in the class, you could have two people sharing real lace (cookie) pillows - one person facing the other to use available pillow surface for a short bookmark, if table and chair space allows. It might be better at first just to have one 'have-a-go' pillow for them all to try. If they are keen after having a try with the 'real stuff' then they might be more likely to put up with temporary equipment, and you can go ahead with the toilet paper roll pillow, or the stacked meat tray idea for a little project. If using a roll of t.p. at least wrap a layer of wool fabric around, and cotton on top of that. Or, they might be so keen they'd like to make their own pillows, then you're off and running ;)
A while ago I taught a group of 20 handspinners to make plaits - the simplest easiest BL element I could think of, without pillows and bobbins - we taped 4 threads in front of each of them at the table at which they were sitting (fortunately a 'crafting' table) and they made long plaits with thick metallic and cotton. Tied end to end, a friendship bracelet; knotted at each end, a bookmark! I explained that the movements they were doing were the most essential to bobbin lace - cross and twist - so, right away the terminology was introduced. But, this was only a taste of what bobbin lace is really like and if they wanted to use the real thing we'd have to have more time and materials (etc.). It was a case of doing what I could with what I had. Good luck. On 3/6/07, Helene Dowler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Everyone, > > I would really love some help. I have been asked to teach a beginner's > lace class for some of the ladies at my church. > I would like to give them a very simple pattern that could be finished > in one session. > -- Bev in Sooke BC (on beautiful Vancouver Island, west coast of Canada) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
