HI Penny,
Christine Springetts latest book Lace for Special Occasions has both a
simple garter and horseshoe pattern. The garter is made with just one strip
of lace in white with a blue edge and the footside has a strip of blue satin
ribbin folded and stitched to form a channel to take the elastic. This might
be the quickest of garters to make as it is just one simple strip, all the
other patterns I have seen for garters have been two strips of the same
pattern side by side with a join up the middle to thread ribbon through.
Christine's horseshoe is a simple torchon ground with whole stitch heart
shapes and a fan edge. This is in white and blue thread and backed by a
silver horseshoe. There are also lace headdresses, a lace flowery shoe
decoration, a lace edging to put at the back of the bride's posy, greetings
cards with heart shapes on them, pictures with hearts in them bearing the
names of the happy couple, place cards with lace edging, lots of projects
specially for weddings
Christine's book Lace for Children of All Ages also has a horseshoe which is
made mostly in honeycomb stitch she makes it in white thread with a blue
gimp round the edges. I make mine in Silver coloured Gold Rush thread
instead of the white but still add the blue gimp round the edges. Then
instead of fixing the horseshoe to a card horseshoe, which are just not
available here in Spain, I stiffen mine with a special liquid called Stiffy
giving it a couple of coats on the back of the lace and leaving it to dry
thoroughly between coats pinned to a pricking board that I cover with a bit
of cling film first.
From the same book I make 3 of the little flowers that Christine uses for
Alice bands and cards, I add a tiny pearl seed bead to the centre. The
flowers are simply and strip of whole stitch that has an uneven scallop
along it's edge then these are gathered up tight to form a little flower.
The flower pattern is in 3 sizes and you could make the large and the small
sizes and layer them with the smaller one on top of the large to make a
fuller flower adding a seed bead to the centre. I drew up a leaf shape on
a scrap of pricking card and added pin holes neatly around the edge of it
for a leaf pricking, so long as you have the holes more or less equidistant
from each other and an equal number per side it doesn't have to be perfect.
I make 3 leaves in green, you can add a vein if you want down the centre of
each.
You can make 3 flowers and 3 leaves in an evening especially if you wind and
tie your bobbins so that re-winding them for the next flower or leaf is much
quicker, and you don't waste so much thread into the bargain.
I stiffen the lot with Stiffy giving the leaves a bit of a bend in them to
make them look more realistic, again pinning them with a couple pins to a
plastic covered pricking board, and pulling up the petal shape of the
flowers to make them slightly cupped. I then carefully attach the flowers
and leaves to the horseshoe stitching them with thin white thread and making
tiny stitches to make them as invisible as possible on the back side. Add a
blue satin handle and hide the ribbon ends with two little satin bows. The
whole horseshoe only takes a maximum of 5 evenings from start to finish
including drying time for the stiffening liquid.
You being in England would be able to buy a card horseshoe to fix the lace
horseshoe to in the way Christine does and could maybe just stiffly starch
the flowers and leaves, but the starch might make them go whitish in colour,
Stiffy dries clear.
I can let you have a photo of my most recent horseshoe that I made in this
way but as I don't have a webpage I would have to send it as an attachment
to you off list. I haven't yet made one from the Special Occasions book.
SMP Lace in Bucks England sells all of Christine Springetts books and will
take credit card payments if you phone with your details. I have ordered
and received books in this way here to Spain within a week of ordering them
from SMP. http://www.smplace.co.uk/ You could e.mail him first to check he
has a copy in stock and ask about speed of sending out your order. Both
books are more expensive from Amazon than they are from SMP at present.
You might find Stiffy in craft shops, I bought mine years ago in a little
craft shop in Chipping Sodbury Gloucestershire so you should find it in
larger craft shops etc. I need to buy another bottle of stiffy but each time
I go to the UK I always forget it when shopping. The tea bags and Marmite
take precedence on the shopping list.
Good Luck
Jenny DeAngelis.
Spain.
<<Help please, does anyone have a pattern for a simple lace horseshoe for a
wedding. I have been asked to make one for a friend's daughter, along with
a garter and I only have 6 weeks to finish both. However I don't have a
horseshoe pattern.>>
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