On May 15, 2008, at 18:35, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Any hints about using variegated thread successfully? I've been using
some Valdani thread as workers in a piece of Torchon and it's comming
out
in regular stripes - not the effect I wanted at all. Other times I've
used it and the patterns been completely lost and a mess. What's the
trick?
I wonder whether the lack of responses (so far) means that others --
not just me -- dislike variegated thread for BL :)
Variegated thread *can* be used successfully in BL -- vide Christine
Springett's "Fun With Leaves" -- but it's not easy. You're on the right
track -- it's best when used as *either* workers or passives (I,
myself, prefer workers), but not both at the same time. Both at the
same time is what's most likely to produce an overal mess, to the
detriment of the pattern.
The "trick" is to match the distance between the colour changes in the
thread to the distance a pair has to travel in the pricking.
For me, the shorter the distance between the colour changes, the better
results I get; Madeira's "Astro" (metallic) threads -- with about 1"
from one colour to the next -- are very good. But, of course, they're
*thin*, so the pattern itself has to be quite fine (I've found the
Astros and 80/2 cotton work well together; Astros and cotton 50/2 are
OK, though not as effective). See the treatment of "Partridge in a
Pear. Tree" in the 1991-1999 (the outline of the pear and its leaf)
and "With this Ring" (petals of the flowers) in 2000-2003 (URL in the
signature).
Using the variegated thread as the worker in half stitch works better
than in cloth stitch (twist the first worked-through passive twice --
CTT -- to make sure that both threads of the coloured worker reconnect
as a pair on coming back). Pairing a single variegated bobbin with a
"basic" one works nicely also, depending on how strongly you want that
variegated to show. Agin, you might have to make some adjustments --
via the number of twists -- to make sure that that single thread is
always the leading one.
Another "trick" which would prevent the formation of solid stripes is
how you wind and hang in. Unless you're making one of the patterns from
the above mentioned Springett book, do not hang the bobbins so that the
hanging-in pin is at the colour change; hang them so that the colour
breaks are random -- about mid-way through the colour change distance.
That way, they'll start as two threads of the same colour but will
diverge almost immediately, pairing -- say -- blue with pink and green
with silver, at a less regular pace. Tensioning (and faults in same)
will take care of further divergences, so that the colour pairing will
change as the work progresses.
Can't help specifically on Valdani -- have never worked with it -- but
I see that Patty has chimed in on it. Hope that, between the two of us,
you'll be able to glean enough info to be of use to you.
PS Congratulations on breaking through the posting barrier; 'puters are
like "the girl with a curl in the middle of her forhead"; when they're
good, they're very, very good. But, when they're bad, they're HORRID!!!
--
Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/
Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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