At 05:37 PM 1/2/2009, Dona Bushong wrote:
...Before leaving Belgium I purchased some lovely white linen yardage with the intention of making lace for a Christening gown.
I've found the perfect pattern by way of Sally Barry's "Luton" books along with her generous input to the NELG newsletter. The newsletter contained both an insert as well as an edging of the same pattern. It's #B.35, Corona, from book 2.
My first question concerns the thread. The pattern calls for Egyptian Cotton 80/2. As I said though, I'm putting this on linen. Does one usually mix fibers for the lace and fabric? I know from knitting and spinning that mixing of fibers can give different results when it comes to laundering. And as I hope this will get passed down from my daughters to their children, will the different fibers age differently? If I should use a linen thread what would be an equivalent? I have a conversion chart but it shows no match for a linen thread in comparison to the Egyptian Cotton 80/2.
My second question concerns the pattern itself - the gimp actually. The pattern calls for 2 pair of gimp and where the "fingers" are I can see where each pair go. What I'm unclear of though, is the gimp around the honeycomb. Does or could one double up the gimp around the honeycomb between each pattern or would it be preferable to start and stop the gimp with each pattern? I'm still in the early planning stage of this project so appreciate any and all advice. Dona in West River, MD (at least for another 6-9 months)
Finding a linen as fine as Egyptian 80/2 would be a great trick. The finest linen I have is 140/2 and it is 46 wraps compared to the Egyptian 80/2 at 50 wraps which would be rather thicker and 2 ply linen does have slubs. I would stick to the 80/2 Egyptian cotton.
Also, mixing the linen fabric and the cotton lace shouldn't be a problem. If the linen fabric is washed before the garment construction, there should be very little stress between the fabric and the lace. When laundering the resulting christening gown, press the lace first and then press the fabric to suit it. That will result in the least stress to the work.
I have more general advice about gimp to start. Firstly, make sure it is sufficiently larger than the 80/2 cotton to show up. Generally, a gimp should be 4 - 6 times thicker than the body of the lace. If you have some gimp that starts and stops, I would consider plying the gimp so that when you end a gimp motif, you can feather the ends of the gimp instead of the lump that so often happens.
Regarding the pattern and the paths for the gimp, do you mean that there is a section where there are four separate paths for the gimp which alternates with a section of honeycomb where there are only 2 paths for the gimp? In that case, I would double the gimp. No sense having all those loose ends.
Best of luck with your happy project Patty - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
