First, wet the piece of linen (lace or handwoven fabric), damp out most of the water by rolling the item loosely in a cotton towel. Lay the lace flat on a hard surface, roll it hard with a rolling pin, let it dry where it is. The idea is to flatten while applying pressure. When it is dry, voila! The linen lace has a "linen hand", the threads are shiny and supple, and the design just pops out. My lace has never needed any ironing after mangling. My handwovens sometimes do need a touch of ironing. Most of my dishtowels are linen from Germany, they can be quite long, and I can't mangle them flat in one go. So, I loosely roll up the top and start the mangle from the bottom. When I've finished a section, I pull it down and let it hang straight from the edge of the kitchen counter while I unroll from the top. Mangle another section, pull down, unroll the top, and mangle some more. I've never done a large tablecloth. My mangling place is a kitchen island, so I could hang parts over different edges of the counter. I would definitely mangle it but I think it would take some experimenting to figure it out. I've seen electric mangles and the width can be small. I've heard that large linen items are folded and mangled in that case but I haven't any direct experience with it. Peggy Osterkamp has a section in her weaving book III on finishing linen. She describes mangling in detail, and she also talks about pounding linen. I've never seen anyone do that so I don't know anything about pounding as a finishing process. I also have a Vav magazine (the Swedish handweaving magazine) with an article about pounding linen, with photos. I had made quite a bit of linen lace years ago but was very disappointed in its appearance and I quit using linen thread for lace. When I first heard about mangling in a weaving class, a big light bulb lit up inside my head, or should I say, exploded inside my head. As soon as I walked back in my door at home, I got that lace out, and mangled it. That finishing step was exactly what my lace was missing. I'm really very pleased now with my linen lace and I'm using linen thread again. One more story, if you can bear with me... I mangled some linen lace at the Montreal IOLI convention, if I remember correctly. The lace had just come off the pillow. I showed the unmangled lace to EVERYONE I could find. I wanted witnesses! I mangled it during the teacher showcase. When it dried, again I stopped everyone I encountered, showed them the finished lace, and invited them to feel it. So, if any of you need a testimonial, surely someone on the list remembers that lace! Sally New Mexico
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