Hello Wendy If you know which filling you want to do before you start, then it can be pricked in place right at the start as you do your pricking. It is usually recommended that you use a finer needle to do this so it is clear which holes are design and which are filling. Note that you should be using a fine needle anyway (same as your pins) for the main pricking so the emphasis is on a 'finer still' needle for the filling!
At the back of Elsie Luxton's second book, there is a double page spread of prickings for all the common fillings. Have this photocopied onto acetate, and you have a guide you can use over and over. Make sure that you prick it VERY carefully before you use it, then you can feel where the holes are to get an accurate filling. The most important thing is to get the filling in the right place in its 'frame' of cloth/half stitch braid. It must have the correct orientation and also be placed so that you have as many complete units of filling as possible. For the spaces where only part of a unit will fit, you must work that unit as if the rest was there hidden behind the edge of the lace; Pat Perryman's book is useful hear as the filling diagrams at the back are large and clear. Put a piece of paper across the diagram at the same angle as the edge, revealing only those holes you were able to prick, and the edge of the paper represents the footedge of worked lace and you should be able to see whre to sew and where to 'bounce' a pair back into the pattern. If you add a pricking afterwards, take all the pins out around the edge so you can get your tracing/acetate as flat to the card as possible as you adjust it for the best position. I think you would have trouble getting the card cut close enough to the holes; sometimes a filling hole needs to be only a hair's breadth from the design holes. Also the ridge created by the edge of the card would make your sewings very difficult to do, as you connect the filling to the braids. Personally I think the best bet (and easiest to be accurate) is the first, and is the one I would usually opt for. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
