Thanks for the directions, Sally I've always preferred moving the lace up the pricking rather than using a block pillow and moving the blocks, but it had never occurred to me to turn the pillow around while I put the pins back in - that makes it much easier to do!
Beth On Monday 11 May 2009, Sally Schoenberg wrote: > Many thanks to Bev for finding the address for the mooring threads message. > That's a technique for stablizing a pricking on your pillow without bumpy > pins that is well worth another discussion. > > > > Here's how I move lace...there are a lot of words here, but it all goes > much faster than it might seem at first glance: > > > > I prefer to move when the lace is mostly ground (point, binche, torchon, > whatever) and a bit beyond a completed cloth stitch area. When moving Beds > or a tape lace, I look for a place where the trails are converging and wide > cloth stitch areas are completed, and the number of bobbins is low. > > > > 1. Lengthen all the threads (leashes) to at least 12 inches long, more if > you are new to moving lace. If you are slow at lengthening/shortening > leashes, then this good practice for you. I used to be slow but now > lenthening/shortening goes quickly for me and I don't avoid it. > > > > 2. Put all your bobbins on sticks or knit stitch holders. Stack all your > sticks/holders on top of each other on top of a large handkerchief or light > weight dish towel that has been placed on your pillow. > > > > 3. Fasten the large handkerchief/towel very tightly with pins of any kind, > by knotting the handkerchief corners, or by tying a ribbon. Make > absolutely sure that the sticks/holders and their bobbins are completely > immobilized. The cloth that you use to bundle the bobbins needs to be > lightweight so that you can really pin or tie the bundle tightly. Thick > cloth won't let you get a good tight bundle. You should be able to safely > toss your bundle around after you've taken your lace off the pillow. > > > > 4. This is the key ingredient: fasten the handkerchief opening so that all > of the threads are coming out of a teensy weensy hole just big enough to > let the threads through. Sometimes I tie a ribbon or thread around the > threads and a bit of the handkerchief. Sometimes I have enough > handkerchief to tie a square knot with two corners around the threads. > Sometimes I use a couple of lace pins. It is vitally important that > pulling on the bobbin threads outside the bundle will not result in any > bobbin movement inside the bundle of bobbins. > > > > 5. Take all the pins out of your lace. > > > > 6. Move the pricking to a more comfortable spot on the pillow and TAKE A > BREAK. > > > > 7. Rotate the pillow 180 degrees so you are looking at the pricking and > lace upside down compared to how you are usually looking at it when you are > making lace. > > > > 8. I begin by putting in one pin right in the middle and exactly on the > most recently worked edge. Sometimes it helps to have worked to a point > before starting the move. Then I put in more pins slowly working back > towards me (remember, I'm at back of the pillow) and outwards towards the > headside and the footside. Feeling stressed? TAKE A BREAK! Even a couple > of minutes can really help to keep your hands dry, cool, and relaxed. > > > > 9. Carefully do just a few of the headside picots. I don't think it's > necessary to do very many. When I distort anything, it's usually a picot > so I don't like to force them. I have found that replacing 3 picot pins is > sufficient in my experience. > > > > 10. Get some of the footside pins in. > > > > 11. Fill in 1/2 to 1 inches worth of pins. I have many times filled in > only 1/2 inches worth of pins but then, in that case, I immediately work > 1/2 inch's worth of lace. Be very careful when tensioning as you start to > make lace again. Look for any movement of thread and buckling of lace. If > that happens, turn the pillow around 180 degrees and put in more pins where > the movement occurred. There are usually a few pins in the lace that I > worked just before moving that I have to do over again, two or three at > most, and maybe a picot needs to be redone. > > > > I have seen Anne Marie in Bruges wrap all of the threads around a large, > heavy pin in a kind of half hitch (I think that is the name of the knot - I > can do it, I can draw it, but I don't know if I can call it by the right > name) and then leave the bobbins hanging loose off the edge of the pillow > while the pricking is moved, the lace repinned, etc. The principle is the > same, you just need to be sure that you have a very long length of thread > on all the bobbins between the heavy pin and the worked lace, and that > tugging on the leashes between the worked lace and the heavy pin does not > move the bobbins beyond the heavy pin. > > > > One more story...I have large Flanders handkerchief edging that I had > completed halfway when someone needed to borrow my pillow. I was not doing > well at the time and, to tell you the truth, I couldn't be too concerned > about finishing that lace at the time so I went through steps 1-5 and > tossed the half square of lace into a dusty corner of my sewing room. > There it sat for a year. I went back and forth about it in my mind, > finally decided that it was worth finishing. So I rummaged around for that > bundle, dusted it off, and went through steps 5-11. I finished the square > some time later and I dare you to find where the working edge of the lace > was for that year. I can't see any difference in the lace. > > > > Last bit of advice: stay calm, take a break if your hands get damp or your > eyes cross or rude words start springing to mind. I don't mind moving at > all now. I rather enjoy it. It gives me time to think about my next step > in the lace. With practice, moving goes very quickly and then you don't > get much of a think afterall. > > > > Sally > > - > To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: > unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to > [email protected] - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
