I would be wary of recommending a lacemaking book for beginners, unless you have thoroughly checked it out yourself. My copy of The Torchon Lace Workbook that was mentioned,has a terrible error right at the beginning, where the pictures of patterns 1 and 2 have been switched. I recently had a very tearful student who had spent hours trying to solve this puzzle, and had also asked an experienced lacemaker who didn't spot the error! I saw it straight away, but had never noticed it before as I had never used the first patterns. Another friend has a copy with the patterns the right way round, so I guess it was corrected in later copies.
I have been teaching beginners for over 30 years, when I started there were no books widely available, and so I devised my own set of patterns and notes. I still use them today, with a few modifications, as issues have arisen. My students work through a series of 10 patterns (starting with bandage), introducing them to Torchon, various grounds, diamonds, spiders, gimp, roseground etc in small patterns such as bookmarks, small mats and handkerchiefs. They then decide if they want to carry on with more complicated (usually commercial) Torchon patterns, or progress to my series of 10 Bedfordshire, or 10 Bucks patterns. Each pattern comes with notes I have written, so that they can continue at home, and I can work out where they are if they ring for help between lessons (I have given many lessons over the phone). I have only once had a student who could not "grasp" the techniques. She had severe dyslexia, although I have taught others with the condition successfully. I would beware of teaching tape lace. Apart from becoming tedious it usually needs sewings, which puts beginners off, and students do not learn how to handle a large number of bobbins. Good luck with your students Christine (Oxford, UK) _________________________________________________________________ http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/195013117/direct/01/ - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
