Dear Arachnids Lace fans made in the 19th century would have been made so they would fold. I was given a pricking of a beautiful Bucks fan leaf (the the piece of semi-circular lace, fabric or paper that is attached to the sticks) and made it in 50 DMC Retors d'Alsace thread. It is sewn to the sticks and folds and unfolds without a problem, including opening and closing with one hand.
If you are thinking of making a fan check that you have fan sticks of a suitable size first. It is easy to adjust the size of the pattern, but it is not easy to find sticks to fit a fan leaf. My no 8 perle gimps are not a problem, but if you want it to fold the fan rather than display it open then avoid the types of lace that have large holes, e.g. Beds, as these will stop the fabic of the lace from folding properly. If you are making it in sprig lace, e.g. Honiton, it needs to be grounded so that it will fold properly. When you are ready to mount a fan leaf on the sticks there is an excellent booklet by Christine Springett called 'Designing and Mounting Lace Fans'. Happy lacemaking Alex - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
