I have seen that picture. It's lovely. One of my concerns with making separate strips to connect later would be consistency in length of strips. Of course, some easing can be done to adjust small differences, but the cloth would be smoother if matched pinhole to pinhole. For a solid lace-strip tablecloth, attaching as you go would assure the lengths match and are mated smoothly.
However.. back to the tablecloth in Southard's book. There is a brief description with the picture. The maker of that cloth sewed the strips together by hand. It says she made the edge first. I assume that's around the whole intended cloth, with corners, to establish the cloth size. Then she worked the inside strips, starting next to a long edge. The new strip is worked almost long enough, then while still on the pillow, the new strip is sewn to the edge strip as far as possible. The remaining needed length of new strip can be determined, and a line drawn on the pattern for the end row. The last bit is finished with all the lace hanging around the pillow, then sewn together. This method lets most of each strip be worked by itself, and only the last several inches made while dealing with excess fabric. Each strip in the cloth is a different pattern so there's variety in design and width. It would be less boring than just one pattern. (I can do about three yards before I get bored with a pattern. Only the outside edge would require more than that. <G>) (Hmmm... just thinking a bit. There could be two or three strips in process at one time, on different pillows. Trading off would also prevent boredom with one pattern. And the strips would make great demo projects... ready to go at a moment's notice.) It seems the cloth maker has figured out a way to have both ease of working strips, yet accuracy in the lengths so they lie flat. Ahhh... and there's the note that the maker, at the time of book publishing, had made FIVE tablecloths like this. That's a lot of lace. Having said all of that, I'm reminded of a tablecloth my friend has been working on. She's making long strips of lace but plans to insert a strip of fabric between each of the lace strips. She is using a single lace pattern, so only has to count the number of repeats to have each strip the same length. Thanks for reminding us all of this tablecloth. Alice in Oregon ... where it's raining again, until next Sunday when they claim we'll have several days of no rain. I won't believe it until I see it. ----- Original Message ----- From: "vila" <[email protected]> ... Right now I have a huge project in mind. While I was browsing through my various books on bobbin lace, I found a table cloth I love and want to make a similar one. It's on page 205 of my copy of Lessons in Bobbin Lacemaking by Doris Southard. Does anyone know of a place for directions or suggestions on how to complete a project like this. I have found articles and patterns from Florence Sweetland in the old International Old Lacers Bulletins, but the information on the table cloth construction is very limited. It sounds like each new strip was joined to the edge of the previous piece as it was made. Would that be necessary or can the pieces be joined successfully after they are made? Has anyone done something similar and do you have tips of what worked well and what didn't. - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003
