I manage well without using a pillow, though have tried using one only briefly
to see if it was a significant improvement, and possibly did not give it a
proper trial. However, I don't think it is blind prejudice, as I do use a
frame if at all possible for embroidery. The needle lace workshop I attend has
people who use either, and it doesn't seem to differ depending on the style (we
are a very varid lot).
I work with the needle pointing away, but I don't think that need make a
difference, as the Youghal workers are described in Needlecraft Journal 106
(about 1910) as working in the hand, needle pointing towards themselves, while
the Burano workers use pillows with the needle pointing away.
The style I use is similar to the Zele method, excellently described in
"Startign Zele Lace' by Agnes Stevens and Ivy Richardson, Dryad 1989, ISBN 0
85219 793 4, strongly recommended for anyone wishing to learn from a book as
well as those wanting to learn the Zele style. The instructions are
meticulous, from how to hold the work and move your hands, to how to form the
actual stitches. The first piece is also well suited to a beginner - no single
Brussels stitch, which seems to be the easiest to describe, but virtually
impossible for a beginner to bring off neatly.
The work is held over the first finger of the left hand (for a right-handed
worker, of course), and manipulating the needle and thread as described does
not make one miss the use of the left hand for other purposes (drinking,
smoking or scratching apart - the standard Zele description of how to hold the
needle seems to have been to pretend it is a cigarette!). I can manipulate a
pattern on an A4 piece of architects' linen/calico (US muslin), using 50DMC
retors, which is as large and fine as I should wish to go.
I should say that a solitary learner wanting to work traditional needle lace
could do far worse than start with the above book, and then go on to Catherine
Barley's "Needlelace - Designs and Techniques Classic and Contemporary",
Batsford 1993, ISBN 0 7134 6810 6. In the introduction, CB points out that her
book is not intended for the complete beginner, and I think the Zele book would
provide the basic knowledge needed, without too much confusion - though you
would have to turn the stitch diagrams the other way up!
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