In message <[email protected]>, Susan Reishus
<[email protected]> writes
"...you will need to leave probably at least a couple of inches of pins
in place so that you're not 'gathering' the lace as
you tension..." Jacquie in Lincolnshire
The reason for leaving the pins in like this has nothing to do with
setting the lace, it is because you can have an absolute disaster on
your hands if you remove the pins too early and tensioning too hard
(which beginners tend to do) will have a gathering effect on the lace...
I had a student do it at the sewing stage of a square mat a few weeks
ago - she had totally ignored my advice to push a section of pins into
the pillow and removed them instead, thinking she was fine just leaving
the edge pins....! I never lift the threads to tension - it is too easy
to add or remove twists - and over tensioning will cause the lace to
shrink when it is taken off the pillow. Most of the time, I do tension
each stitch as I make it, but not by a separate action afterwards - it
is down to how you handle the bobbins whilst working, and difficult to
describe. (I'm working with linen at the moment).
Perhaps naive, and that I am used to dressing most of my knitted lace
regularly so inclined towards water.
Knitting and tatting both require blocking and you can see the
improvement. However, bobbin and needle lace are very rarely (if ever!)
blocked - lace loses something of its texture if it is blocked, and even
more so if pressed. Even after washing a piece that is worn, you should
lightly finger press it back into shape rather than iron it.
It seems if one has covered their pricking with adhesive film and can
"zone" the mist either with nozzle adjustment or covering what one does
not what to get wet, a mist of water before bed at night, or follow up
during the day with a gentle fan or even blow dryer could hasten the
setting process? I suppose a quick hit of steam from an iron would do
it too if not so hot to warp the plastic protection.
Remember the effect of water on your threads. Linen and cotton are both
stronger when wet - but silk and wool are weaker. Where the vinegar
solution is concerned, the protein fibres (silk, wool, etc) have some
natural resistance to acids (vinegar is acetic acid) - linen and cotton
(cellulose fibres) are weakened by acid - so again you may be causing
problems rather than solving them. Weaker threads will break easily.
Not everyone uses the adhesive film - I don't - it is much cheaper to
buy a waterproof pen (make sure that the pen has "waterproof" printed on
it!!!) and mark the pricking (assuming you are using pricking card
rather than just the paper pattern) yourself - this also helps you to
learn to read the pattern, and gives you time to think how you are going
to interpret it.
Another point to remember is the advice when washing lace - to make sure
you use de-ionised water for the final rinse - I would guess that most
blocking is done with tap water because where knitting is concerned, you
expect the garment to be worn and washed, and not necessarily to last
for several generations.
Linen often benefits from covering with a damp tea-towel overnight in
dry climates/centrally heated houses. This keeps the thread slightly
moist and thus stronger - less likely to break. If you use a hair dryer
or blower on it you risk drying it out too much, and will possibly then
be faced with broken threads.
I think we worry too much about setting the lace - I rarely leave pins
in for any length of time after a piece is finished, and haven't noticed
any major difference with that that has had the overnight treatment.
Most natural threads will "remember" their position after a matter of
minutes - you only have to sit down in a linen dress for a couple of
minutes to have creases that stay put! Those that are likely to need
some form of setting are the artificial fibres that are created for
crease-resistance - eg rayon, polyester and the like. These are not the
easiest of threads to make lace with, so best avoided.
--
Jane Partridge
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