Re: [lace] Re: resizing a pricking
So the safest thing to do is to measure after the enlargement and see if you've got what you were expecting, rather than believing that just because you asked for 200%, that's what you've got. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Thanks and Request
Don't forget you can always check back to the archive for anything you have deleted. And the URL for that is... http://www.mail-archive.com/lace%40arachne.com/ Add that one to your saved searches and you won't need to worry again. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Re: resizing a pricking
Hi Brenda As a matter of interest, is there any way to tell at a glance which sort of enlargement any particular photocopier does? Am I reading your post right to think that if I enlarge directly through the photocopy facility of my scanner it will be linear, but if I scan it first then use the computer to enlarge it, it's area. Or is it not as black and white as that? Best wishes, Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Lace car stickers
In the 1980s one or more of the UK lace suppliers sold a blue sticker to fit inside a car window, with the words Lacemakers do it on a pillow and a lacey design behind the words. It was about 12 x 2 inches. Mum had one on the back window of her 1980 Mini Clubman Estate, which I inherited whan she died a couple of years ago. I have recently sent the car to a specialist restorer to have it put back 'as new' and I have realised how dog-eared the sticker has become. I have been told that I can probably get a new copy transfer made, but this sounds like an expensive option on top of an already expensive exercise and we would have to make-up the missing lace at the corners. But as far as I can remember back she had this sticker in the car and as I am also a lacemaker it seems appropriate for it to still be there. Can anyone remember who sold these, or even better (miracles do happen occasionally) if anyone still sells them. Even a photo of one with the corners intact would help. And if I do have to end up having it made, is there interest from any other spiders for one of their own; usually with this sort of thing it's the first one that is expensive, duplicates are a sensible price. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] ISBN book search
Many thanks for all the suggestions - Shere'e's link to campusi found one of them for me at $66, but that's in the States so I've got probably another $10 shipping on top. Thinking about that one. The other book wasn't found and as soon as I go to the rare books search it asks for the title and author so I'm back to square one. I will speak to Rosemary at The Holiies on Friday and see if she has any idea where they came from. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] ISBN book help
Does anyone know if there is a way to search for a book worldwide using just its ISBN number? The reason why I'm asking is that I have just borrowed a book from the Lace Guild library which I would very much like a copy of, BUT it is a Russian one, in Russian. I have previously tried to do an ebay search for 'lace' using the cyrillic alphabet, but it doesn't recognise it or I didn't know how to get it to recognise it! The book has an ISBN reference, so where/how do I search for a copy of this book. Or a way to search using Russian script. I am going to post to both lace and chat as it is a lace book, but its not a very lace enquiry :-) Many thanks in advance, Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Queen Anne's lace
So the reference to using Queen Anne's lace for cow parsley (in a book set in the UK) in the 1500s was, as I suspected, incorrect. My instinct that is was incorrect was because lace hadn't been around long enough, and called 'lace' as a generic term, for the word and concept of it to have seeped into general usage enough for unrelated things it to be commonly compared to it. The next book in the series, starting in 1638, has the govenor of VIrginia wearing some 'worn, gold lace' which is fine, but elsewhere something is described as lacey/lacelike. Now, if it's an author's description that's OK, but if it's the thought of a character it might not be; it depends on how much that character might have been aware of lace. It is a man watching a fire, seeing the twigs burn to leave a skeletal lace of dried ash; perhaps a skeletal cobweb might have been be a better comparison to use. This example is borderline I know, and I am being a pedant to have spotted it, but it illustrates the way my mind was working when I saw Queen Anne's lace a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, thanks to Bridget, Bev and Robin for the historical input. Jacquie, in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Question about antique bobbins and spangles
Like Carol, I respangle mine using old beads but to my preferred spangle size. When someone looked at me in horror for doing this I pointed out that it is highly unlikely that most of these bobbins have their original-from-new spangle anyway. Probably most of my modern bobbins have been respangled at least once in their up-to 30 years of life, either because the wire broke or because I changed my preference about spangle size. For example, nearly all the ones with dangley bits have been respangled as I liked them when I was new to lace making, but as I speeded up they just got in the way so I changed to a smaller neater spangle. As I don't use my bobbins all day, every day, in the way that a professional lace maker would have done, and I have still managed to wear out a good few of my spangles, there is really no logic for us to assume that the old bobbins, with old beads, still have the original wire or even the beads that were original to that particular bobbin. Even when the books such as Wright's The Romance of the Lace Pillow were written in 1919, which perhaps give us our idea of what old spangles 'should look like', many of the bobbins were already decades old and could easily be on their second or third spangle, even if most of the beads were re-used. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] E-mail addresses
I don't understand what the problem is, Surely 'Chat' looks the same to everyone that has it as a digest, as I do. Pardon me Jean for choosing one of your posts to demonstrate, but this is the format I see at the top of each entry: Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 08:27:33 +0100 From: Jean Nathan [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [lace-chat] Afternoon tea/high tea Where's the problem in that? If I want to write a reply to arachne chat, I hit reply, and check the subject matter is what it needs to be for what I'm writing about. If I want to write to Jean personally, I copy and paste her address. Jacquie, preparing to be shot down in flames. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Re: Jigsaws and honey
In a private post from Malvary (my sister) she made the comment Your question about Queen Ann Lace certainly generated a lot of messages but didn't really answer your question Yes, I noticed that! What I was more interested in is there any way to work out when plant names first became lace somethings, ie before that lace wasn't a part of the public consciousness. And although I was very interested in finding out that it may indeed be the Queen Anne in the book I'm reading, there must be quite a jump from her courtiers saying Oooh that plant looks just like our Majesty's lace, and country people calling it Q A's lace. So, are there for example, any ancient herbals (if that is the correct name for the documents covering the use of plants) which pre date the development of lace so they referred to plant x as one thing, whereas later ones (at some point in the 1500s presumably) started calling the same plant as lace something, then that could be an interesting pointer for when a wider awareness of lace left the courts and lacemakers and became part of general acceptance. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Jigsaws and honey??? should be lace flowers
The observant among you may have wondered why the subject of jigsaws and honey appeared. It was because I picked up the lace flowers element from a three part post from Malvary, but didn't change the subject line. The jisaws bit was a comment about an on-line puzzle site and the honey bit was a question about how thin you cut orange peel to preserve it in and flavour honey. The answer for anyone interested, is as close to the surface as possible, ie only the oily orange bit. No pith. Put it in a jar, cover it with liquid honey (or warmed solid honey) and leave. After a couple of months the honey will be orangey and the peel very sweet and soft. Lovely in a stir fry. It keeps for years and if the honey solidifies, just warm it gently in the microwave or in hot water. I tend to spoon the honey out from under the peel (which 'floats') to keep the flavour as long as possible. The lace bit was covered in my previous post so please excuse me! Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] 'Lace' flowers
I am currently reading a book set in the reign of King James (of England and Scotland), and in one of the descriptive passages some hedgerow flowers are described as 'gypsy lace'. I assume that this might be referring to cow parsley, also known as Queen Anne's lace, but that is actually slightly immaterial to the way my brain took off. As in King James's time we are presumably pre the Queen Anne in question (although his wife was an Anne and I have no idea which Anne the flower refers to), then perhaps it couldn't be Q A's lace, so it makes sense that it has a different country name, but what my convoluted thoughts suddenly landed on was Is there a record somewhere of when flowers where first known as 'something' lace, because in the same way as it couldn't be Q A's lace until we'd had a Q A, then it couldn't be anything lace before we had lace. And I am wondering when lacey things took a big enough hold on the people giving nicknames to flowers for them to see a connection and call the flower 'something' lace. Before the flower was called 'something' lace it must have had another name, and the 'something' lace name must have been more appropriate with a good number of people for it to hold the popular imagination. Enough rambling for now, it looks as if it might actually be sunny today, so 'white rabbits' to you all and I'm going to start enjoying June. Jacquie In Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Moisture to threads, another method
Another way to do this, as taught by Pat Read and it certainly works well in the UK centrally heated homes climate, is to make a layer as follows. Cover cloth over the lace, followed by a face flannel wet and then rung out as dry as you possibly can. A top layer of a towel. This can be left on over night, but even a half an hour is enough to make a real difference. I saw this demonstrated many years ago on a Honiton weekend with Pat (she didn't always teach mainly Milanese!) where a student new to fine thread was really struggling. From the Friday evening to the Saturday morning coffee break she must have had at least 10 broken threads and was about to give up completely. Pat sat at her pillow to do yet another weaver's knot and get her going again and in the process another 2 threads broke (s embarassing when you're the teacher!). At this point she decided that it wasn't the student being heavy handed but a previously badly stored, newly bought reel of thread, and made the above described sandwich over the lace. Off they went to coffee and to our amazement there wasn't another broken thread on that pillow for the whole weekend. I wonder if that lady ever made any more Honiton. BUT, from my experience this treatment only helps when you are having 'broken' broken threads. The more common breaks are the type where the thread pulls apart because you haven't noticed it coming untwisted. I haven't found that the humidity in the thread makes any difference to this problem, but would love to be convinced otherwise. The only solution to this I have found is just to be very observant of the thread and retwist the ply as necessary. Jacquie in Surrey (at the moment) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Irish Crochet collar
Feeling that this seller may as well live to regret being so unpleasant to Clay, I sent the following to her about the collar. I look forward to her response As a responsible e-bay seller, interested in accuracy, I'm sure you would appreciate me telling you that while this vintage collar is very attractive, it is NOT Irish crochet. It is machine embroidered chemical lace in the style of Irish crochet. Please feel free to add this correction to the item description. Jacquie from Lincolnshire, but in Croydon for the time being as Dad is a bit poorly. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Reply from Ebay seller
And not even original as she sent exactly the same response to me. My reply was on similar lines, but I was very hurt by her aggressive reply as most sellers thank me for helping them target the right buyers. I also asked what she meant by bblace as it was obviously a typo :-) Don't know how I'll sleep tonight for fretting about being reported. Jacquie in England - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Arachne pin - UK
Malvary and I got ours from Roseground Lace Supplies, I think at the Bristol Lace Guild AGM which is a couple of years ago. At that time she had maybe two or three left, but I did tell some other members she had them so they may all be gone. It would be worth a phone call or e-mail to find out. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Lace joining - magic thread
Cut a longish piece of thread (12); white is best as it doesn't leave coloured marks on the pin hole as you pull it out! Tie the ends in an overhand knot. Hang the pair(s) on at the pin hole as needed and pass the loop end of your magic thread into the centre of the pair(s) and out under one side. The reason for using the loop end is that this is the equivalent of the hook on a crochet hook and will pull the sewing through from underneath as you finish, in the same way a hook would. Use a pin to hold both the knotted and loop end to the back of the work. Make sure that you haven't pulled the pairs away from the pin as you do this; leave a little slack in the magic thread. As you work around you will need to move the pin and thread out of your way, probably more than once. This is one reason for having a good length magic thread, the other being that it is far less fiddley when you actually use it for the sewing. When you are ready to do the sewing, sort out the appropriate magic thread and make sure it is sliding freely. Put one bobbin of the pair through the loop but don't pull it all the way through; you will find that the bobbin thread will pull through much more easily if the magic thread settles about halfway along the 'leash'. Pull on the knotted end of the magic thread and the bobbin thread will follow through the hole. Snip off the magic thread knot and pull it out of the bobbin thread loop. Pass the other bobbin of the pair through the loop as usual and fasten off as required. I hope I've remembered all the tips I pass on to my students. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Bobbins
A short while ago someone, Jeri I think, posted a request that we add our location to our posts. This will often make it easier to get a relevant answer to a query. This request from Lynn is an excellent example of why this is helpful. What I would like to know is, are there any places on the internet that have bobbins that if you buy in bulk they are less expensive. I was about to write that if she wants a basic bobbin that SMP is as good a place as any for 50s and 100s, or she could try Tim Parker who also does a good price for a bulk purchase. Both of these suppliers have a website and do an excellent postal service. But then my brain switched on and I realised that Lynn is talking dollars, so is presumably based in the States (or Canada), whereas both these suppliers are in England. Although it may still work out a good deal, you also have to factor in the exchange rate, credit card foreign currency charges, that there will be extra shipping and possible import duty, so my guess is that she was thinking of an American supplier. Jacquie, in a wet, wet, wet Lincolnshire, England. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Lace with paper string
After all the chat about this subject I finally got up off my backside and retrieved the one that I made. As I thought, I didn't knot the ends at all, except where I joined the workers. As I picked up the threads I ran them along behind the string for a very short distance (maybe two there and backs with the workers) and then cut them off. My reckoning was that if it was going to be stiffened with glue, then nothing was going to move very far. At the moment it is still waiting for its frame, and I thought it would be safer not to fiddle with the paper string until it was framed, so it has been kicking around for at least two years now and there is not the slightest sign of any of the ends working loose. I stiffened on the pillow, with the proper Moravia 'starch', diluted 50% as recommended, but ALL the surplus blotted off as soon as I was sure the threads were well soaked. By doing this, there was no evidence of any having gone through the blue film covered pricking to the pillow, and no clear patches of dry glue in the spaces. I also agree with Brenda that the Moravia starch is a VERY expensive way of buying PVA glue. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Malvary update.
I just phoned the hospital (7.45 UK time) to see how Malvary is and she had been 'bumped' again last night, so still hasn't had surgery. She is top of the list for today, but if a trauma case comes in then she is lower priority. I bet she doesn't think so! She is on a drip with painkillers so I guess she may be fairly groggy but even so time must be going really slowly for her. Many thanks to all for the kind thoughts, I will pass them on to her when I can (eventually) talk to her. Jacquie To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Bad news
I have I just had a phone call Malvary's partner David to tell me that she was thrown off her walking machine on Tuesday, and has broken her left arm high up to the shoulder, and that the shoulder is dislocated as well. They have been unable so far to reposition the joint as there is no stable bone to hold onto. She is fourth in line for surgery today, but missed out on Tuesday and yesterday. Because she has been waiting for surgery each day, she has also not been allowed to eat, and by the time it was decided that it was too late for surgery each day, there wasn't anything left that she could eat as she has major food allergies. I think she must be a very miserable little bunny at the moment. So, of course she won't reading arachne lace or chat at the moment. David is not very computer literate so he won't be able to do anything complicated like printing messages for her. David is going to phone me again later on when he knows the latest news. Richard (DH) has been giving me funny looks since we heard as I started a niggling pain in my arm on Tuesday, it was quite uncomfortable yesterday and today I have a full blown, painful, frozen shoulder, but I said it's pure coincidence as it's my right arm not my left, and we're only sisters, not twins. Jacquie in Lincolnshire. To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Lacemakers in Catalonia and Springett's contact
I have had a conversation with a (hopefully) future student who is shortly off to Catalonia for three months. She will be about 45 minutes drive from Gerona. Can any Arachnean suggest a lace contact for her. She has made lace in the past but not for some little while. She is hoping to brush up her skills while away, ready to join the class after Christmas. She is also looking for a video/DVD of lacemaking to work from, but has not been able to track down a contact number for Christine Springett. I'm fairly confident that one of the UK Arachnes will be able to help me with this one. Many thanks, Jacquie in England - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Wonderfil thread, winding bobbins and conversion charts
In a message dated 29/08/2006 23:00:59 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: If you wind correctly by rolling the bobbin into the thread it shouldn't make any difference whether it's a Z twist or an S twist thread. It's late at night and I am too tired to look up the link to Jean's site so I may be repeating what she says there, but just as important as winding the bobbin onto the thread is making sure that you are unwinding the thread off the spool, rather than pulling it off the top. So either have the spool horizontal or high-ish relative to your hands if you use a vertical spool holder, and *make sure the spool turns as you take the thread off it.* If the spool isn't turning, you are pulling the thread off one end and either untwisting or extra-twisting the thread. Jacquie. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Lace Guild Website Update
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: However the content may be of interest to those teaching lacemaking to young people elsewhere. And not only to young people. The pattern given is perfect for adults as well, and has all sorts of different uses for the lace shown. Plus it makes an excellent advert for the Lace Guild. Thank you, Jean, see you soon. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Thing on Ebay
Hurrah, at last I can make a definite diagnosis of an unusual 'thing' on ebay. It is a 'set-up' for a circular sock knitting machine. When opened out wide it sits inside the cylinder and the bends at the ends of each wire face inwards. The wool is threaded into the machine and a long end pulled through. This end then winds in a zig zag from the set up to needle and back all the way around the cylinder. A weight is hung onto the 'ring' at the end of the handle and away we go. I have 6 or 8 of these as most of the makes of English machines used them. They were made with different numbers of wires as the cylinders can have from 54 to 120 slots for needles, but in fact as it is only necessary to wind around alternate needles to start knitting and you can wind around each wire more than once, the number of wires is not very important. I also have some set ups that aren't collapsable but they tend to have got more damaged over the years, because the wires are sticking out all the time. I don't think it could be used for Teneriffe type lace as a) the wires bend into the centre, not out and b) there is no way to lock it open. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Sewing Machines
In a message dated 03/07/2006 02:48:55 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Buttonholes were made by hand too. - No Buttonhole attachments in them thare days! :)) - and the hand made buttonholes are STILL better than the machine made ones!!! :)) This one I would disagree with as I have two or three different buttonhole attachments, (certainly dating back to the 1920s, probably earlier) that fit on my old hand and treadle straight stitch Singer machines. In the same way as I described yesterday for working the zig-zag needed for satin stitch on a straight stitch machine (ie the material must move in relation to the needle rather than vice versa), they grip the material and move it. But I do agree that a hand made buttonhole is better that a machine made one. Doesn't mean I do them though, now I have my lovely Husqvarna. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Machine Embroidery - long
Among my collection of Singer sewing machine instruction books is one called Singer Machine Embroidery. In the foreward is says It will be noted also that in this treatise we are writing only of the ordinary Singer family sewing machines, and do not deal with trade embroidery machines (sometimes referred to as the Irish embroidery machines), as used in workrooms and factories.. It isn't dated but from the style of work shown I suspect it is 1930s, possibly early 1950s. The book is divided into three parts, the first is work using the presser foot and the second and third are without. Within those parts the work is split into 25 lessons starting in part one with borders done simply with variations on zig-zags and meandering lines, through applied braids, ribbons and wool. Next similar borbers are worked with cable stitch (thick thread on the bobbin, working on the back so the thick thread ends up on the right side). Finally applique with felt and American cloth and quilting are covered. All straightforward so far! In part two the pressure foot is removed, (and the pressure on the machinist increases) the fabric goes into a hoop, and now the book explains you will need a treadle machine or one fitted with an electric motor as both hands must be free. Starting with simple darning stitches the lessons rapidly take you through drawing line pictures, background stitches (what we now call 'vermicelli') onto embroidery on net. In passing it shows how to make a looped edge very similar to that on Carrickmacross lace. On we go past shadow applique work, monograms and 'tinsel thread embroidery' to 'wool embroidery' (couched in such as way as to make the wool give a satin stitch like appearance without the machine stitches showing) to more advanced quilting. Part three is the degree course! In this satin stitch is taught, ie zig-zag, but remember these are straight stitch machines. The zig-zag is done by zig-zagging the fabric under the needle. The satin stitch is shown worked in leaf shapes (over an under padding layer of stitches) and flowers and also used as long and short stitch to give colour graduations. Next is cording; satin stitch worked over a cord outline and used both as a line in its own right and for edging applique. Getting serious now, the same technique is used for Broderie Anglaise (you knew you'd find lace eventually if you were patient) and for edging what is simply described as 'lacework'. The book assures me that Lace stitches made with the aid of your Singer are not nearly so difficult as might be supposed As I have enough trouble keeping my foot treadling while my hands are doing completely different things (patting my head and rubbing my stomach is easy-peasy by comparison), I am not convinced, but there are photographs of openwork fillings and 'workaround' centres in circular holes. All in all, every time I read through this book I am left openmouthed with admiration for anyone who has achieved that level of control of their machine. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] To starch or not to starch, that is the question....
A couple of thoughts on this thread. First, regarding removing pins, please may I buck the trend and make a plea that when you are working Honiton, Milanese, Duchesse and other laces of this type and scale, you don't take out alternate pins. My reasoning for this is as it is quite possible that the lace will be on your pillow for a while, if you observe carefully you will see that the edge ends up with a slight dip where pins have been removed. Along edges that are sewn to another, the pins can all come out. Anyone that the Perryman/Voysey book New Designs in Honiton Lace can see this effect; on page 51, look at the top of the right hand leaf or page 85 on the front edge of the bonnet, skirt and sleeve. I'm not picking on this book particularly, I just had it in reach and it has very clear photos :-) If your pin heads are too large to allow all the pins to lie flat, push down alternate ones and then the remaining ones so they sit flat on the first. Even if all your pinheads are flat to the work you should still use a cover cloth or slider to protect both the lace you have already made from the friction of the bobbins and the thread from the pins. Secondly, if you are working on a block or roller pillow on a courser lace, where you are unpinning the back as you work, stop and think how long those pins have been in. A narrow Torchon may be having the back unpinned within an hour or two of being worked, so in that case it seems pointless to leave the last couple of inches to 'set'. As far as starching goes, one of my friends made an exquisite Torchon table cloth in cotton thread, partly with me and partly with Pat Read. The rounds were sewn together on the pillow as the work progressed (this ensures the joins are at the same tension as the rest of the work) and although all care was taken to avoid folding the lace more than necessary, as it was finished she spoke to Pat for advice on pressing or blocking it. To her delight, Pat volunteered. What she did was to mark out the size on a piece of old sheet (with a waterproof pen so it is a permanent record that can be used again when the tablecloth is washed) and the pinned it out right around the edge through the sheet into ??? (I must ask Pat what she did pin into. On the floor into carpet? Maybe she has a large soft board of some sort, but this cloth must be 4' square). Finally she gently sprayed the whole cloth with starch. Not a lot, just enough to dampen it slightly. It still drapes and is not 'stiff' but has a pleasant body to it and it looks wonderful. It is now stored around a hard cardboard tube (from a carpet warehouse) inside its piece of sheet, ready to be given to grand-daughter in due course. So there is a half way point between the 'soak it and dab it off' sort of starching that we need for some 3D lace, and not starching at all. I suggest that if you think your lace might need starching, you do some experiments. Make a length of bandage in the same thread on the same grid and try different types and amounts of starch. Keep notes so you have a reference for future use! And don't forget that starch (as distinct from some/most stiffeners) will wash out if you are too heavy handed, so no permanent damage will be done. Jacquie in Lincolnshire where it's about to rain, but it is the first day of Wimbledon today so it is to be expected! - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Lace bobbins on Flog It! revisited
Don't worry Jean, one of my students spotted that at the first showing and wrote an indignant post, covering both the ivory/bone issue and this very false idea that a profeesional lacemaker would have either the need or the time to be looking at the spangles. She got a slightly less condecending reply than you did; maybe by then they'd had several comments and realised that perhaps we knew more than the expert. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] WHOOPEE
My letter from Quebec still hasn't arrived, my first email fell upon stony ground, and the reply to yesterday's is still in cyber space so Malvary phoned for me and I am in the Cluny de Brioude class. A replacement pack is being sent to Malvary (and mine will now probably arrive tomorrow) and the equipment list has been emailed to me. What a wonderful list - usual stuff - just love it. See you all there, Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Re:OIDFA-congress
In a message dated 06/06/2006 16:54:49 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: This tasted wonderful but the portions were huge and in the slowly coming darkness you couldn't see clearly and at the end I had eaten too much. That is absolutely the best excuse I have ever heard for eating too much. I'm glad you had a wonderful time; I would have liked to have been there but thought Moscow and Montreal were enough for one year. See you in Holland in 2008? Jacquie in Lincolnshire. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] 's Gravenmoer lace
According to the International Lace Dictionary, aantal is number and speld is pin. Obviously the ...en ending will alter the meaning somewhat. As Sue says, the number given definitely equals the count of the footside pinholes of one complete pattern repeat. What I'm trying to work out why this is considered to be an important enough piece of information to given up-front, as the lacemaker can see quite easily that it's a short/medium/long repeat just by looking at the pattern. Does the precise number of pinholes make a lot of difference. It was traditionally worked on a block pillow so the length of the repeat doesn't affect the working a lot. Perhaps the end use of the lace (this count only seems to be given with the traditional patterns) governed whether it was a short repeat or a more ornate pattern. Jacquie in England, still waiting for summer (or even spring!) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Bobbin Lace mascot
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The same can be said of the hedgehog, the mascot of bobbin lacemakers. There are BL people who have no interest in hedgehogs. There are no curators who pay attention to the BL mascot. I didn't know that the hedgehog is meant to be the mascot for bobbin lacemakers. Have I had my head in the sand for 25 years or is it only the mascot of American bobbin lace makers? But this has explained a small mystery to me that I had been vaguely curious about! In other words, why there is a cartoon about a hedgehog in the IOLI Bulletin. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] lacemaker car sticker
I still have a Lacemakers do it on a Pillow sticker in the back window of my 26 year old Mini Clubman Estate that I 'inherited' from Mum when she died 18 months ago. It's looking a little frayed at the corners (but then so's the car, which I take to rallies in the summer!) so if anyone knows where I can get a new one from I would love to know. I'm sure it will be the same as Carol's was, blue with white writing and a lace design at one end. We also had some limited edition Croydon Lacemakers do it on a Pillow made at the time these came out - or I might even be right in saying that the Croydon ones came first. Jacquie. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Re: lacemaker car sticker + how to
The ones we are talking about aren't bumper stickers, they go inside a window (which is why it has lasted about 20 years), so the sticky side is the right side. The UK doesn't seem to do much in the way of bumper stickers. I could do a photo of it for you so you have an idea of what it looks like. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Bugs and Bags
Answers to two threads. First bugs: I would also query the parental example theory of terror of bugs (and other creepy crawlies) as I am fairly immune to most and can quite happily pick up in my hands (bearing in mind that none of the UK ones are poisonous) spiders, beetles, worms, frogs and toads and slow worms (a legless lizard that looks like a small snake, found in warm compost heaps). But two of my three children (one son, one daughter) are absolutely terrified of them. Certainly not from me or my ex. As DH keeps bees we do get the occasional one in the house. The easiest way to remove them is to wait till they are on a window, put a glass over them and then slide a piece of paper between the glass and the glass and carry them out. Don't do them with my bare hands! Not afraid of them but I do respect them, and if they sting they die. And bags: I would say that the meaning is a bit stronger than choose, more I saw it first and it's mine. Not negotiable. Or at least, that was how my elder sister interpreted it! Jacquie in Lincolnshire To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Fabric stash
anyone know an easy way of removing the labels from the back WD40?!?!? Seriously though, I think you may need a solvent of some sort to remove the glue as it's likely to be the sort that can be put on by machine - and not water soluble if the material is really dry clean only or the wetness of the glue might have affected the fabric. Having got the glue off, I would go with Avital on this one to then remove the solvent. An awful lot of clothes, for example, say dry clean only and you read the label and it's 100% polyester or whatever. I then usually give them a wool wash first, and then revert to the 'normal' wash for that fabric. I think it's the manufacturers covering themselves against the 'boil it and hot tumble dry' fanatics. If they shrink a tid you'll still probably have bigger bits than if you have to cut the label off. Jacquie To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Re: Handy and inexpensive lace tools
The outer threads need to be *much* wider apart than the finished width of the leaf (or square tally for that matter) - about two or three inches at the bobbin. The resulting angle from bobbin head to lace is what forces the weaving up into the leaf. To be able to do this you need a space clear on the pillow so you do the leaf first, as soon as the pairs are available, rather than working the ground/plaits either side of it. If this isn't possible, occasionally you may need to push some pinheads flat to the pillow. The basic rule which applies whichever method you use to actually do the tally, is that you only tension the worker bobbin after you have a firm tension on the passives, and you relax the worker before you relax the passives. It is usually helpful to have the worker thread a good bit longer than the passives; you can see at a glance which one it is and you are less likely to accidently pull at it and collapse the tally. From observation of many students over the years, uneven edges are more likely to be from the worker not tight enough as it turns around the passives rather than it being too tight. So long as the passives are held firmly, you can tension the worker as much as you need to, to get a neat edge. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Tallies
As Sue hasn't answered yet, it's a bit like a detective story so here's my guess at the solution. When I read her post, after the initial Huh? I assumed that she meant that she'd worked the *filling* Beds style rather than Russian. In other words she'd used more than 2 pairs and done windmill type crossings or whatever as distinct from just two pairs following round the filling doing sewings as needed. But having said that, when I was doing Russian lace with Bridget Cook she taught me that the Russian tallies are worked with an extra turn around each end thread. In other words if you work your tallies as ctt, it would actually be ctt,tt. But she also said they are worked with the three passives help up off the pillow in one hand and the other thread woven through. The final thing she said was that once I had tried them that way, I would always want to do them like that. Wrong. The tallies themselves are fine and the extra turn around the end thread is easy enough to control but I didn't like the crampy feelings in my hand holding the passives because I've only got small hands, and once I'd managed to get a suitable grip on the three bobbins there was no way I was going to let go. I will find out in April as I'm off to Moscow for 9 days with the group organised by Jacqui Barber, making lace at the Institute for Decorative Arts with Tamara Blohina. The trip has been a long time in creation (it was first mooted at the Lace Guild Convention at Scarborough in 2004) and I am only just about believing it's really going to happen. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Another Tonder Book
I have got a boxed set of prickings and book entitled 33 Tonder Laces by Meta Tonder, but with two copies of the book. It was printed in 1954 and as with most books back then covers all the basics, and the first patterns are Torchon. The Tonder patterns don't go to a very complicated level - anyone that has done basic Bucks would be able to do. There are some much wider patterns in the set and illustrated worked in the book, but no instructions for them. I have no idea how this book compares to the Technique of Tonder Lace (I suspect it is more basic), but perhaps someone could comment if it would be any use to you. As to the other one, I would think that $451 is what the seller *thinks* is the going price. It is still for sale! As is the one at $197. The Ebay price at $72 is the only one where money has changed hands so is therefore more realistically the going price; it's the only one that's gone. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] redrafting pricking
The most important line to correct is the footside (and maybe the catch pin row); draw a straight line along and prick your hole next to the dots but on the line. If you do the same to the head side curves, it might be all you need to do. As someone else said, the Bucks ground is supported by the leading thread in each row and direction (if you work it correctly) so uneven ground pin holes are not crucial. If you are unhappy about the thought of not using them at all, use them but take them out a lot earlier than you normally would; perhaps only two or three rows on. (But I do mean just the ground pins, not the catch pins or footside pins or any catch pins alongside the pattern itself.) This will then allow the supporting thread to do it's work unimpeded by uneven pin spacing. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Tiger tape
Can someone in America tell me what Tiger Tape is, please. I found a web page showing how to use it to hold gathered fabric/lace in place while sewing it to straight fabric or entredeux for heirloom sewing. It must peel off again without leaving any sticky residue behind. Many thanks, Jacquie To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] heirloom sewing and lace insertion
A few days ago someone was asking about heirloom sewing and what we thought might be meant by an insertion lace (at least, I think that's what was asked). Looking for something else, I just came across this web site: http://www.lydias.com/qheirbasics.html which may answer your question. Please let us know how you got on and if you were able to help the person with the sewing interest. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] It's a man thing
I'd seen some of these before, but thought they are a good selection. Believe it or not, they were sent to us by the biggest Male Chauvanist Pig of our aquaintance; I wonder if he actually read them. One day my housework-challenged husband decided to wash his sweatshirt. Seconds after he stepped into the laundry room, he shouted to me, What setting do I use on the washing machine? It depends, I replied. What does it say on your shirt? He yelled back, University of Oklahoma. And they say blonds are dumb... A couple is lying in bed. The man says, I am going to make you the happiest woman in the world The woman says, I'll miss you... _ It's just too hot to wear clothes today, Jack says as he stepped out of the shower, honey, what do you think the neighbors would think if I mowed the lawn like this? Probably that I married you for your money, she replied. _ He said - Since I first laid eyes on you, I have wanted to make love to you really badly. She said - Well, you succeeded. He said - Shall we try swapping positions tonight? She said - That is a good idea... you stand by the ironing board while I sit on the sofa and fart. __ He said - What have you been doing with all the grocery money I gave you? She said Turn sideways and look in the mirror. __ Q: What do you call an intelligent, good looking, sensitive man? A: A rumor ___ A man and his wife, now in their 60's, were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. On their special day a good fairy came to them and said that because they had been so good that each one of them could have one wish. The wife wished for a trip around the world with her husband. Whoosh! Immediately she had airline/cruise tickets in her hands. The man wished for a female companion 30 years younger... Whoosh...immediately he turned ninety!!! Gotta love that fairy! __ A PRAYER Dear Lord, I pray for Wisdom to understand my man; Love to forgive him; And Patience for his moods. Because, Lord, if I pray for Strength, I'll beat him to death. AMEN __ Q: How can you tell when ! a man is well hung? A: When you can just barely slip your finger in between his neck and the noose. _ Q: Why do little boys whine? A: They are practicing to be men. __ Q: How many men does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: one-he just holds it up there and waits for the world to revolve around him. OR Three -- one to screw in the bulb, and two to listen to him brag about the screwing part. __ Q: What do you call a handcuffed man? A: Trustworthy. Q: What does it mean when a man is in your bed gasping for breath and calling your name? A: You did not hold the pillow down long enough. _ Q: Why does it take 100,000,000 sperm to fertilize one egg? A: Because not one will stop and ask directions. _ Q: Why do female black widow spiders kill their males after mating? A: To stop the snoring before it starts. _ Q: What is the difference between men and women? A: A woman wants one man to satisfy her every need. A man wants every woman to satisfy his one need. _ Q: How do you keep your husband from reading your e-mail? A: Rename the mail folder Instruction Manuals To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Editing
Having been an Enid Blyton's Famous Five addict (Julian, Dick, George, Ann and Timmy the dog) as a child, I offered them to my children in the 1970s. The only change in the books that I could see was that as England was now using decimal currency, any time money was mentioned it had been changed to its decimal equivalent. Not a well thought through idea. Even my children at six or seven years old could see the flaw in the idea. The conversations would go along the lines of - Mum, where can we go to get all these sandwiches and cakes for two-and-a-half-p? You couldn't get that anywhere now. Don't forget those books were written a very long time ago, before I was born. Things cost lot more now. But Mum, when you were a little girl you had that other sort of money So we would end up having a discussion that two-and-a-half-p was actually an old sixpence, and that what I could buy for an old sixpence when I was their age was three sherbet fountains, or two Milky Ways (or whatever other unit of currency they would understand and relate to), whereas now it was more than that in new pennies to buy one of them. It would have been much easier if the publishers had either left well alone (so I only had one conversion to deal with) or made an allowance for inflation. Jacquie whose introduction to a lot of books was big sis Malvary reading to me. It's one reason I learnt to read early, because every time the plot got interesting she would get bored with reading out loud so she could find out sooner what was going to happen. The only defense I had was to read it myself. To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Thread appeal
I have had an SOS from one of my students who is making a garter for her daughter's fast approaching marriage. She is using Madeira rayon 30, colour number 2001. I didn't realise when she started that a) it wasn't a new reel and b) she has had it for ages!! She has a long way to go as she is using the lace to edge a smocked centre panel (ie 2 x 65) and has phoned me in a panic as she has run out of thread and surprise, surprise, it is a discontinued colour. Her faith in me being able to perform a miracle is very flattering, so I just hope that someone can support this impression she has of me :-) It is a very pale random-dye thread, ivory background with pale pink and blue areas. She is using it as the main thread with bright pink gimps and heart workers. Daughter is a pink-addict. If anyone has a reel, or even part of a reel, that you could spare I am sure she would replace it with an available colour of your choice. Many thanks, Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Thread appeal - a result
The power of Arachne strikes again. Before you all rummage to the bottom of your thread stash, Jacqui Southworth has contacted me to say she still has three reels in stock. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Lace-in relay
In a message dated 03/02/2006 01:37:09 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: This is really a great idea! I'd even host a special guild meeting at my house to do this. Sounds wonderful! Laura Sandison Lace! in New Mexico, USA I think this should have come to the list, but you all know what happens when you hit reply... Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Lace relay revisited
I have been amazed (and flattered) at the interest my idea has produced! I spoke to the Lace Guild this morning about the convention and mentioned the relay while I was on the phone. If it looks as if the event is a possibility, and if it looks as if National Lace Day is a potential date, then they would be interested in having a note about it to go in the next edition of Lace - copy date 10th February. I am happy to submit this but need *permission* from the group as a whole. For example, do we want to encourage new members to join arachne so they can join in. If approved of, eye catching phrases for the copy would be greatly appreciated as would a concise description of how the event will work in practice - it may not be the biggest lace day ever numerically but geographically it will be and so has the potential for much publicity. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Lace-in relay
Sheila's post gave me the idea that perhaps sometime we coild have a lace-in relay - perhaps on the UK National Lacemaking Day in September. With several organisers around the world we could keep it going for the full 24 hours until it comes back home. Six people doing four hour stints, or eight at three hours. But do we have a wide enough spread of people around the time-zones to make it work? Just an idle fancy that it would be weird to know that for a full 24 hours, someone somewhere in the world is making lace. That is probably often the case anyway, but we don't know about it, so it doesn't count. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] A talking duck joke
A duck walks into a pub and orders a pint of lager and a ham sandwich. The landlord looks at him and says, But you're a duck. I see your eyes are working, replies the duck. And you talk! exclaims the landlord. I see your ears are working, says the duck, Now can I have my beer and my sandwich please?. Certainly, says the landlord, sorry about that, it's just we don't get many ducks in this pub. What are you doing round this way?. I'm working on the building site across the road, explains the duck. Then the duck drinks his beer, eats his sandwich and leaves. The duck continues to visit the pub for lunch over the next 2 weeks. Then one day the circus comes to town. The ringleader of the circus comes into the pub and the landlord says to him, You're with the circus aren't you?, I know this duck that would be just brilliant in your circus, he talks, drinks beer and everything!. Sounds marvellous, says the ringleader, get him to give me a call. So the next day when the duck comes into the pub the landlord says, Hey Mr. Duck, I reckon I can line you up with a top job, paying really good money!. Yeah?, says the duck, Sounds great, where is it? At the circus, says the landlord. The circus? the duck enquires. That's right replies the landlord. The circus? Yes That place with the big tent? Yes With all the animals? Of course With the big canvas roof with the hole in the middle, asks the duck. That's right!, says the landlord. The duck looks confused. What on earth would they want with a plasterer?. To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Lace without a corner
I think that Brenda has been talking about gathering round the corners all along, not mitreing, as it's easier and quicker to do neatly. Rochelle, if you think about it, the bit extra to make sure the lace will go around the corners sitting flat. has to be enough so the lace goes past the end of the hankie a distance equivalent to the width of the lace, turns 90 degrees, and goes down the next side of the hankie (again a distance equivalent to the width of the lace) before the footside actually reaches the hankie again exactly as Donna said. Whether you plan to mitre or gather the width of the lace increases the hankie size by twice that width. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Lace classes
Before we advertise elsewhere, I would like to let the Arachneans know that we have a couple of vacancies in each of two courses at the end of this year. These full board, residential courses are held in a 3 star, Best Western hotel in Dover (England). The first is the weekend of 6th, 7th and 8th October, with Pat Read, studying Milanese and other bobbins laces. As the title suggests most students work on Milanese but Pat will teach most bobbins laces. All abilities are welcome. The second weekend is 17th, 18th and 19th November, with Bridget Cook, and the class is called Lace with an International Flavour. Again most bobbin laces can be studied, with a lot of the students working on Russian and Idrija. This class is also the place to be if you want to design lace, as Bridget can help you with most types. Once more, all abilities are welcome. Please contact me off line if you would like further details sent as a PDF file. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Bone/ivory lace bobbins on Antiques Roadshow
The crux of the matter here is that the bobbins in question are Victorian Midlands bobbins, made by probably low-income, village bobbin makers. It is known that quite a few of these people probably made the bulk of their income from their bobbin and their skill is absolutely undeniable. If they had had access to ivory then they may have used it to make bobbins. But they most likely never saw it to buy or the finances to buy it if they had. And why would they have wanted too. At the time we are talking about there was plenty of large leg bone available from cattle and the heavy horses who were the power in agriculture, and the bone bobbins they made must have been stunning when they were new and bright. There are ivory bobbins around from this era, but they were made in India (where ivory was available to carvers/turners) and the design of them is distinctly different as the turners were not exposed to the lacemakers and so the ornamentation is what they consider aesthetic with no restraint as to whether it may be functional. This ivory/bone discussion is on a similar line to the pewter/silver decoration one, but that is more easily argued as the metal used to fill carved out grooves etc has to be melted and poured in. The melting point of silver is so high that both wood and bone would combust as the metal is poured on! The only way silver can be used to decorate bobbins is in the form of wire or studs. But is the argument is looked at from the other side, the same logic can be applied as the ivory/bone problem, ie the village turner wouldn't have easy access to buy silver, or the spare funds, or the far more complicated equipment needed to melt and handle at the dangerously high temperatures needed. Finally, the bobbins had to be sold at a price the lacemakers could afford, and the vast majority of them were doing it as a job, to earn money, not for fun and interest as we do now; would they want, or be able to, pay even more to have their expensive, fancy, luxury bobbin made of ivory and decorated with silver. Jacquie in England - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Bone/ivory bobbins
One possibility that has not yet been mentioned is that England had a number of its men in the Indian subcontinent at some point (the Raj). It is not inconcevable that some of these men had ivory and exotic wood bobbins made for gifts to sweethearts and family back in England. Certainly, a lot of the workboxes and their fittings came from India. Might not sailors and whalers carve bobbins out of narwhal, whale and walrus? They would be quite rare, but they should exist ... All this is documented as happening, but it is highly unlikely that these bobbins would then look exactly like the ones made by the local English bobbinmakers. As I said in an earlier post, there are bobbins made in India from ivory, but they *look* Indian - or at least not English. And because the bobbin makers weren't getting direct feedback from the lacemakers some of the ornamentation was impractical. And the numbers of these overseas or hybrid bobbins is tiny compared to the thousands that were made for and used by the working lacemakers. The batches of bobbins that turn up on the TV programmes are normally 'ordinary' Midlands bobbins, which is why we feel so confident in saying that these particular ones are bone, not ivory. I am willing to be corrected as I don't see a lot of TV, but I don't remember seeing, or hearing about, any Honiton, Malmesbury or Downton bobbins. Perhaps they tended to stay more local to their source and usage, and without the beads were more easily overlooked and thrown away in house clearances. For that matter, the same applies to Bucks thumpers. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Buttonholes and Blankets and needle lace stitches
I was always taught, by our dressmaker-teacher mother, my school dressmaking teacher, and by my college teachers when I was doing a fashion course that all buttonholes are done with buttonhole stitch. This is a knotted stitch, worked by putting the needle into place and then taking the thread from the eye down around the point before it's pulled through so there is a second loop on the stitch. When this is settled onto the cut edge of the buttonhole it forms a sort-of knot, which makes the edge far more hard wearing. A tailored buttonhole has an extra thread laid aound the buttonhole, from the straight edge around the rounded end and back to the straight end. The stitches are worked over this and then it is pulled to make sure there is no stretch at all in the buttonhole, before being snipped off. In the round end of this buttonhole there would also most likely be a small hole punched before sewing, so the shank of the button had a space to sit in. With proper hand sewn buttonholes, a horizontal buttonhole has a rounded end nearest to the opening, where the button will sit but vertical ones have two square ends to give extra strength and the button sits in the centre of the slit. A slot for a gathering tape such as in a waistband, has two round ends because the tape slides through the slot rather than pulling against it. Blanket stitch is the simpler stitch, where the thread just loops under the tip of the needle on each stitch and is in the same family as fly stitch, chain stitch and feather stitch. Needlelace uses both sorts, but the books refer to them as buttonhole stitch and twisted buttonhole stitch. The basic stitches are blanket stitch and the patterns are achieved by the different spacings. Some needle laces however use buttonhole stitches but because the stitch is being worked in rows not over an edge, the extra loop around the needle forms a twisted bar on the stitch instead of a knot. Holly Point is one of the best known laces using a twisted stitch. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] wool for bobbin lace/tussah silk
Have a look at the silk yarns sold by Texere, some of these described as tussah silk, there are several pages of assorted silks and silk mixes. Not so many in colour, but it is easy to dye, either as yarn or finished lace. I use their Regency silk for fine-ish lace, and this does come in colours. This link should take you through http://www.texere.co.uk/cgi-bin/SHPLoader.cgi?yarns.php?category=4 Also just spotted they have a viscose machine embroidery thread at a good price and lots of colours. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] wool lace weight thread
Suzi, I would like to back up everything Tamara said. A definition of what makes lace weight wool depends entirely on what scale lace you are making. If you want a Torchon scarf made in wool, you'd probably use an ordinary medium-weight knitting yarn and have the pricking adjusted to suit the wool size. There are quite a lot of people doing this sort of lace making. As you are talking about 41wpc, I quess you are wanting to do a fine lace. Do a google search for ring shawls to see some very fine lace knitting. I think it's possible that knitting may be a better way to use very fine wool, because the yarn is being stressed less. Bobbin lace with any wool requires very good and very even tensioning as there is more stretch in wool than in cotton/linen. So, if you pull some bobbins harder than others, although it may look the same while still pinned out, once the pins are removed the more stretched threads will contract back to their optimum length But even more important is DO NOT TRY TO PRE-SHRINK WOOL. Your whole aim with wool is to never let it shrink! Once a piece of knitted lace is finished it is usually blocked out on a frame to stretch it to the size it should be, ie each stitch is stretched back to the size it was on the needle. With bobbin lace, the fact that it has had pins in it holding it in shape/size while you were working it may make this a bit less important, but I think that I would be inclined to do lots of samples, experimenting with things like how long it needs to set on the pillow before you unpin, whether it needs a very light steam press while still pinned down (this would also affect what your pricking is done on and inked in with!), how it handles off the pillow, wash a piece very gently to see if it is still satisfactory. Although time consuming to do this research, compared to the time doing a complete project which may not end up as you planned it, it is time well spent. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Thanks
My heartfelt appreciation goes out to all of you who have taken the time and trouble to send me forwards over the past 12 months. Thank you for making me feel safe, secure, blessed and healthy. * Extra thanks to whoever sent me the email about rat cr*p used in the glue on envelopes - cause I now have to use a wet sponge every time I need to seal an envelope. * I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS. * I no longer go to shopping centres because someone might drug me with a perfume sample and rob me. * I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers. * I no longer worry about my soul because at last count, I had 363,214 angels looking out for me. * I have learned that God only answers my prayers if I forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes. * I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl on the internet who is about to die in the hospital (for the 1,387,258th time). * I no longer have any money at all in fact - but that will change once I receive the £25,000 that Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special on-line email program. Yes, I want to thank you all so much for looking out for me that I will now return the favour, so that even though you know its rubbish, you still HAVE to forward it too! SoIf YOU don't send this email to at least 144,092 people in the next 7 minutes, BOTH your arms will fall off, you will never find true love, and you will then be committed to a maximum security prison for crimes you didn't commit where you will receive special cuddles and forced love from most of C wing. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbour's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's cousin's beautician who was clinically dead by the end of the second day but to this day is kept alive on a life support machine her parents have to wind up hourly . SO MERRY CHRISTMAS... AND PLEASE, STOP SENDING ME CHAIN LETTERS!! To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] 'Antique' spangles
I have found the is it, isn't it discussion about the (possible) Haskins bobbin very interesting but would like to add my tuppence worth about the spangles. Perhaps the first lesson to bobbin 'forgers' should be - make a completely random spangle with thick wire, using beads, buttons and shells and leave a big ugly join that catches on everything :-) because then it must be old. However, I would like to make the comment that at first inspection, to me it looked respangled simply because as someone else said the spangle is symetrical. However, on checking in the Springett's book, so are quite a few of the ones illustrated. And the beads do look authentic. There is no reason why some of the 19th century lacemakers shouldn't have had the same preference for tidy spangles that we do today. You may now throw your hands up in horror, but one of the first things I do when I get a new old bobbin is to see if I can live with the spangle. If I can't, I have no qualms whatsoever about taking it off and redoing it. Often they are too big for my taste, or have wire that catches in things. I normally use at least some of the same beads and don't mind at all if the spangle is not symetrical so long as the size/shape is right. Any beads I don't use are kept apart from my modern ones and used for old bobbins I buy without a spangle. And the reason why I am happy to do this is because when I think how often I have needed to mend broken spangles in less than thirty years of lacemaking, (I think it's highly unlikely that any of my bobbins still have their original spangle from new) I find it difficult to believe that a bobbin at least five times that age is still with its original beads and wire. Especially so when I think how much more work that bobbin probably did in its youth than my bobbins. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Arachne etc
[EMAIL PROTECTED] is the address but you have to sign on and I don't remember how I did that! Try sending an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a line reading subscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] If that doesn't work come back to me and I'll try to find out another route. You should get a post with the courtesy rules for the board and the address for the archive etc. Is this the same Sutton where the Cheffin's Sutton saleground is? I think it must be. We go there a couple of tiems a year to their vintage tractor sales. My DH collects various assorted vintage farm stuff. The circular sock machines are dating from the 1870s to the 1930s (there are a few newer ones, but very few) and work basically like a normal knitting machine but with a cylindrical layout. Have a look at this website (http://www.oldtymestockings.com/SockMachineMuseum.html) to get an idea what they look like. We have just come back from the first UK meeting of C(ircular)S(ock)M(achine)ers which was in Bournemouth. We had people from across the country and Switzerland, the US and Canada. An excellent weekend. Mostly very expensive to buy on e-bay but we have got most of ours from farm sales and the like, at sensible prices. They knit socks and anything else you can think of that needs a tube. They can also do flat knitting but only narrowish strips so for a cardigan you'd have lots of seams :-( I do and teach mostly bobbin lace but can do and teach needlelace. I teach most bobbin laces, but Milanese is what I am in most demand for. I'm 54 and newly married since Valentine's day (corny, I know, but it was the start of half term week and Richard's a teacher too) with husband #2, after 7 years together. Live in Stamford, but would love to be very, very rural. Bye for now, as I'm supposed to be catching up on washing and other boring stuff after not being at home much for what seems like weeks now. Jacquie To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Whoops - Apologies to all
I am so sorry to send a private message to chat!!! As you may be able to deduce, I got the arachne address from my address book to copy and paste into the body of the letter, and then forgot to change it at the top. Good job I didn't say anything rude. Jacquie, red-faced in Lincolnshire To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Re: lace-chat-digest V2005 #200
We don't get many telesales calls now, registering for telepreferencing does cut it down, but as soon as a call sounds suspicious (ie they can't pronounce the surname) I ask what are you selling? the answer is almost always that they are not selling anything, so I let them prattle on until kitchens/double glazing/ is mentioned then I say So you're selling . We're on telepreferencing and you're telling lies and hang up. Instead of hanging up, find out who they are and report them. Much more satisfying as I think I am right in saying there is a hefty fine for *each call* annoying telepreference registered people. if there's no message doing 1471 to find out who was calling. I hope all UK arachnes are aware that BT (and maybe other phone providers) have now very stealthily introduced a charge if you use the press 3 to call a number obtained via 1471 . Minimum publicity on this one, of course, and I got caught out. Jacquie To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Printing wide pages
A friend of mine has sent me an SOS for some computer help. Why she thinks I'll know the answer I don't know, but I'm sure one of you will. She is trying to print a page from a web site with no printer-friendly page option. She has found it is cutting off the last word and a bit from the RH end of the lines. She's tried moving out the margins, copying it first into a document then printing, highlighting then printing the selection - in fact everything we can think of with our collective brains. So, how is it done, or is this a ploy to stop you printing off information. Many thanks, Jacquie To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Printing wide pages - a solution
Many thanks to Candida for suggesting printing on landscape format; my friend's comment was Not economic with paper but great on my nerves. She has yet to try print to fit page (thank you Margaret) but now it has been pointed out, we realise the problem may be that in the UK we are all set up for A4 paper and US websites are probably done for letter paper which is wider and shorter. As usual, arachne saves the day, and sanity. Jacquie To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Men are from Mars?
From David the commentAnd I never have figured out the whole Venus and Mars thing.I have never figured out why men think with their head and women with their heart. On my dentist's ceiling, amongst other entertaining, amusing and/or thought provoking things is Men are from Earth. Women are from Earth. Deal with it. Jacquie in Lincolnshire To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Threads for Lace - a must have
Suzi, The more I read of your shall I/shan't I buy this thread or that, the more convinced I am that what your *need to buy first* is Brenda's book Threads for Lace 3. This would answer all your questions and solve all your problems and dilemmas as to which thread to buy and which one is a substitute for another. It also allow you to use up thread that you may already have by explaining to you what size you alter your pricking to so the thread and pricking work together. Brenda gave you a very technical formula for working out the length of thread on a spool, but I would add the comment that unless 1) you are making a tablecloth edge or another enormous project of that sort, 2) it is a *very, very* thick thread or 3) the thread comes in tiny skeins (in which case it will most likely be sold by length not weight anyway - like embroidery silk), then the spool size will be enough for what you want to make. In over 25 years the only thread I can remember needing a second spool of was an acrylic knitting type yarn of about 4ply thickness (whatever that is in US English) and I was making a Tshirt! If you are working in more than one colour the above applies even more, because you may only be winding a few pairs in each colour. I don't even consider how much is on a reel because I know there is always enough - as my enormous part-used-reel thread stash will testify. The fibre, thickness and colour are what I base my choice on. Most of my students have a copy of the Threads Book; the only one who refuses to have her own copy, because she doesn't need it, is actually the one who needs it most! The very first time I was showing (and selling) the book in class she said No, she wouldn't have a use for it and within an hour had fished out a new pattern and the few threads she has and asked which she could use instead of the recommended one! Jacquie in Lincolnshire. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Suggestions for Lace portfolios?
Apart from pointing you to the materials made for scrapbooking where 12x12 is a common size and everything is archival quality, one suggestion I would make is to stop thinking that you have to display your lace on dark blue. I think this came into being when tissue paper was either white or dark blue and obviously, of the two, lace looks more spectacular on the darker colour. However I think you will find that if you use softer colours - rose pinks, greys, dull greens and blues for example - there is less 'glare', for want of a better word between the two extremes, and you can see the lace better. Also, it is often not essential to have a completely plain background. I often use mulberry paper with its inbuilt colour variation or one of the 'rag-rolled' paint effects scrapbooking papers. Have a look at my arachne webshots and as well as the mulberry paper, you will see one of my Torchon pieces has a purpose made backing of many shades of blue, chopped up threads, with some copper coloured Lurex as well. This was spread out between two layers of soluble fabric and machined over to hold it together. It turns a slightly unusual piece of Torchon into one of my most admired pieces. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] future of Lacemaking
In a message dated 25/10/2005 21:07:32 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://www.tsgny.org So... Why isn't there a link to IOLI on this site? Thanks for sharing it with us, lots of interesting sites to explore. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Medical examinations
After his exam the doctor said to the elderly man, You appear to be in good health. Do you have any medical concerns you would like to ask me about? In fact, I do, said the old man. After I have sex with my wife, I get hot and sweaty, and then after I have sex with her the second time, I feel cold and chilly. Later, after examining the elderly wife, the doctor said, Everything appears to be fine. Do you have any medical concerns that you would like to discuss with me? The lady replied that she had no questions or concerns. The doctor then said to her: Your husband has an unusual concern. He claims that he is usually hot and sweaty after having sex with you the first time, and then cold and chilly after the second time. Do you know why? Oh that crazy old fool, she replied. That's because the first time is in August and the second time is in January. To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Egyptian twisted lace
The frontispiece and first chapter of Margaret Maidment's Manual of Hand-Made Bobbin Lace Work is all about sprang/Egyptian twisted lace. She says there are two types of Egyptian lace found in the tombs. The first is knotted from which the filet lace is developed (and I would have thought that this type of lace would have evolved from fishing nets) and the twisted type such as we are talking about, which she thought was likely to be the origin of bobbin lace. For this to be true, it would seem to me that some sort of evolution in situ should be able to be traced. For example, if sprang was made in Scandinavia and Southern US, but bobbin lace evolved in Italy with no cross pollination, I would have thought they evolved separately. But if sprang had been made in Southern Europe then I could see that lateral thinking could have taken place by people really familiar with the first technique Do we really need these threads held top and bottom, or could we manage them some other way. And I also thought the earliest laces were plaited ones imitating needle lace which don't have a lot of similarity to sprang lace. Just musing and I'll be interested in hearing your thoughts. But the tunic is very beautiful and could be easily drafted out as Torchon. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Twisting lace comment
Kathy told us how upsetting it was when she took her first piece of lace off the pillow and it twisted. Well, Kathy, I don't know how long you've been subscribed to Arachne but not so very long ago Brenda Paternoster was trying to do a 'research project' to establish which combination of threads and stitches had this effect. And that's what made your lace twist. Unlikely to have been any mistake in your lacemaking (except that your tension was probably good or the thread wouldn't have been 'stressed' enough to twist the whole piece), just an unfortunate combination of thread and stitch type. Unfortunately I don't think Brenda was able to come to any firm conclusion of which combination of threads and stitches to avoid. One of my very early pieces was a simple Torchon fan edge worked as a circle. I made it in crochet cotton which was way too thick and when I took it off the pillow it buckled and just wouldn't lay flat. So I then made the same piece in sewing cotton which was way too thin (I did learn eventually how to sample threads, and now with Threads for Lace life is so much easier). It lay flat but was so flimsy I had to applique it to fabric so it didn't pull out of shape. The problems with the first I blamed for years on the thread being so thick, but one day I was showing the two extremes to a student and was playing with the thick bit. Quite by accident I folded it and all of a sudden it was flat - somehow I had worked two repeats too many! So obvious in hindsight. Jacquie in England - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] MP, OT, yarn question and sock knitting machines
Not a specific yarn for argyle as far as I know, but there are several makes of wool dyed specifically for socks that give an imitation fairisle or stripes. Sirdar Town and Country (not sure if you can get this in the States), Regia (German I think, but available in the US), and Opal (also available in the US) come to mind. I also have an American book, Yarns to Dye For by Kathleen Taylor which tells you how to make your own self patterning yarns. The problem I can see with a yarn for argyle checks is that it would only work properly if your tension was exactly right so that the colour change came on exactly the correct stitch each time. The reason I know this is that the other half of my life is involved with vintage and antique (yes, over 100 years old) circular sock knitting machines. At the moment we are organising the first UK convention for people who have or are interested in these machines, to be held in Bournemouth in November, but there has been an annual convention in the States for several years and also lots of local 'meets'. The yarns mentioned above make socks which appear to be rows of fairisle with plain colour stripes between, or all stripes, with no wool changing needed. I can now do a sock in an hour but should be able to get to a pair in less than an hour. I can also do argyle socks on these machines without special yarn, but this is slow as there is a lot of short row work instead of being able to crank round and round doing two or more rows a second. Still a lot quicker than hand knitting them though. Lace content so it's not OT anymore - I can also do simple lace patterns on them by transferring stitches between needles. If anyone is interested in knowing more about these machines I can bore you for hours! And if anyone knows anything about them, or has any vague memories of them, I'd love to hear from you. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] pillow bag
In a message dated 01/10/2005 18:05:48 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Now I have a question about this design. Do the two flaps that fold over the pillow truly keep it from sliding out the end of this carrier? I'd worry about that. A length of velcro or a button or two would fix that problem. Although, as you said they might, I think the characters had moved a bit, your diagram was clear enough to me. How well does the dowel stay in place when you're not carrying the pillow? I like the simplicity of this design, both for cutting and making. An ideal way to use up fabrics or to showcase special bits of patchwork or embroidery. Pockets could easily be fitted inside the arms with handles for bits and pieces, or even a book. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Re: IOLI contest entries
In a message dated 23/09/2005 11:03:57 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: IOLI Officers aren't paid for their time, that's why they call us volunteers. *big grin* I think I am right in saying that the officers for the UK lace societies aren't paid for their *time*, that's the bit they volunteer to give. However, there is no reason why they should be out of pocket for legitimate expenses. For instance, I can decide if I can afford to go to AGMs or not and decide how important it is to me. For a committee there is not that option. If all their expenses were to come out of their own pocket I am not surprised that at times it is hard to get new volunteers. This would surely also mean that there must be occasions where someone's financial situation changes during their term of office - does this mean they be in the situation where they feel they have to resign from the committee, even if they still have the time to offer? I take on board the comments about the distances involved but still feel that any event that it is essential for an officer to attend, their expenses should be paid. This might mean that the IOLI consider fewer events are essential than the Lace Guild do, for example, but I still don't think that the people keeping IOLI running for my benefit should be out of pocket - even if this means my subscription goes up. Jacquie in England - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] RE: IOLI contest entries
In a message dated 14/09/2005 00:52:32 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: We set a date of entries being in my hands by July 1st, so that all paperwork could be checked (don't ask, you'd be surprised what can be missed from forms), and also so that labels and judging sheets could be prepared in advance Well an *entry* could be made because that could even be e-mailed, and that's where possibly a photo in addition could be useful to give the organisers an idea of what the entry is to be, to be able to start planning the display; obviously this year they know the shape and size but will want to consider which goes next to which for the most pleasing visual impact. It's trusting my lace to international mail, and the time I will have to allow for the same, that is my problem. My renewal reminder from Laurie got here in 4 days, but that is exceptional. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Sue Johnston wearing tape lace
At the Burgley Horse Trials a couple of weeks ago, although even the *very* expensive designer dressmakers weren't using much lace, a lot was being worn, especially fine netty, neatly-fitted overblouses with peplums. Particularly noticable was a cream over navy - very fine lace so the navy was softened - and worn with jeans. And a soft, pale green over cream with a matching green skirt. But lots more, worn by all ages and types. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Textile History Journal
Does anyone on Arachne have access to the American academic journal 'Textile History'? The article I am interested in is in the spring 1998 issue (vol 29 #1) and is entitled Domestic Industry in the Factory Age: Anglo-American Development of the ÅFamily Knitting Machine. I am particularly interested to any reference to the Leicester stocking/sock knitting machine. I was about to start a search of English reference libraries but knowing the Power of Arachne, thought I'd ask here first. Many thanks, Jacquie To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] At the surgery
They ask at the doctor's office why you are there and you have to say in front of others what's wrong and sometimes it's embarrassing. There's nothing worse than a Doctor's Receptionist who insists you tell her what is wrong with you in a room full of other patients. I know most of us have experienced this, and I love the way this old guy handled it. An 86-year-old man walked into a crowded Doctor's Waiting Room. As he approached the desk, the Receptionist said, Yes sir, what are you seeing the Doctor for today? There's something wrong with my dick, he replied. The Receptionist became irritated and said, You shouldn't come into acrowded Doctor's Room and say things like that. Why not? You asked me what was wrong and I told you, he said. The Receptionist replied, You've obviously caused some embarrassment in this room full of people. You should have said there is something wrong with your ear or something and then discussed the problem further with the Doctor in private. The man replied, You shouldn't ask people things in a room full of others, if the answer might embarrass anyone. The man walked out, waited several minutes and then re-entered. The Receptionist smiled smugly and asked, Yes? There's something wrong with my ear, he stated. The Receptionist nodded approvingly and smiled, knowing he had taken her advice. And what is wrong with your ear, Sir? I can't pee out of it, the man replied. The Waiting Room erupted in laughter. To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Textile History 2
Before you all write and tell me - Malvary already has - I now know this is actually as English journal; my defence is that in the context in which I was told about it, I was led to believe (by default) that it was an American publication. So I didn't do the obvious and Google for it. I will phone them up tomorrow and see if I can get either a backnumber or a copy of the article. Jacquie To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] IOLI entries (short retorts)
Bev said I don't see a problem here, except that the entrants have to allow for mailing time. Apart from the risk of it getting lost in the post, this to me is the biggest problem at all! Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] IOLI entries, Canada Customs and time
So far no-one has mentioned none US/Canadian entries. I am occilating between I really want to have a go and push the boundaries on this one and Be realistic, you haven't got enough hours in the day for this big piece of lace on top of the rest that *has to* be made for various reasons. I have naively thought that I would take my lace with me as we do for the Lace Guild AGM competitions. If I have to post the lace overseas ahead of myself and lose the time I need to allow for it to get there, this could be the straw that breaks the camel's back and decides for me not to give it a go. And as Malvary said a couple of days ago, we have had a parcel go astray this year so all of a sudden I am less blase about sending across the Atlantic. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Re: Bobbin Lace - no, not tatting!
I would never have the patience to do something like that. This is one of the most common comments, in response to which I usually either ask what their hobbies are (if they have any at all) or ask them if they knit. I then say I don't have the patience to do plain knitting (that's what my machines are for) so if I hand knit it has to be fairisle or cable or lace, and even then I find it boring compared to bobbin lace. But one of the most unbelievable comments I ever heard was when I was demonstrating solo, but with a steady stream of children working on 'the snake'. A Mum came by with two little girls in the 6 to 9 age range, who both wanted to see what I was doing. She caught hold of their hands and dragged them away with the memorable explanation You wouldn't be interested in that - it *takes time* I wonder what that family did with their time that it was too precious to do crafts with some of it. Watch television? Play computer games? Retail therapy? Well, not expand their children's knowledge of what goes on in the wider world, that's for sure. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] IOLI competition rules revisited
Now that (hopefully) the symetrical red herring has been put to bed I would like to say I wrote to Debra to ask how strictly the 2D aspect of it will be enforced as I was thinking of some of the Jana Novak type designs where a section in the centre is rolled or folded and then tucked under another bit. She confirmed that 3D will be disqualified. Bear this in mind if you do Point de Gaze as those flowers often/usually have an extra 3D part. I have also written to her to confirm another couple of thoughts I had and I'll post the result once I have it. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] IOLI Montreal
I know that for those of you who were able to go to Denver it will still be fresh in your minds, but the post from Janice yesterday about the 2008 convention has made me stop and think that everything is very quiet about Montreal. I'm sure that they were being diplomatic and waiting for this year's event to be all done and dusted, but now.. Do we have a spider in the camp for Montreal? Will there be any tantalising titbits coming our way? Will there be an arachne event? In anticipation, Jacquie in England - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Liers Lace
I use an ordinary round embroidery frame, with a bound inner hoop, for Coggeshall and haven't had any trouble with the net slipping. Use a screwdriver to tighten the screw. It's obvious once it's been pointed out, and all but the cheapest frames have a screwdriver slot cut in the turney thing (mind's gone blank) but until someone passed me a screwdriver one day in an embroidery class, I was forever having to undo and reposition the fabric because it had slipped just that little bit. As I'm only doing little bits of tamboured lace (as little as possible!) I don't want to set up a slate frame, but I do see it could be better for a bigger project, once you have made sure you have the net straight and the right way round. In a round frame you need to take care not to distort the holes in the net, but once it's in place you can turn the frame to get the hexagons lined up properly. I hold the round frame in the slate frame holder on my Lowery stand, which means I can also get the light exactly where I want it. The pattern I tend to do largely freehand but as Margot says, I bring the 'cartoon' up behind to check I'm on target. I don't think I'd be able to cope with white behind the net (unless the net was coloured) and was taught by at least two different teachers (probably three) to have a dark cloth over my knees so I could see the net better. As with a lot of these things, I think it's a case of trying different equipment and methods and seeing what suits you. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Convention query
In a message dated 10/08/2005 01:12:56 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: So don't worry - there were no free-loaders!! My worries as far as IOLI conventions go have been more than soothed, but I would like to say just once more that the observers in the class set up I was describing weren't free-loaders, they had paid a reduced rate to be there in that role, and therefore had the right to demand that the teacher's performance was observable. When Jean was telling us about it, and how demanding it had been to teach, my thoughts were that I personally would hate to be a student in a class of that sort, where what I was doing would also be part of the floor show. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Argh! Frustration!
It could also be that those threads were broken in the fall. Before I learnt of this trick, my grandson (then about 15 months old, now 18yrs!) 'played' with my lace pillow when his mum was house sitting for us. It was a piece of Bucks with about 40 or so pairs. She had shown it to a lace making friend to sort out before I came home, but she (fortunately) said No thanks. When I started to untangle, bobbin after bobbin came away in my hand. Some were broken at the pins, others with up to 6 inches of thread. In the end, there were about 12 pairs of bobbins left joined onto the lace. It had not been apparent that any threads were broken before I started. Now, if it had been the first time I'd tried the turn-it-over-and-wiggle-it trick and all those bobbins had rained down on my head, I'd probably have been frightened off ever trying it again. As for the piece of lace, it was as an edgeing to a bonnet (not for aforementioned grandchild) and was almost finished at the time of the 'accident', so each end that was long enough was weaver's knotted onto a bobbin, and I then unpicked back so all the ends could be reached and dealt with. I then worked forward, getting rid of all the knots as they hit a cloth stitch bit and fiddling those that didn't leave ground. An interesting enough exercise in itself, but not one I'd choose to repeat from choice. Quicker though than starting from scratch. Jacquie in England - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Convention query
In her excellent report on the convention, JoAnne made the following comment .and got to sit in on the Lier Lace Class with Greet Rome-Verbeylen in the afternoon. Does this mean that she was not actually taking part in the class, but was there as an observer? I have heard of this practise from one of our leading British embroiderery teachers, Jean Littlejohn, but from what she said, I had hoped it would never be taken up in lace circles. The way she described it was that her students were situated at tables and chairs around her forming a horseshoe or ring. Outside them was another row (or even two in one place) of observers who she also had to acknowledge in so far as all her teaching had to be with sufficient volume for everyone to hear, and all her demonstrations had to be on a large, extravagent scale so those sitting further back could get their reduced-payment money's worth. She said it was enormously more tiring than her normal class size of 18 to 20, and also very claustrophobic to have this other set of people just watching and scribbling frantic notes, particularly when she was trying to do one-to-one or small group teaching within the group. I think she said it was a practise prevalent in the west of England (but I could be wrong on the place, so please don't shoot me down in flames), the logic being they don't get many teachers prepared to travel that far. She hadn't even been asked beforehand if she minded and as the tickets had been sold it was a case of going ahead or leaving a lot of very disappointed people. However, she says she wouldn't do it again. So, please reassure me that this was nothing like that, and that lace classes at conventions aren't going down that route. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Class observers
Phew, that's a whole different thing. A few people wandering in and out, respecting the rest of the class, is a normal situation practically anywhere there is more than one class in progress at a time. In the embroidery classes I was saying about the observers payed a reduced fee as they are not getting any 'hands-on' teaching, but still wanted their pound of flesh. I don't remember if Jean said they could ask questions or not (I'll try to remember to ask her, now I've remembered about it) but it was the sheer mass of people (50 or 60 in one class!) and their intense interest that she found overwhelming. A bit like doing a lecture and demonstration and teaching all at the same time. As her level of teaching is way beyond Here's how to do chain stitch and more about convincing everyone they have an amazing creative talent to produce original work, I should think that the real students also lost out a lot, too. Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Queen bees
Suzy is half right here. The queen can sting and sting and sting. BUT, apart from her one and only mating flight, the queen (honey bee) doesn't leave the hive by herself. The only other time she leaves is if the hive gets overcrowded in which case she will take about half of the bees with her as a swarm, which I already wrote about the other day. In a swarm, she will be in the middle as it is her pheromones that keep the swarm together, and so she won't be stinging anything. The reason why the queen can sting and sting is because if the worker bees decide to build queen cells, and feed the larvae accordingly so they develop as young queens instead of workers, the old queen will sting the nearly developed queen in her cocoon before she hatches. Simplifying it, usually the only time a queen cell will be able to produce a living queen is after the original queen has left with a swarm. Sometimes then two or three will hatch at much the same time and scrap it out between them as only one will survive. If anything should happen to the old queen, so long as there are newly laid eggs in the hive, the queenless state of the hive will trigger the workers into producing queen cells. Within three weeks a new queen should hatch, but she then has to fly out and find and mate with drone bees before she can return and start laying. As the fully developed bees only live for about six weeks in summer, this means that practically a whole generation is lost, so beekeepers are very careful with their queens. Jacquie To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] .......And flying things
If you see a swarm of bees then you are highly unlikely to be stung by them. When bees swarm, they gorge themselves on honey first to take with them from old home to new, and this makes them very docile. It is this habit that is used when a beekeepers smokes their bees when they open the hive. The smoke itself doesn't 'calm' them; they see the hive as being under threat and crawl down onto the frames to 'rescue' honey to take with them if they need to leave. And it is easy to collect a swarm. Last year there was one in the school grounds where Richard was working. Armed only with an old printer box and wearing a short sleeved shirt, he just shook the swarm into the box and then carried it home to put into a hive. He was very upset that one of the bees got lost on the way into the hive (you tip them onto the ground and they crawl in by themselves) and crawled up his trouser leg. When it reached his knee and couldn't go any further, it panicked and stung him. He know has three hives of bees bred from that swarm and they are extremely gentle; that sting on the knee is the only one he has had from them. If I am in the garden and they bump into me, they almost apologise as they fly away! Suzy, most people will not have anything more than a temporarily painful sting from bees and wasps - an icepack will very quickly remove most of the pain. The site may then probably be itchy and swollen for two or three days. If you are stung on your hand it is a good idea to remove rings in case your fingers swell. A sting on the outside of your throat is no more dangerous than most other places. The two sites where you should seek medical advice are if you get stung in or very near to your eyes, or more dangerously inside your mouth. This can happen if you take a mouthful of drink that a wasp has attracted to. So don't leave drink cans open if there are wasps around, because you can't see in before you drink! Either use a glass or a can lid. If it is a bee sting then the poison sac attached to the sting may well be left in your skin (the bee dies so they only sting if they have to!). If you see this, use a finger nail or the blunt edge of a knife to scrape the sting out. Don't get hold of it and pull, because as you do you will squeeze more poison in. The type of reaction needing an Epi-pen is much rarer, and you will know about it because you will have had a severe reaction to a sting which sensitises your body; it is further stings that are life threatening, and the doctors will have advised you to carry the Epi-pen. As to the red worm that Rikki saw. Do you have slow worms in America? These are not worms at all, or snakes, but legless lizards. They are completely harmless, but do look a bit wormlike as they don't have the wider, snakey head. They can also move very quickly. We find them in compost heaps and the like, where it is warm, or basking in the sun on hot days. Jacquie in England To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Beeswax colour and acidity
I confess there isn't any lace content in this at all, except it may help clarify the discussion that has been ongoing on the Lace board. The different colours of beeswax are dependant on how long it's been in the hive. The freshly built comb and the cappings (the wax the bees use to seal the chambers,) are very nearly white. The longer it stays in the hive the darker it gets as it crystallises and gets discoloured by day-to-day bee living and with propolis, the dark amber coloured 'stuff' that bees use to seal up gaps in the high. If the wax is whitened again by industrial processes it is being bleached. The wooden frames in the hive have a thin, man-made foundation of golden wax fitted into them, with the hexagon shapes lightly embossed. The bees then build their comb onto both sides of this, with fresh, nearly white wax. The queen is kept in one storey of the hive and the honey is stored by the bees away from the brood, so you can take frames from the other storeys and scrape off the caps and spin the honey out. As the wax building is labour intensive, you then replace the empty frames ready for the bees to refill, so they can concentrate on collecting nectar for honey and pollen to feed the brood. It would not be sense to remove that wax unless you were getting a very good price for it, as the bees can refill it several times over two or three years. The 'wild' comb I am referring to is when on the odd occasion a swarm of bees take over an empty hive (attracted by the honey/propolis smells in the wood). If this hive isn't full of frames, or if some of those frames have damaged foundation in them, the bees revert to nature and fill the spaces with wild comb which is a back-to-back cells on an oval or vaguely circular chunk of comb which hangs down from the top board of the hive or in gaps in the frames. When the beekeeper realises there are bees in the hive, these stray bits of comb are removed and replaced by 'proper' frames. If you want genuine, natural 'pale as it comes' beeswax you probably need to buy direct from a bee keeper who will take the trouble to separate their cappings and any bits of 'wild' comb from the bulk of the 2 or 3 year old wax from damaged or due-to-be- replaced frames. If you ask for some, it is perfectly possible that they can put some through their steamer/separator for you. However, mostly they don't bother because the golden colour of beeswax is what most people expect. Acid is only actively acid in water, so in wax it won't be active if that makes sense. The acidity in wax is low anyway. Therefore it seems unscientifically possible to conjecture that waxed thread has more protection from the acidity in the atmosphere than unwaxed. Jacquie in England - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Tails on messages
I am currently trawling through the TEN arachne chat digests that came in the week I was away. Why so many - because several of you and one person in particular (Yes, you know who you are :-) ) have left all the messages you are answering/ commenting on, copied at the bottom of your post. So, a digest that from the length of the new letters should have had perhaps 10 or more items has only 5 or 6 and I am scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. Please, please, pretty please, cut off all but the most 'essential to your answer' repeated stuff before you send. Thanking you in anticipation, and apologising if someone has already said it! I've still got 5 digests to go through. Jacquie in Stamford To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] IOLI 2006
A snippet I gleaned from in the middle of all the digests I had left to read after I dealt with the non-digest lace posts. Sorry, I don't remember who posted it now, and it's not important. It reads: Next year the IOLI will be 3000 miles from here. There will not be many from here traveling that far. In 2007, the IOLI will be less than 2000 miles and more will go to that one, though I doubt any will try to drive there from here. Ah, but next year the IOLI convention is only 3000 miles from us in England, and in Canada to boot, so that's the one I am going to manage to get to. The date is on the calendar and the lovely group of ladies I was teaching last week have rearranged their schedule so I am free to go, so now I guess I must :-) I hope to see lots of you there. Jacquie in Lincolnshire To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Minimising a catastrophe
I'm sure most of the experienced lacemakers on Arachne know this trick, but we have lots of newer lacemakers now and I don't remember seeing this here before. If you have a major spill with your pillow, to the extent that bobbins are caught up on the pins as distinct from *just* severely muddled leashes, take a deep breath and hold the pillow upside down over your head. Gently rock it and most of the threads that are caught around the pins will be pulled free by the weight of the bobbins. Any left can be easily encouraged to drop. Once you have done that, slowly turn the pillow back up the right way so the top of the pattern is at the top and the bobbins lay onto the correct bit of the pillow. You still have to sort out the bobbins but it is much easier to do this without some being caught on the pins, and they mostly drop back into the right area so the left hand bobbins tend to be on the left and so on. It really does work, but is terrifying to do the first time. However, sometimes the catastrophe seems so major that anything has got to be worth a try and it was in that situation that I first tried this, with great results. Since then I have used it several times when teaching, when a student has dropped their pillow, and the situation has always been improved. I think the only time I wouldn't risk it would be if the lace was barely started so the amount of pins was not enough to support the weight of the bobbins - but then with few pins in, there would be less to tangle round anyway. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Waxing thread for bobbin lace
Waxing thread for sewing goes back a good many years - probably hundreds -and was a standard *must do* for buttonholes, especially heavy 'tailored' garments. They were done with linen, cotton or silk thread depending on fashion and fabric. I'm sure that if it caused the thread to rot away after even quite a while it would have been spotted at some stage, and have become common knowledge. It was used to strengthen the stitches long term, not to weaken them. Waxing the silk thread is also a normal thing to do for Goldwork embroidery. As a lot of the heirloom style church vestments are embellished with Goldwork, once more I think it would have been discovered by now if bees' wax is not good for silk thread long term. Although I don't think it's something we use much in lacemaking, I do know that at least some of the 'disappearing' ink type pens (that quilters use to draw the stitching lines on fabric), weaken the fibre and long term have left damage on quilts. As this takes some while to show up, I hope that the more modern pens no longer have this effect. As I write this, I am wondering what Tamara and others were using to draw their designs on the tulle (net?) for tambouring, and if this is the same sort of thing. Jacquie in Lincolnshire - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] barbara underwood double picots
Hi Suzy Try twisting the thread 5 times - the number of twists depends on the thickness of the thread and the size of the pin. You need just enough for the little twisted cord to fit round the pin and 5 is usually about right for medium weight thread. I guess you are doing picots on the plaits. Have a good look at the pricking and choose which one to do first as they are often not exactly opposite each other. Do the first one first if that makes sense. It doesn't have to be the RH one. To do a RH picot, use the RH pair and pick up the RH bobbin of that pair with your right hand. Take a pin in your left hand (scary, you need to be a little bit ambidextrous here) and put it behind the thread to the bobbin (on the far side of the thread, so the thread is between you and the pin). Now, keep the pin still and wrap the thread once round the point of the pin. If you rest the tip of the pin on the pricking, the thread from the bobbin should be underneath the thread from the lace (I'm still just talking about that one bobbin thread). If it is, move the pin into the hole, but *don't pull the thread tight* and *don't put the bobbin down*. Pick up the other bobbin of the pair with your other hand (the hand that had the pin) and take the thread in front of the pin and on around it. Now very gently snuggle the threads until they are the same tension; you should be able to see the twisted bit going round the pin now, and then snuggle it tight around the pin. The twists should be like the cheese in a sandwich with a thread each side of them because the first thread was underneath and the second is on top. To do the other picot, do the half stitch as Barbara says (this is to stop a hole forming in the centre of the plait) but if the other picot is quite a way in front of the first, you can do a cloth stitch instead of the half stitch to fill the gap better. A LH picot is done with the LH pair, picking up the LH bobbin with your left hand. Take the pin in your right hand and then you can follow the rest of the directions from above, because they don't say left or right! The important things are: 1) Make sure the first thread from picot to bobbin is under the picot to plait bit of the same thread. 2) Keep the whole thing loose until the second thread is in place. If you don't, it is hard to get the twists to go round the pin. 3) Make sure the second thread goes the same way round the pin as the first. If you haven't, one thread comes out from above and the other from below the pin so it's quite easy to spot. As for an official way, this is the way we traditionally make them for English lace but they can be done with the whole double twisted thread wound round the pin which originates with the continental fine laces, or as a knotted picot which only leaves a single thread in the actual picot so is used with thicker thread laces. The important thing is that it keeps its shape and is crisp enough to look as if it's meant to be there. Badly made picots just look as if you've forgotten to tidy your threads up. Hope this helps, Jacquie - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Rail passes, car hire and automatics.
A friend who will be visiting from the States has asked me: a) are train passes and car hire cheaper to sort out and pay for from the US? b) if they reserve an automatic, how likely are they to actually get one? Because of the wisdom of arachne, I was able to confidently say that rail passes are cheaper bought before they arrive but is there a time clause in there somewhere? Can someone tell me if the car hire is also better (moneywise) to be sorted out before they come? Last time they were here (1987) they had ordered an automatic but when they went to collect it, were told there wasn't one available, which meant he ended up doing all the driving. I think that automatics are getting more normal here but wondered if anyone has any recent experience on this. Many thanks, Jacquie in Lincolnshire. To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Second hand books
After mentioning that I had some books for sale, I have had several requests for a list. First of all, let me remind you that I am in England, so if you're not the shipping will increase the price considerably! I don't have time to post the list this week as I am away on Friday to teach lace for a week in Shrewsbury, but I will do it when I return. In the meantime, may I remind you that the Lace Guild has a far wider range of books for sale, at very competitive prices, and so you are more likely to find something tempting there. You don't have to be a member to buy their books. The list (newly updated) is on their website. Jacquie in Lincolnshire, England - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
