[lace] RE: cross stitch fabric
Greetings All, I'm behind on digests, so I'm hoping I'm not saying what's already been said, if so, please forgive. Because cross stitch fabric is loosely woven, it's a very unstable fabric. Cross stitches stabilize the fabric, but I wouldn't trust cross stitch fabric to not distort in the wash. Most cross stitch pieces are mounted and not laundered. As a weaver, I know what happens to any loosely woven fabric. The fibers will shift around madly, causing the fabric to become distorted. If it's very loose, holes may even occurr. Unlike, wool which fulls when wet (fulling is the process of the fibers filling up the empty spaces) linen just stays loose. So, you might want to use yardage or recycled linen that's tightly woven. However, if you're going to attach the lace, and then mount it, cross stitch linen would be the perfect choice. Hope that's of some help, Mary _ Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee® Security. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Re: cross-stitch fabric
In a message dated 24/08/2004 04:51:15 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: By the time you get to linen fabric for mounting, it's not going to be cheap... :) If you go for the cross-stitch variety, it's likely to be even more expensive; as Adele has said, that is the fabric which has been woven *specially*, so that the number of both horizontal and the vertical threads is the same per inch. That does have a certain advantage for mounting lace projects - you can match a pinhole to every 3 threads, say - but it's not worth the extra expense (IMO). It's far easier on the pocketbook to *pick a fabric which matches the weight of the lace* the best, and compensate for the (slight) discrepancy between the length and width, by easing in the lace into the short sides... --- Tamara P Duvall I was always taught to mount lace on fine cotton lawn (hankie material) which is really difficult to source these days outside of John Lewis in the UK. However, if a piece of lace requires a piece less than 10 square then I've started using men's hankies - I was lucky enough to get 10 from Asda for 3 pounds sterling - even if I buy more expensive ones they are never more than double that for 4 - this works out cheaper for more standard pieces. I also prewash lace and fabric and make sure that both have shrunk before I mount them so that they don't ripple when first washed. Also on the linen front - personally because linen is never uniform in weave, I avoid using it to mount silk or cotton lace as I personally think it takes away from the clear weave of those laces and would only really use it to mount linen lace which is always non uniform because the thread thickens and thins as it goes. But that is just my personal view Regards Liz in London I'm back blogging my latest lace piece - have a look by clicking on the link or going to http://journals.aol.com/thelacebee/thelacebee - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Re: cross-stitch fabric
In a message dated 24/08/2004 04:58:43 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I'm looking on eBay, where you can find everything cheaply, but the vast majority of linen fabric there is the cross-stitch sort. So it'll probably be easier to find cheap cross-stitch fabric than any other sort... Weronika I've always found linen cross stitch fabric rather rough weave and frays too easy so I personally wouldn't use it for mounting lace. What I've always done is made the lace then gone and bought the small amount of fabric I needed for mounting afterwards - I've never needed more than a half metre of fabric which usually is over a metre and a half wide and gives loads for the next thing you want to make - also I would doubt that even the best cotton lawn would be more than about 10 - 15 pounds sterling a metre so 1/2 a metre would only be half that and really work out as about a pound a centre. I have pieces of lace left unmounted for a year or two because I want just the right fabric for mounting simply because although the threads may have only cost a few pounds, after all those hours of making the piece I want to make sure that I mount it on something worth the cost of the lace - think about it - to me, a piece that takes 20 hours is work it's weight in gold - I'm not going to mount that on something that will take me another 10 hours to stitch it onto the fabric and only cost a few pennies then frays or looks wrong. Also, I usually take the lace with me, choose a couple of bolts to look at and ask the lady in the shop to roll them out so I can see the lace on them and choose which looks best - the shop assistants are always interested in what I am doing and help me find better pieces and quite often let me have less that the usual standard minimum amount of fabric. Good luck in looking - it's half the fun of doing the lace Regards Liz in London I'm back blogging my latest lace piece - have a look by clicking on the link or going to http://journals.aol.com/thelacebee/thelacebee - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Re: Cross Stitch Fabric
Nature You need to be careful on cross stitch fabric that you get even weave. If you buy just linen, it is quite uneven in places. Especially where the slubs come in you usually have a very fine thread next to it in places. I have found it very easy to miss that fine thread and cross over three threads instead of two. And yes it is usually expensive. [demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type image/gif which had a name of anabnr2.gif] [demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type image/jpeg which had a name of Nature Bkgrd.jpg] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Re: cross-stitch fabric
Phoenix Textiles at fabric.com is clearing out its linens and linen blends right now, and the last time I looked, they still had black, ivory, and bone, but a quick glance didn't turn up any white. The black handkerchief linen is mis-filed under lightweight linen. -- Joy Beeson [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://home.earthlink.net/~joybeeson/ west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A. where it's humid and warm. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Re: cross-stitch fabric
You're really getting my appetite up... g. Maybe I'll try harder to find a fabric store, because I really want to go to one now! It is really nice how people get interested in what you're doing. I wish I had a miniature travel pillow or something to carry around and demonstrate, because it's so hard to explain! g Weronika Also, I usually take the lace with me, choose a couple of bolts to look at and ask the lady in the shop to roll them out so I can see the lace on them and choose which looks best - the shop assistants are always interested in what I am doing and help me find better pieces and quite often let me have less that the usual standard minimum amount of fabric. Good luck in looking - it's half the fun of doing the lace Liz in London -- Weronika Patena Caltech, Pasadena, CA, USA http://vole.stanford.edu/weronika - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Re: cross-stitch fabric
On Aug 23, 2004, at 20:07, Weronika Patena wrote: I'm looking for cheap linen fabric to put lace edgings on. What's the difference between cross-stitch fabric and normal fabric, and would it make any sense to put lace edgings on it? By the time you get to linen fabric for mounting, it's not going to be cheap... :) If you go for the cross-stitch variety, it's likely to be even more expensive; as Adele has said, that is the fabric which has been woven *specially*, so that the number of both horizontal and the vertical threads is the same per inch. That does have a certain advantage for mounting lace projects - you can match a pinhole to every 3 threads, say - but it's not worth the extra expense (IMO). It's far easier on the pocketbook to *pick a fabric which matches the weight of the lace* the best, and compensate for the (slight) discrepancy between the length and width, by easing in the lace into the short sides... --- Tamara P Duvall http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland) Healthy US through The No-CARB Diet: no C-heney, no A-shcroft, no R-umsfeld, no B-ush. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Re: cross-stitch fabric
By the time you get to linen fabric for mounting, it's not going to be cheap... :) ?? If you go for the cross-stitch variety, it's likely to be even more expensive; as Adele has said, that is the fabric which has been woven *specially*, so that the number of both horizontal and the vertical threads is the same per inch. That does have a certain advantage for mounting lace projects - you can match a pinhole to every 3 threads, say - but it's not worth the extra expense (IMO). I'm looking on eBay, where you can find everything cheaply, but the vast majority of linen fabric there is the cross-stitch sort. So it'll probably be easier to find cheap cross-stitch fabric than any other sort... It's far easier on the pocketbook to *pick a fabric which matches the weight of the lace* the best, That would require: 1) Having already made the lace g 2) Knowing how to match 3) Having a fabric store nearby so that I can actually look at the fabric as opposed to buying it online... Weronika -- Weronika Patena Caltech, Pasadena, CA, USA http://vole.stanford.edu/weronika - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace] Re: cross-stitch fabric
On Aug 23, 2004, at 23:57, Weronika Patena wrote: By the time you get to linen fabric for mounting, it's not going to be cheap... :) ?? Cotton is *much* cheaper than linen, 9 times out of 10 (the 10th being what Sharon has suggested - free discards from framing stores - *thanks* Sharon) It's far easier on the pocketbook to *pick a fabric which matches the weight of the lace* the best, That would require: 1) Having already made the lace g 2) Knowing how to match 3) Having a fabric store nearby so that I can actually look at the fabric as opposed to buying it online... In that case, I'd *definitely not* buy my fabric on E-Bay, however tempting it might - seemingly (have you figured in the shipping?) - be with a low price... :) Re # 2: If you know zilch about fabrics in general, then the *only* sensible way to cope is to take the finished lace and try to match it to something that'll be pleasing - a lace/fabric divorce can be as harrowing as a real-life one. You'll know what's right and what's not if you have both *in hand* (lace is a lot about a tactile experience, even if we're not permited to touch it in the museums and at demos); there's no way you can tell from a screen... Re #1: If you don't even have the lace you might want to mount... It's a waste of time and money to buy the fabric *now*; you don't even know how much of it you might need. I have some mounting fabric (both cotton and linen, in different weights) which has been mouldering for years, because I got it before I knew what I wanted to use it for. Some of it I *have* used - by adapting the patterns and the threads to suit it - but it's not a route I'd recommend in general. The only exception would be handkerchiefs - either pre-embroidered (and spurring ideas for new patterns to match the embroidery) - or plain. They can always be cut down to size, at little expense/waste. Re #3: I *cannot imagine* that there isn't *a* fabric store anywhere near you - you're in the Bay Area of California, not in some place where the devil says goodnight... If nothing else, you could go there, and educate yourself about the terms used for fabrics, the better to be able to buy them on-line... And - following Sharon's suggestion - there ought to be framing stores galore; isn't half of the CA population artistic? g Another source of cheap linen fabric, available to you (as it was to me g)... Polish linen is inferior only to Irish linen in quality; ask your parents to send you some - once you know the weight (dress, shirt, handkerchief, etc) and colour you might require. --- Tamara P Duvall http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland) Healthy US through The No-CARB Diet: no C-heney, no A-shcroft, no R-umsfeld, no B-ush. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] Re: cross-stitch fabric
On Tue, Aug 24, 2004 at 01:43:06AM -0400, Tamara P. Duvall wrote: Cotton is *much* cheaper than linen, 9 times out of 10 (the 10th being what Sharon has suggested - free discards from framing stores - *thanks* Sharon) Ah. Well, the only thing I know about matching lace to fabric is that they should be made of the same type of thread, and I've only used linen thread for lace... Re # 2: If you know zilch about fabrics in general, then the *only* sensible way to cope is to take the finished lace and try to match it to something that'll be pleasing - a lace/fabric divorce can be as harrowing as a real-life one. You'll know what's right and what's not if you have both *in hand* (lace is a lot about a tactile experience, even if we're not permited to touch it in the museums and at demos); there's no way you can tell from a screen... Hmm. I'll try. Somehow I can easily imagine myself staring at different combinations and having no idea what to pick... G But I'd try if I found a store. Re #3: I *cannot imagine* that there isn't *a* fabric store anywhere near you - you're in the Bay Area of California, not in some place where the devil says goodnight... If nothing else, you could go there, and educate yourself about the terms used for fabrics, the better to be able to buy them on-line... And - following Sharon's suggestion - there ought to be framing stores galore; isn't half of the CA population artistic? g Lack of car. I'm sure there are fabric stores in the area, but as far as I know (Google, MapQuest etc.) none in Palo Alto, where I can get by bus/bike. And I don't really feel like making Geoffrey (DH? G) drive me around fabric stores, especially since he works all day anyway. Another source of cheap linen fabric, available to you (as it was to me g)... Polish linen is inferior only to Irish linen in quality; ask your parents to send you some - once you know the weight (dress, shirt, handkerchief, etc) and colour you might require. That sounds reasonable... So in that case I can get away without looking and matching it to lace? Weronika -- Weronika Patena Caltech, Pasadena, CA, USA http://vole.stanford.edu/weronika - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
