Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

One of our members comes from France and I saw her using the leather/vinyl cover cloth.  I've made myself a couple and they do seem to speed up the bobbins  -  maybe I should get them out to work Mum's tablecloth.  :-)  Brigitte works with continental bobbins on a flat pillow.  I

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

I think the idea of community effort to make a large project is a great idea. I know that was practiced in the past to get a large project finished in the smallest amount of time. Many different lace makers would work on a portion of the lace and then a trained person would sew the pieces

Re: [lace] Speed & efficiency in lace?

On November 23, 2020, at 2:36 PM, lacysuze...@gmail.com wrote: >Having participated in several Great Lace Race events in Cortland, OH back in >the day, I can only say it’s not a race. It’s Lace! If any former Race >winners are present, please confirm.  ;-)  I am, in fact, one of the

[lace] RE: lace-digest V2020 #58

After trying various ways of making a tally, I found that holding the 3 passives in my left hand, between various fingers, and weaving the 4th bobbin – tail first – though them was the easiest way for me. Now I am tatting , I tried Cluny Leaves – the Tatters version of Tallies, - and found

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

Wow- two digests in one day. I was about to reply to Elenas question when the second digest popped up containing more or less things that I might have said. I too watched the amazing elderly lady in the window at Kantcentrum and was intrigued by the leather cover cloth on her pillow. An

RE: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

The other thing to note is that the lacemaker has a leather or leather-like surface on her working area. I've seen this before, and it makes a good deal of sense. I'm going to make myself one and see how it works. Clare -Original Message- From: owner-l...@arachne.com On Behalf Of

[lace] Speed & efficiency in lace?

Having participated in several Great Lace Race events in Cortland, OH back in the day, I can only say it’s not a race. It’s Lace! If any former Race winners are present, please confirm. ;-) Otherwise on a cookie pillow, it’s best to avoid picking up the bobbins at all. Better to nudge, roll &

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

In the last few years it seems to me that we have emphasized perfection over speed in making lace. I find that I am faster when I use continental bobbins vs. using spangled bobbins. I have learned to do the the whole stitch where you move both the cross and the twist together across the an area

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

Hi Nancy, Elena and other Arachnids, The overlap in the cloth stitch is really fast. I do it for years now. It is faster than making the cloth stitch with palms up. That way you have to pick up pairs and lay down pairs. On a cooky pillow with palms down it is for me a natural way of making the

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

Ooops! I looked at the thumbnail and thought it was the right film, but it wasn’t. I was thinking about “Lace of Long Ago” (1931): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwcSaAXtZsc Adele > On Nov 23, 2020, at 12:01 PM, Malvary wrote: > > Hi Adele

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

There is an old British Pathé newsreel from 1929, where they filmed an elderly lacemaker at work. Given her evident age, she would have learned her lacemaking in the 1860s or so. The interesting thing for me is that she moves the bobbins with her left hand, and puts in the pins with the other.

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

Hi All, I flick my bobbins when doing tallies/leaves, and find it doesn't take long to make one. After I learned that way (thanks, Josée!), I had other teachers demonstrate other methods but none were any where near as fast. I also work cloth stitch the way Nancy mentioned - it's much quicker.

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

My sister and I have watched the ladies making lace in Camariñas on many occasions. They work very fast and we were intrigued by the way they make leaves. Across and back 3 or 4 times or more and then pull them up into leaf shape. We asked one lady if she could go slower so we could watch how

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

Thank you for the wonderful video links, everyone! And to prove the point that speed is possible with many bobbins on the pillow (and Flanders at that!) too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUHFZrJIzTo (I love the casual peek at the pair diagram next to her halfway through..) It seems that a

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

Hi Elena and Arachnids I'm very intrigued by this as well and find it interesting that contemporary lacemakers don't value speed and efficiency as much as knitters do for example. Anyone who has learned how to play a musical instrument can attest to muscle memory not happening after a week or a

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

Elena, I meant to include the url for that, and then I see it did not happen. Thanks for including that. lrb Lyn, that's an excellent idea!For those that didn't see David Hopkin's lecture yesterday, I took the liberty of watching the entire video on YouTube this morning. Here it is, for

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

Lyn, that's an excellent idea! For those that didn't see David Hopkin's lecture yesterday, I took the liberty of watching the entire video on YouTube this morning. Here it is, for those who are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXgFV_YXYKA Best, Elena - To unsubscribe send email to

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

Elena, I think I know the lady you mean at Kantcentrum. I saw her when I spent a week there, in 2009, working in the afternoons. She always sat in the corner with the most light, and had been making lace since she was 7. At that time she was in her 70's. She was so fast, and her work was

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

Hi Clare, Agreed, they are just breathtaking! I have a video of a lacemaker at Kantecentrum that I share in most of my lectures for graduate classes and I always warn them that they will probably be disappointed with the speed of my live demonstration at the end after watching this video. :)

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

Dear Nancy, Interesting! I had never considered that, but it makes a lot of sense. I'll have to give it a try! :) Best, Elena - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site:

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

Elena asked about speed - the fastest lacemakers I’ve seen in person are at the Kancentrum in Brugge, Belgium. There seemed to be a few of underlying commonalities. First, they seemed to be working on patterns they understood and knew well. Second, they had been making lace for years. Third,

Re: [lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

Hi Elena and fellow Arachnids: I have found that, when doing an area of cloth stitch, I can go twice as fast if I "overlap" stitches. Do the cross in the next stitch as you do it in the current stitch, and move across, doing two crosses at the same time just like you do a twist with each hand. I

[lace] Speed and efficiency in lace?

Dear Arachnids, I hope you all are doing well! I watched a very interesting online talk this weekend with Mathew Gnagy, a historic costumer who makes some of his own needle and bobbin lace. You can find his work on his website: https://themodernmaker.net/ I've heard him discuss several times how