Monday 5 January 2015

Lace Making 1–Beginner

Liz from Craft n Chat is a keen and expert lace-maker.  She said I should have a go and I liked the idea, as it has always appeared to be so baffling.

She kindly lent me a Pad and lots of other essential items.

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First she taught me how to thread the beads onto the bobbins.  The beads identify the bobbins in pairs as all the work involves a pair of bobbins.

Then the bobbins need to be wound with thread.  There is a worker pair which does all the work and crosses the work on each row.  In the example below there are 5 passive pairs, shown in the middle at the top.

At the end of each row you place a pin in the cardboard ‘pricking’ (which is like a pattern) to keep the finished row in place and tension the work.

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The workers are passed over and under each other in a sequence to create each stitch.

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Stitches are varied by using different sequences and twisting the bobbins as you work across a line.

It is very much like weaving at this simple stage.

Pins are added into the centre of the ‘pricking’ to make loops and structured holes in more advanced work.

I was advised to use different coloured thread to make it easier and my worker thread was yellow which made it stand out.

This piece took about 4 hours all told.

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