After you have made your bobbins, you will need some other essential tools. Once again, these are easily improvised from things available in either the hardware store, that craft store or the sewing store. Let's look at each one individually.
Good pins are essential to good lace. The pins hold the lace in place while working and give shape to the lace. The pins should be sturdy without being too thck, sharp, and with good sized heads. Dressmaking pins do not work, they are too easily bent, too long, and the heads are too small. Lacemaking catalogues have a dizzying array of pins with names such as "binche" "Duchesse" or "Buck's Point" all very expensive for the quantities. Don't buy expensive pins until you are sure that the lace you want to make is "duchesse" or "Tonder point."
So what kind of pins can the beginner buy? The craft store sells sequin pins, for pinning sequins and beads into styrofoam balls for decorations. They are short, sharp, and sturdy, with the requisite big heads. They are available usually at christmas and easter in the big craft stores. They are also available in the floral department. These are the ones I used at the beginning, and I still use to this day for simple Torchon laces. Discard pins if the bend or have nicks and burrs on them.
Anitque pins are not always rust resistant, even when they say rust proof. Rusting pins will ruin your lace. Spend a bit of money and get good pins, it's worth the investment if you become hooked on lace making.
You will also need large head pins. Once again, in the craft or floral department you will find corsage pins, these work well for lace making. A large head corsage pin can serve double duty as a pattern card pricker, that is: a small sharp tool that punches small holes in the pattern card. A pricker is NOT what you were thinking!
Not much needs to be explained here. Have a good quality steel crochet hook available for "sewings" when making tape lace. I use a metric .75 hook for torchon and tape laces and an extremely fine antique .4 for Honiton Lace. You likely will never need a hook that fine, all the beginner needs is the .75.
Fray check is a clear liquid that is used by people who sew to prevent threads from fraying on cut edges. It's a handy tool for lace makers when it come to dealing with knots. Instead of learning tricky weaver's knots or complicated grafting techniques, one can work the knot inot the lace, trim the loose end close to the knot, dab it with fray check, and never worry about your lace falling apart becuse of a thread end falling out.
A quick note on thread guage! Threads get thinner as the numbers get larger. Think of the guage as a fraction: a half (2) is larger than a quarter (4) one tenth is smaller still (10) and one twentieth is even smaller (20) Thread gauges are different from sewing thread gauge to crochet thread guage; while cotton guages are slightly different from linen gauges. Linen will always have the number of plies twisted togther to make the thread included in the guage. FOr example 40/2 means the thread is two ply 40 gauge thread. 40/3 means the thread is 3 ply 40 guage thread. It can be quite confusing when one is learning, so stick with something simple.
Tatting cotton also works well in torchon lace. It isn't as lusterous as the Opera, but it does come finer, down to about 100 gauge. Embroidery cotton, such as pearl cotton, flower thread or "broider special" also works well. Stranded floss is far too weak to stand up to the abrasion of lace making although it works well for a gimp thread, something used in intermediate level patterns. Don't use stranded floss at the beginning, no matter how tempted you may be, you will be disappointed.
The pillow is the second most important tool, right up there with the bobbins. A good pillow will make the difference between enjoying you hobby and hating it. A beginner can start with a simple round pillow, one that sits on the lap; or an easel shape that sits on the lap or a table. Both can be made with a few simple supplies Let's start with the simple round pillow.
Worsted wool:The worsted wool is the outer cover of your pillow. It should be in an easy on the eyes colour, yet one that most treads will contrast against. Mine is banker's grey worsted. The wool holds the pins better than any other fabric, and the tight spin and weave of the worsted means it doesn't fray of fall part from working and pinning it.
Saw dust or cut straw: This is to stuff the pillow. The pillow must be very hard and firm to stand up to the pins and weighty enough to stay on the workers lap. if you use saw dust, be sure it is very fine and from good wood such as maple, oak, spruce or pine --any type of wood acually. Don't use particle board sawdust, it has large slivers and chips in it that will break pins. don't use fiber board sawdust, it has resins in it that can cause alllergies and it's too fine to stuff hard inot the pillow. Dries straw is acually the best. It's often available in the fall for garden protection or for halloween displays. It's also available in the spring as a garden mulch. Cut the straw down into tiny peices and it will give you a very hard firm pillow. Straw is the traditional stuffing for honiton pillows.
Wool felt underlay: A circle of felt is placed between the stuffing and the cotton layer. This helps keep the stuffing from migrating out through the cotton pillow. It also assists in holding the pins firmly in the pillow.
Cotton twill:This is what is sewn and stuffed. It forms the first of the two outer layers of the top of the pillow. Densly woven cotton twill can stand up to the abrasion of the stuffing material better than the wool. But it can't hold pins as well as wool, so the pillow requires a wool layer on the outside.
Begin by drawing a 12 inch diameter circle on a peice of paper. Labe this peice "felt underlay: cut one." Draw another circle 12 inches, then with a three quarter inch seam allowance around the outside of the circle. Label this peice "top and bottom: cut two of cottom and one of wool." Draw a rectangle 3 inches by the circumference of the circle and add a three quarter inch seam allowance to the outside of the rectangle. Label this: "pillow side: cut one of cotton."
Cut the felt circle first. lay the circle on the felt and cut around the paper pattern. The felt doesn't need a seam allowance.
Cut the wool pillow top next. Lay the pattern on the felt and cut along the outer seam allowance line.
Now lay the long rectangle on the fabric. You might want to open up the fabric so it's not folded in the middle. Be sure that the rectangle is parallel to the threads of the fabric, don't cut it on an angle! Cut the rectangle. Re-fold the fabric, lay out the circle with the seam allowance and cut out.
You should have two cotton circles, one cotton side, one wool circle and one smaller felt circle.
Sew up the two short ends of the side to form a circle. Layer the felt under the cotton and stitch it in place, just inside the seam allowance. Place the the wool on the top of the cotton. It will be like a sandwich, with the cotton in the middle. The layer with the wool is the "right side". Pin the right side of the top to the right side of the side peice. sew all the way around. Now pin the bottom to the side peice, right sides together and sew around leaving a five inch opening. Turn everything right side out.
Now, stuff the pillow. Pack the stuffing in very tight! Use a mallet to pack it into the corners. Pack it is tighter! This pillow should be very firm. it's not to cushion your head...it's supposed to hold pins tightly. When you've packed in as much as possible, begin sewing the opening by hand. Use a thick needle and thick thread, draw the stitches tightly and pack in a bit more stuffinbg as you go along. When you reach the last inch hammer the pillow to be sure that there are no spaces inside and that the pillow is stuffed as hard as possible. Then sew it shut and knot firmly. It doesn't need to be pretty, it needs to be firm and not fall apart.
The easel pillow isn't really a pillow. It's made with Medium density fiber board, and a peice of soft fiber board with carpet felt underlay stapled on. This sits on a table in front of the worker. There are some fancy easels out there, some with seperate bolsters, some with drawers for supplies, some with a roller in the back for the completed lace. This easel takes a few simple woodworking techniques to make.
(TO BE FINISHED SOON!)
A beginner should have a good reference book with the stitches illustrated and descrcribed in detail, one to keep close to the work and to refer to constantly. There are many books that can teach better than I can, althought I will make an attempt. I learned from "Lessons in Bobbin Lacemaking" by Doris Southard. The illustrations are clear and easy to follow and she has a selection of easy patterns for beginners. My only complaint is she uses the obsolete term "Whole throw" istead of "whole stitch" and "half throw" instead of "half stitch" while useing the term "cloth stitch." Once I worked my mind around the terminology, the book was excellent. Once I learned Torchon lace, I could move on to the more complex and challenging Honiton lace. I should mention now that "whole stitch in honiton lace is different from "whole stitch in Torchon lace, but don't worry about that now. You can never have too many books on lace making, each one has something to offer in the way of patterns or techniques.
These tools are handy if one decides to make more lace than a few trial beginner projects. They will make lace making life much easier.
A mangifying glass is nice to have, especially when working with fine threads. It really saves wear and tear on the eyes ands prevents headaches from eye strain. Not a traditional tool, but one that is helpful.
In the same line of thinking, a good source of light is a must. There are several clamp on work lights available for stitchers and quilters and I rccomend the Ott light because it gives the most natural light. Once again, save youself a bit of eye strain. Old time workers would use lamps situated behind round glass bowls of water, the water wound magnify and brighen the light. One can imagine the headches these lace workers must have had! There are some magnifying glasses available with built in lights. The worker of the seventeen hundred, working with 240 thread would have loved such a device!
Finally, find a place and posture to work that doesn't strain your neck or back. I sit on an armless chair with my feet raised, pillow on my knees and my tools on a table beside me when working honiton lace. For the torchon easel I sit at the table on a higher chair with the easel in front of me. I take frequent breaks to stretch the muscles. If anything strts to hurt, go numb, feel cold, or burn then STOP IMMEDIALTELY. Find a different working position. Old books often repeat old mistakes about holding pillows in laps or hunching over short tables. They didn't understand ergonomics back then. Find a comfortable position for working, you health is much more important that adhereing to a traditional so-called "correct way." The correct way is the way that works for you.
Next page! A couple patterns and some tips and tricks!