Saturday 25 June 2016

more bobbin lace

Earlier this month I told you about a bobbin lace class I'd taken.  It inspired me to get my kit out again and have another go.  This is a House of Crafts kit and I tried it before (see here) back in January 2015 with little success.  

This time it was easier.


The kit only came with one skein of the green thread, it certainly wasn't enough especially as I'd wasted loads so I bought some stranded cotton to replace it - not realising that it wasn't stranded cotton in the original kit!  Because of this, this sepal I'm making in the photo above came out far too chunky.


The actual flower parts use a very fine thread, it says DMC 80 on the ball, but I'm not sure what it actually is.  A crochet cotton?  It really is extremely fine.


I soon got the hang of it and was throwing those bobbins around!


I'm not sure it's the neatest piece of lace ever made, but I was pretty pleased with my attempt.


Here it is in all its finished glory.  A very simple pattern but I think it does look like lace, which was the aim!


I've made two so far - the one on the left is gathered into a flower as per the instructions, the one on the right is sewn up into a loop, ready to be gathered.


Here are the two sepals I made.  The one on the left is with all 6 strands of embroidery floss, you can see how chunky it is!  The one on the right uses just two strands, I think that's the way to go!

The instructions say to make 3 flowers in total, each slightly different.  However, and this is a big minus point, there is NO photo of the finished piece so I have no idea what it's supposed to be!!  A bookmark maybe?

10 comments:

Sandra :) said...

That green flower (last picture, right) would make a cute brooch if you added some beads to it :)

Liz said...

I think it's great that you try so many things. Some people get comfortable with one or two avenues of craft expression and they never branch out. All that exploring, good for you! The lace came out really nice.

margaret said...

I am impressed with your lace they say it is quite easy to learn but looks complicated to me, yes the DMC 80 is a crochet thread like most DMC threads not a wide range available these days, I am a lover of their perle cottons but they have deleted so many I am now buying finca ones

Christine said...

They've come out really well. Maybe you could make them up into a little corsage type brooch?
I think the thread is the same weight as a no12 Perle cotton

Rachel said...

Yes, I suspect the thread was a fine crochet cotton. I'm a bit surprised they didn't tell you what, since the whole idea of House of Crafts is to introduce people to a new craft with hopes they will progress!

Fiona said...

I love your lace.....
Hugz

Jane said...

Well done, it's one of those things I've never tried but would love to. Use the pieces to make something you like

Sharon - creativity and family said...

Brilliant Job!! I had a lace kit as a teen but it must have got thrown out at some point but I've wished I had kept it since!x

Joy from Days Filled With Joy said...

Very nice! I still need to learn that one day... in all my spare time, lol!! xxx

Anonymous said...

In Sweden we name this "knyppling". I have started on so many laces, but never really finished one. I have two "Knyppeldynor" (Cushions for making lace, Couldn´t find any English word for it, but I´m sure there is one). It is so great to see your work!!!