Saturday 10 September 2016

Bobbin Lace take 2

I seem to be flitting from one craft to the other recently, never finishing anything off.  I don't know if it's the weather, or my new medication, or just my illness, but I struggle to find motivation to make anything.

Eagle-memoried readers may remember that I went to a bobbin lace class back in June (see here), and that it was not particularly successful.  We both still wanted to learn this technique so we did some research and found a tutor in Derby which isn't far from Nottingham.  We took a class with Louise West and immediately signed up for the next one, she was an excellent teacher and we both really enjoyed it.


Our weapons of choice.  We pricked out the pattern and then drew pencil lines to connect the dots.  This is done on a piece of glazed card (the brown one).  After penciling in the lines, we had to go over it in ink and then rub the pencil lines out.  I thought this was a bit of a faff, but on more complex patterns it is probably essential.  We then chose some colours of Perle 8 cotton.


Apparently, I didn't take one single in-progress photo, I clearly was enjoying it!  I managed to finish the whole piece in the class which was great, no UFO!  We made a bookmark.  


There are a variety of stitches, or rather stitch combinations, in this piece, I'm going to list them as an aide-memoire for me, if you're curious to know what they are, you will have to learn bobbin lace, I know a good teacher!  I started at the top with cloth stitch, followed by half stitch which is so hard to keep track of.  I then moved onto half stitch with a twist at each end to make the lacy bits.  After this I added in a twist in the middle, and finally, on the last section, a twist after every stitch.


I really enjoyed making this, I had grand plans to make some more in different colour combinations, but of course, that hasn't yet happened.


The crazy thing is, considering I'm a crafter and that most of the crafts I practice can whip up a bookmark in minutes, I don't have very many book marks and had been using a receipt before I made this!

11 comments:

Cath said...

Looks really good. Using the different coloured threads you can see how the threads move around with each stitch.

busybusybeejay said...

Your post was quite spooky to me!Years ago I was really into making lace but havn't touched for ages.Talking to a friend on the phone she started talking about how she is learning lacemaking.Back to me,I thought I have all the equipment why not give it another go.I ordered a book at my local bookshop"Beginner's Guide to Bobbin Lace"by Gillian Dye and it came this morning.Much quicker than Amazon.So,I think this book will remind me of all I have forgotten and maybe get me going again.Watch this space!!!Good luck with your lacemaking and keep us posted.

Rachel said...

I did bobbin lace at school, but my mother's taken over the pillows now. Good to know you've found a good teacher!

Pamela said...

How interesting! Beautiful finish.

margaret said...

I can see you certainly took to this latest craft I am sure we will be seeing more pieces from you soon.

Jane said...

oh that's pretty, hope you get to do some more

Anonymous said...

I've never made lace and find it fascinating to watch. So interesting to see all the different stitches in your bookmark.

D1-D2 said...

At some point I was thinking I want to learn this, but I've changed my mind since. I already have so much I want to learn, I've realized I need to focus on mastering them first before I move onto a different craft. But I still love seeing lace being made. It's very hypnotizing.

Kat said...

I also make lace! We use a much quicker way to transfer the pricking - we put a photocopy of the pattern on the card and cover it with see-through sticky-back plastic film. Maybe ask your tutor about that! Drawing and tracing and rubbing out seems like a lot of work! Glad you enjoy it though; it's a wonderful and meditative craft I find.

Janice / Dancing with Sunflowers said...

This is lovely. I can see it's a sampler, with all the different stitches you've listed used. Of course, I have no idea what those different stitches are!

Lacemaking is something I always fancied having a go at. When I was in Nottingham once I went to the lace museum (I think...?) and apart from buying a couple of lace items I also bought some lacemaking things, but I've never got around to doing it.

Like you, I tend to use whatever is at hand as a bookmark, even though I have made lots of them!

Sarah in Stitches said...

Great job! I love the colors :D