Encyclopedia of Needlework Part 61

The whole apparatus consists of a board or stand, 50 c/m. long and 40 wide, resting upon two transverse pieces of wood, 3 c/m. high behind and 1 c/m. in front.

The board should be covered, first with a very thick flannel or Bath coating and then with a fine dark green flannel or cloth.

Two small supports are fixed on to the outside edge of the stand to hold the cylinder, which consists of two discs that revolve on a rod about 22 c/m. long.

This rod should be covered, in the first place with a thick layer of tow and then with flannel or cloth.

On the left side of the cylinder is a cog-wheel and a metal spring is attached to the board, by means of which the wheel is prevented from turning the wrong way.

Fig. 776 shows how the bobbins are placed upon the pillow. In Normandy a kind of stuffed box is used instead of a pillow. The board is 3 c/m.

higher behind than in front and is deeply grooved to hold the cylinder, which is stuffed and shaped like the one represented in fig. 775.

This cylinder scarcely projects above the stand, a second groove in the back edge receives the lace as it is worked off the cylinder.

The pillows used for Valenciennes lace are of again a different construction, but as it is not our intention in the present work to describe the finer kinds of lace it appeared superfluous to give any ill.u.s.tration of the pillows on which they are made.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 777. THE BOBBIN (Jamnig's patent).]

THE BOBBINS (fig. 777).--A bobbin is a sort of little wooden spool with a handle to it; there are several varieties of them but we have confined ourselves to a representation of the kind considered best for beginners.

As a considerable number are wanted for every pattern and they are apt to slip about and get entangled in inexperienced hands, they are now to be had with the handles weighted with lead to steady them and counteract any independent motion of their own. We cannot help again laying great stress on the importance of seeing that the size of the bobbins and the number of the cotton be well a.s.sorted to the kind of lace.

THE WINDER (fig. 778).--Every one who means to take the work seriously should provide themselves with a winder, as here represented, which is affixed to a polished wooden stand.

This stand has to be firmly screwed to the table and the bobbin is squeezed in between the two little rods fitted into the supports at the left end of the stand; one of these rods serves as the axle to the little wheel, the other can be drawn in and out and fitted to the length of the bobbin.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 778. THE WINDER (Jamnig's patent).]

When the bobbin is fixed in its place, you take the thread in the left hand and wind it round it, turning the wheel with the right hand from right to left in the direction indicated by the arrow.

The thread is wound round the handles of the bobbins that are used for making very fine lace, and a wooden shield that is so contrived that you can slip it over the handle prevents the thread from getting soiled.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 779. STOPPAGE OF THE THREAD AT THE END OF THE BOBBIN.]

STOPPAGE OF THE THREAD AT THE END OF THE BOBBIN (fig. 779).--After cutting off the thread, you make a loop close to the top of the bobbin to prevent it from unwinding too easily. This loop is formed by taking the bobbin in the right hand, the thread between the fourth and fifth fingers of the left hand and laying it away from you round the left thumb; then lifting up the bottom thread with the second finger of the left hand you pa.s.s the bobbin upwards from below through the loop on the left hand.

MACHINE FOR CROSSING THE THREADS (fig. 780).--This ingenious little machine is of great a.s.sistance in making straight running patterns and Irish lace braids, and is particularly useful for Russian lace and braid lace of all kinds.

It renders the even crossing of the threads in those parts of a pattern that imitate linen in texture comparatively easy.

Two implements like combs, fitting into one another, and movable, are mounted at two thirds of their length on a steel axle. The long teeth have holes bored through the ends, from the sides to the middle of the points and through these holes the threads from the bobbins are pa.s.sed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 780. MACHINE FOR CROSSING THE THREADS (Jamnig's patent).]

The short teeth also are pierced with transverse holes, through which a needle with the threads threaded in the long teeth resting upon it, is pa.s.sed. The points of the short teeth are covered with a hollow metal cylinder, split through from end to end, which can be removed when new threads have to be added.

When the threads are all on, a small spring is fixed to the two ends of the axle, which is independent of the machine, and the two ends of the spring are introduced into the hollow of the cylinder.

By the pressure you exercise on the teeth in the cylinder, the long teeth change their position, the lower ones rise and the upper ones fall and the threads cross each other, as in a loom. After each movement of the machine, the bobbin that makes the woof must be pa.s.sed between the crossed threads; the edges are made like those of any other kind of lace.

Fig. 781 explains how the bobbins are pa.s.sed between the threads that are held between the teeth of the machine.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 781. Pa.s.sAGE OF THE BOBBINS THROUGH THE MACHINE.]

THE PATTERN.--The pattern is one of the most important things in making pillow lace.

The outlines must be clear and exact, as upon that in great measure the perfection of the lace depends.

The drawing transferred to parchment, paper or cardboard, usually of a yellowish tint, should be lined with a very thin stuff such as muslin to prevent its tearing.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 782. p.r.i.c.kER AND HOLDER.]

A stripe of quadrille, or point paper as it is called, should be laid upon the pattern and then holes p.r.i.c.ked with a medium-sized needle at every intersection of the lines.

All the curved long lines of the pattern must first be traced upon the point paper with ink and then p.r.i.c.ked.

The pattern should be adapted to the thickness of the thread the lace is to be made of; for a coa.r.s.e lace large point paper should be used and small, for the finer kinds of lace. The p.r.i.c.king of the pattern beforehand is particularly important in the case of the common torchon lace, where the real beauty of the design consists in its regularity; in the case of fine close patterns the p.r.i.c.king can only be done as you proceed.

p.r.i.c.kers and holders of the kind represented in fig. 782 or very much resembling it, are to be had at every stationer's shop.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 783. POSITION AND MOVEMENTS OF THE HANDS.]

The holes made by the p.r.i.c.kers are to receive the pins, stuck in as you go along, round which you form and by which these are kept in their place.

The pins must be long, with round heads and of a size suited to the thread. When your pattern is ready fasten it to the pillow or cylinder as the case may be, stretching it as smoothly as possible and being careful in so doing to fit the lines of the pattern together. If it be too long it must be cut to the required length or you may make the cylinder bigger by wrapping several folds of flannel round it.

The value of lace depends not only on the work but on the thread it is made of; all the D.M.C cottons[A] can be recommended for lace-making and coloured laces of all kinds are greatly improved by the addition of a little Chine d'or D.M.C or Or fin D.M.C pour la broderie.[A]

POSITION AND MOVEMENTS OF THE HANDS (fig. 783).--Pillow lace is always made with two pairs of bobbins at once and the st.i.tches are formed by the different ways of pa.s.sing, plaiting, crossing and twisting the threads.

To begin with the simplest operation, making a plait, hang 2 pairs of bobbins to a pin, take 2 bobbins in each hand and lay the right bobbin of each pair over its left fellow and draw up the threads slightly. Then take the bobbins in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers of the right hand and with the same fingers of the left, lay the 2nd bobbin over the 3rd with the 2nd and 3rd fingers of the left, so that the two middle bobbins are crossed, then take the 4th bobbin in the 2nd and 3rd fingers of the right hand and the bobbin that is now the 2nd, in the 3rd and 4th fingers of the left hand and lay the former over the 3rd, the latter over the 1st. This const.i.tutes a half pa.s.sing.

The plait, fig. 784, is formed by the repet.i.tion of the half pa.s.sing.

Two half pa.s.sings make a whole or double pa.s.sing.

On the kind of lace you are making, depends how many pairs of bobbins you will have to use. But as one part of the lace is often made before the other, or you have to put on supernumerary bobbins, you fasten up those not in use on one side with pins, as shown in fig. 783.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 784. Pa.s.sING WITH TWO PAIRS OF BOBBINS.]

NET PATTERN OR GROUND (figs. 785 and 786).--This consists of half pa.s.sings, worked in rows to and fro; the pins are stuck in at the end of each row.

The pattern, fig. 785, is fastened upon the pillow and 6 pins are stuck in at the top, at regular intervals from each other; hang one pair of bobbins on every pin and lay the second bobbin of each pair over its fellow, so that the threads cross each other.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG, 785. PATTERN FOR NET Pa.s.sINGS.]

1 half pa.s.sing with the 1st and 2nd pair = lay the 1st pair aside = 1 half pa.s.sing with the 2nd and 3rd pair = lay the 2nd pair aside = 1 half pa.s.sing with the 3rd and 4th pair = lay the 3rd pair aside = 1 half pa.s.sing with the 4th and 5th pair = lay the 4th pair aside = 1 half pa.s.sing with the 5th and 6th pair = stick in a pin at point 2, then work back from right to left = surround the pin with a half pa.s.sing made with the 5th and 6th pair = lay the 6th pair aside = 1 half pa.s.sing with the 5th and 4th pair = lay the 5th pair aside = 1 half pa.s.sing with the 4th and 3rd pairs = lay the 4th pair aside = 1 half pa.s.sing with the 3rd and 2nd pair = lay the 3rd pair aside = 1 half pa.s.sing with the 2nd and 1st pair = stick in a pin at point 3 and repeat from the beginning.

Fig. 786 shows the net ground completed; the thread that runs to and fro, to make it more clear, is represented in a darker shade than the others.