LMi bobbinlace123 page

Spontaneous Combustion
by Lieve Jerger

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A first lesson in Bobbin Lace
as published in LACE Magazine international #50 Summer 1999

    Two willing hands are the main requirements for making bobbin lace.
This handsome hot air balloon is dragging a banner celebrating the first accomplishment of its maker. The balloonist is lacemaker Susan Anderson of Southern California. Her teacher did not give her a preprinted pattern for learning the basic stitches. The result was very successful and Susan still does not hesitate to create her own designs for bobbin lace.
    After winding 32 bobbins, making slipknots and hanging the 16 pairs ready, Susan practiced with pencils on a desk to learn the basic moves by heart. The first stitch she practiced was a linen stitch or whole stitch. Susan had no idea that she was working on the bottom portion of a banner that was being lifted up by a lacy balloon but she bravely focused her hands and eyes on the rhythm, speed and motions, gently pulling the passive pairs and runners after closing each row of Cross-Twist-Cross with an extra twist in the weavers at the end.
    The work would have warped and curled as soon as the pins came out of the pillow, but because she was using a quality linen lace thread, Susan learned to judge the placement of the pins for an undistorted linen stitch.
    It was the end of the first lesson in lacemaking and Susan had enjoyed her first efforts. She was comfortable with the cross and twist technique. She knew these two basic moves by heart and could have crossed and twisted all night long in her sleep after the first lesson.

Our first installment will deal with:
1) winding the bobbins evenly
2) making slipknots to keep them wound
3) the basic moves of cross and twist
4) starting a linen stitch with 16 pairs

1) winding bobbins

This is an enjoyable preparatory task if done in a relaxed mode. The only imperative is that all your bobbins be wound the same way. First you fasten the thread to the bobbin with as short a tail as possible. For this, we made for you a diagram of the loop you need to start with. Insert the bobbin into this loop and fasten it around the thread-holding part of the bobbin. It has to be tightly secured so it won’t slip around on its own. Then start winding the bobbin by hand to establish the direction. Even if you have a bobbin winder, you still want to do this part by hand before inserting it into the timesaving device. This allows you to use up the precious lace thread to the very last inch without waste. As Diagram A shows, the thread is to be wound counterclockwise around the top of the bobbin, while the bulbous part is held in your hand. Coil the thread evenly across the space provided and do not overfill the bobbins, lest the thread should rub against your pillow. To make a pair, give yourself another equal length of thread before cutting and start winding the second bobbin on the other end of the first thread. This allows you to start a lace without unsightly knots in the lace, such as for a handkerchief edging, where you have to join the ends to the beginning.

2) slip knots

If your bobbins are wound correctly, every slip knot fits loosely and comfortably across the thread coil so that it can be adjusted to shorten and lengthen threads throughout the work. Hold the wound bobbin in your right hand (1) with the thread coming from behind the bobbin. Pick up the long end from below with two fingers of your right hand so the thread comes around the two fingers in the front. Then bring the top of the bobbin and stick it under the front of the loop on your right hand, between the fingers. Slowly pull the thread tight (3) around the filled bobbin and hold your left index finger over the tip of the bobbin so the thread does not escape (4). Make the loop across the wound threads as long as possible so it can not easily be buried. Refer to diagram A on previous page for reassurance.
The ultimate goal is to have a slip knot you can get at quickly whenever you want, to adjust the length of your threads on the pillow. A general rule of thumb is to have your bobbins no further away from the latest pins than the spread between your thumb and middle finger. When your bobbins are all at the same distance from the pins, you can reach for them without looking and your lace work is more peaceful and relaxing, which is our aim… The process of lengthening and shortening threads without removing the slipknot is best learned by observing a lacemaker with experience in action. So much for slipknots. Practice will ultimately make you fond of this process too. Belgian lacemakers traditionally gave the job to the children. Those who were really good at winding bobbins usually became really good at making lace too.

3) the basic moves of cross and twist

For the basic moves, you need only one pair in each hand. Four threads can be worked into a four-strand braid by alternating the basic moves of cross and twist. Practicing cross and twist can be done without bobbins. Use four pencils —placed vertically on a desk under your fingertips and practice these two moves until you have full control. When you are ready to use thread: place a pin in your pillow and hang two pairs over the pin. Even out the lengths of thread. Identify the bobbins from the left to the right as 1-2-3-4. We will begin with Cross. Picking the bobbins up with your fingertips, as if you were playing a piano, place 2 over 3 with your left hand. That is a Cross motion and it is always left over right. The other is Twist and for this you need both hands, still in piano position. The bulbous parts of the bobbins are made to be squeezed between your fingertips. They need only be lifted up high enough to fall over their neighbors. Pick up 2 and 4 -one with each hand- and toss them over 1 and 3. This is Twist and it is always right over left.

4) starting linen stitch rows

   We begin by placing eight pins horizontally spaced about a millimeter or two apart across the top of the pillow, but remaining within comfortable reach. From each pin, hang two pairs. Make all the lengths of the threads even and start with the first and second pair from the left and make Cross-Twist-Cross (CTC). Wiggle the stitch in place and leave the first pair of bobbins to the side. Pick up the second and third pairs and again CTC. Leave the second pair behind and throw a CTC with pairs 3 and 4 from the left. Continue this CTC routine until you have worked through the last pair on the right. When properly executed, there will be two threads from the far left of the work that have traveled all the way across to the right side. These are called the workers, runners or weavers in the linen stitch. If you lose track or something goes wrong, UNDO back to the last pin you placed and find those 2 workers again and have an even numbers of pairs on either side of them. If you reach the other side successfully, place a pin between the two pairs of threads, opposite the pin on the left but slightly lower. The weavers always travel along a zigzag shaped path. Once the pin is in place on the right edge, twist the weavers one time (right over left). This locks the edge in place.    You can then hold weaver pair between the tips of thumb, index finger and middle finger. The plan is now to bring some tension on the weavers and threads hanging from the top row of pins. At the beginning of the work, this is not easy, but you still want to eliminate any buckling loops in the passives to get a smooth linen stitch. Applying tension on the passives should be done every second or third row, to avoid bubbles. Pull the weavers at every pin. If you are having real trouble making a flat lace, space your outside pins further apart. Linen stitch should look SOLID, as opposed to showing holes.
    Now you work the same sequence as above but using the pairs form the other edge. CTC using pairs 1 and 2, 2 with 3, 3 with 4 etcetera.
    Returning to the left hand side of the work with the same weaver pair should pose no new challenge to you as long as you remember that the motions of Cross and Twist are not to be reversed. They remain constant, regardless of the direction you are working towards.
    Think cross and twist as you go to sleep and look for the next lesson in the following issue of LMi and on this website.

by Lieve Jerger, Editor

The next lesson PIN - INSIDE - FOUR is published in LACE Magazine international #51 Fall 1999

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Until now, we have already learned to make the slip knot to keep the thread on our 32 bobbins, memorized how to cross and twist and begun to make a linenstitch. The banner on our lace balloon is growing in length.

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    We can now add the sewing edge at both ends of our linen stitch rows. This requires mastering the technique of pin-inside-four, which creates a smooth open edge to your lace.
    When you arrive at the last two pairs of your next row of linen stitch work (CTC)
* Twist the weaver once (right over left) and Cross-Twist-Cross-Twist with those last two pairs. Place a pin between the pairs. Leave the last pair behind. With the second pair as new weavers and the third, go back to making linen stitches (CTC) for the rest of the row. When you reach the last two pairs of that row, repeat the process from (*). Make your banner as long or as short as you like.
    When you are ready, start creating the braided strings of the next segment by separating all threads into sets of four strands. Each set becomes a braid, which is made by alternating twist and cross. After each cross you need to tighten the stitch before tossing the bobbins into the next T+C. Try to make the braid look even by putting equal tension on all four threads. After having made each braid about an inch in length, you can add the next stitch on your repertoire.
    Petals are made with four strands. As our diagram illustrates: three threads remain stationary and the fourth one becomes a weaver that goes over and under, over and under the passives. The shape of the petal is determined by tension placed on the outer passives.
These are pulled apart in the first half of the petal and must be gradually gathered towards the end.
    Making petals is far easier said than done, but those who really practice will quickly become hooked on their charms. Petals are also known by their French name “point d’esprit”. In England, the square version of the stitch is called a “tally”. A few important tips for you…
At the beginning of a petal, place a pin between the pairs after you CTCT with the four threads. Send the kitty in another room to play and make sure the radio hums a peaceful tune…
    Then start weaving by taking the far left bobbin as your shuttle, going to the right, over thread #2, under and back over #3. Keep the length of the passives a little shorter than that of your weaver. This allows you to spread your entire hand over the outer bobbins to keep them separated during the first half, which is the most difficult part of the petal. After you weave over and under a few times from left to right and back again, tighten up everything (in moderation), then pick up the first and third of the passives and pull them horizontally apart, until the woven petal starts to look like the diagram. Pick up the weaver and proceed with caution to weave over and under, over and under, until your petal is wide enough to taste.
    For the second half, you only pull a teeny bit tighter on the weaver at each turn. Pull too hard and you will have a dent in the side of your petal. You can pull apart on the outer passives to correct. As you turn the weaver in one direction, always secure the tension of the opposing passive thread with any finger(s) you can spare. Place the weaver-bobbin on your pillow above the rest of the work while you make corrections on the passives, so that gravity does not get a chance to ruin your petal by rolling the weaver bobbin off the pillow! One misplaced tug on the weaver and your petal turns in to a pumpkin-knot...
    Once you’ve made it to the end of your first petal, all four strands are back together again, as they were coming out of the braid. Place a pin between the pairs and add a twist to the pair that does not have a twist (R over L), then cross (C) in the middle (L over R). Continue to TC-braid after the petal until each one of the braids is roughly the same length as the others dangling from the balloon. Remove pins that may obstruct your work while making petals. An alternative is to push them all the way down into the pillow, and using a piece of oilcloth or clear plastic under the bobbins and threads, to keep threads from snagging on finished work.
    Petals are perhaps the most difficult lesson in bobbin lace and you can truly be proud of yourself when you “get the hang” of them.
    Next lesson: net stitch and double net stitch. For the next portion of the actual balloon, we will first create a pattern on a piece of paper. Any paper will do. Trace the balloon on this page. All you need is the outline to know where to place pins at the left and right edge. Now take all the pins out of the braids and re-pin all their ends in a densely gathered, straight row on top of the pattern. Keep in mind that you are working this balloon upside down and that the pretty petals superimposed over the balloon will be applied at the very end of this project.
    Net stitch is also known as half stitch. It is made in rows, like linen stitch, but only one single thread travels across from edge to edge. The motions are Cross+Twist, first with pairs 1 and 2, then 2 +3 then 3 +4 and so on, to the end of the row. Place a pin between the pairs on the edge of the pattern lines and repeat CT with the same pairs, then CT with 2+3 etc. As with linen stitch, the motions of cross and twist do not change whether you are moving to the left or to the right across the pattern.
    If you lose track of your motions at any given time, UNDO back to the last pin and check to see if each pair has one twist (right over left) to begin with. You have the option of making a CTCT and pin inside four at the edges instead of CT alone. After one inch of net stitch we move on to the double net stitch.
    The formula for the double net stitch —as the name suggests— is CTCT. It is worked in horizontal rows, creating an openwork that is very lacy compared to linen stitch and simple net stitch. One or more extra twists added in the weavers (and or passives) will affect the shape and size of the holes. Playing with this feature can help you create a variety of open grid shapes. Make about an inch of double net stitch before tackling the fancy work of the actual balloon. That stitch carries the poetic title of “eight-thread armure”. It is a rare stitch used in beautiful Binche laces of the eighteenth century. This ground involves eight threads per stitch and it will be the conclusion of your beginning bobbin lace lesson in the next issue of LMi. For an appetizer, we will give you a little diagram, in case you just can’t wait for instructions. Meantime, check in later to find this lesson illustrated with colorful diagrams.         —Lieve Jerger

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