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Lace pattern : deep scallops

Submitted by Katherina Weyssin on November 13, 2011 - 1:24pm

DeepScallopsSample

 This sample was based on photographs of a lace collar, in "Textiles in the Art Institue of Chicago". The images in the book are wonderfully clear - enough to trace the path of each thread; there are also photographs online at the Art Institute's website.

 

My pricking (pattern):

This is a re-touched scan of my pricking, with the colours altered for clarity. It's 29.6 cm long (i.e. the full length of an A4 page), and will produce a lace the same size as the original, to within a few percent.

There are three pin-holes in each repeat that are not part of the pattern, they are the marker-holes I used to align my pattern repeats correctly; they are marked in red on the left-most repeats in the pattern below.

Deep Scallop Pricking

Bobbins: 24

Thread: Gutermann white linen thread

Tools: spangled bobbins (thanks, Anna and Caterine!), rectangular pillow stuffed with fabric, 0.55mm brass pins.

Length made: 3 repeats

Repeat size: 4.5 cm

Approx. time per repeat: ~ 1 hour

This would not doubt decrease with practice, but it's a fairly large, complex lace, so I'm content with an hour per repeat.

Notes: A nearly-accurate, almost life-size reproduction of this lace; and I'm very happy with the result. "Nearly-accurate" because the original headside does not interact well with the scallops, causing an inelegantly asymmetric pattern. I decided to make the lace the draftsman should have drawn, not the one he did. (Note: this seems not uncommon in renaissance lace: headsides and footsides were sometimes combined rather haphazardly, even when a small alteration would have produced a neater pattern).

Working: See handwritten notes. If you'd like to try this lace, please get in touch and I'll send you a copy of my instructions.


My other lace patterns, and things I've written about lace for this website.

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