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Thursday, 28 October 2021

Link for a Canadian "print your own" fabric site

I think it was Jan (apologies if I am mistaken!!) who told us this morning about the Canadian equivalent of Spoonflower. Here is the link to Design your fabric

This website allows you to upload and print your own fabric design on a variety of fabrics. The Guild used the site to print the 50th anniversary logo on the fabric being used to make the scissor and needle keeps.

I see that they have a notice up indicating they are having problems with printing on natural fabrics at the moment. So, check before counting on them I guess. The American equivalent is Spoonflower.




Long heavy needles for Teneriffe Lace

 The needles I put in your kits came from Amazon.ca. They were extremely inexpensive. I checked today, and they still seem to be for sale at 4" Needles



Thursday, 14 October 2021

Searching for books online, new and used

If you would like to search for a book, new or used, and to search many sites at once, you might try

Bookfinder.com

Teneriffe Lace Pattern Number 2: Passiflora Flower

 Please follow one of these links to download the second pattern for class. If one document format doesn't work for you, please try the other.


Passiflora Flower, Pattern No. 2


Passiflora Flower, Pattern No. 2 in Docx format

Saturday, 25 September 2021

Teneriffe Lace Pattern No. 1- Jasmine Flower

Please follow one of these links to download the first pattern for class. If one document format doesn't work for you, please try the other.


Jasmine Flower Pattern No. 1


Jasmine Flower Pattern No. 1 in Docx format

Wednesday, 30 June 2021

Supplies List

This is a list of things needed to start the class. A few other supplies maybe required to make looms after the first class or two, but the items should not be expensive or hard to come by. 

A Class Kit can be purchased for $2 from Jess. It will include:
* a fairly large eyed, 3.5" needle, about 1-2mm thick.
* a forty-pin pinwheel to use as a loom to start with.

I suggest you get the kit as the long needles can be hard to find, and I bought a bunch in bulk, so they will cost pennies, compared to buying in a retail store. And to start, having the whole group using the same size loom would be very very helpful, as we can all do the same lace patterns, and then compare notes. After that, you can find or make your own looms for the creative challenge and design flexibility.

Necessary to have on hand, participants to provide:

*An adventurous spirit and a willingness, eventually, to work with a pattern or design of your own making. I'll provide design and pattern  ideas for the first two lace motifs for sure. After that, you'll be looking for your own ideas from some recommended sources and trying your own "thing." Please talk to Jess is you have questions or concerns.

*A computer, laptop or tablet, (I think a phone would be too small, but you could prove me wrong!)  that is set up for Zoom, You Tube, email, general web browsing, and ability to download and read  PDF files. (Again, please talk to Jess if you have questions or concerns)

*Sharp Thread Snips

*Large needle 3.5-4.5" with eye big enough for #8 Perle Cotton and 1-2 mm thick (provided in Class Kit)

*Tapestry Needle: to fit size #8 Perle Cotton, but just, as it may have to go through fairly small holes.

*Lace Loom: (a 40-pin pinwheel will be in the Class Kit) and after the first class, you may also wish to find or make another loom or looms for more flexibility and variety of lace making. We will go over many options in class.

*Fray Check or other fabric glue that dries quickly, clearly and can be used easily a drop at a time.

*Short ruler, (a 6" sewing gauge is useful here)

*Low tack tape, such as washi or painter's tape

*Pincushion, if you use one

*Thimble, if you use one and good for pushing pins into looms.

*#8 Perle Cotton in three colours (to start, but later in the class you may want to experiment with more), 
       1) something strong, cheap, cheerful and different than #2 and #3, to wrap the loom. You will need at least 5 yards to start (this thread is not part of the lace and will be cut off when each lace motif is done). White is good for this, unless you choose white for #2.
       2) a lighter colour you like a lot. Ideally not too pastel to start with. You will need about 20 yards, or more if you want to make more than one lace motif, which I dearly hope you will :)
       3) a colour that contrasts with #2 nicely. E.g, red-green, blue-orange, purple-yellow, or brown-cream. But if you like both of your colours, and they are not too similar in hue, they will look good, so please don't feel limited. Again, you will need many yards, perhaps 10 yds for each colour #3. The amount does depend on the design.

Other Resources

This Resource List  contains over 50 suggestions for free and paid sources of information about Teneriffe Lace to consult, in a variety of formats, such as: books, ebooks, videos, websites, blogs and search hashtags for Facebook and Instagram. The entries are grouped by the format of the materials, e.g. books, ebooks, loom resources, etc.

The most important entry on the resource list refers to what I think of as the "course text," which I will be referring you to through out the course. Please download and view a free copy of The Technique of Teneriffe Lace, 1980, written and donated to the public by Alexandra Stillwell. There is a hardback copy of this book in the Guild Library, and I've requested that it be available for our class.














In addition, there is a second inspiring book in the Guild Library, about Ñandutí lace, that I have requested for this Course: El ñandutí del Paraguay. The book is written in Japanese, but the illustrations and charts are quite illuminating. I highly recommend this book as a source of design ideas.




















Custom Polar Graph Paper Generator 

Customizable polar graph paper. You can choose number of spokes, primary and secondary and concentric circles, number and distance apart. The site is very easy to use. Use the picture below to guide you to settings I have found effective.