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Need help with stitch

September 15, 2011 10:54 AM | Deleted user

Hi,

Here is my question.  When you are working a piece where the worker pair is whole stitched through several pairs of passives, how do you keep the worker pair in the place that it should be?  When the worker only has to cross a few pairs of passives, I just pin the worker pair and then tug a little while gently holding down the passives.  But when there are 10 or more pairs, I find that I have to tug tight and then it distorts the piece.  What I end up doing, is putting in pins every 3 or 4 passive pairs to keep it in place.

Any advice?  If you want more of a hint of what I am talking about, please see my trio of houses piece.

thank you for any suggestions,

Linda

Comments

  • September 15, 2011 6:26 PM | Gail
    Good question, Linda. I find that controlling the passives is the key to making my stitches even, and they need to be gently lain into place with every pass of the worker. The other trick is to realize that the stitch is not finished until you go past it again, so if it moves the first time through, don't worry. Am not sure this makes any sense but hope it helps!
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  • September 20, 2011 10:26 AM | Linda Sheff
    Hi Linda; This actually happens a lot in some of my Swedish pieces and it is key to keep the worker pair even and at a real right angle to the passives. The first part of the approach is constant gentle tensioning of the passives. When you are all the way through the row, never put the twist on the workers until you have finished tensioning that row. Then put the twist/s on the workers. If the whole stitch section is large, then kind of equally cloth stitch every four or so pairs of passives. This will enable you to keep the worker row up there. Pins will also work if it is not a large area. Then as you pass the workers back, you will have to unstitch those holding pairs, and it will be somewhat cumbersome, but it will work. If the worker row sags, it will really begin to displace the rest of the lace. Sometimes it also helps to place the end-of-the-row pins at a slight angle as well where you denser work is.

    Linda Sheff
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