Dress up your home with exquisite projects featuring Romanian point lace, a needlepoint braid lace that is ideal for cushion covers, table linens, curtain borders, and other uses. Full-color patterns, illustrations, and instructions show traditional stitch motifs and fillings, many adapted for smaller pieces and craft items. Find out how to make bullion knot grapes, leaf shapes, decorative braids, butterfly designs, and more.
Winner, Euler Book Prize, awarded by the Mathematical Association of America. With over 200 full color photographs, this non-traditional, tactile introduction to non-Euclidean geometries also covers early development of geometry and connections between geometry, art, nature, and sciences. For the crafter or would-be crafter, there are detailed instructions for how to crochet various geometric models and how to use them in explorations. New to the 2nd Edition; Daina Taimina discusses her own adventures with the hyperbolic planes as well as the experiences of some of her readers. Includes recent applications of hyperbolic geometry such as medicine, architecture, fashion & quantum computing.
Reticella work, carricmacross lace, princess lace, and other traditional techniques developed by lace-makers in Ireland, England, Spain, and other countries resulted in finished pieces of unrivaled beauty that continue to inspire needlecrafters. Now needleworkers can learn to make exquisite lace and net embroidery in styles that originated in the centuries-old lace-making centers of Europe. This volume is a classic guide to the single-thread-and-needle styles of lace-making: complete instructions and clear stitch diagrams explain how to make both needle-run and needlepoint laces. In sections of their own, tatting and Irish crochet receive the same clear treatment. Even the fascinating history of lace-making is covered in some detail, and excellent advice on the care of lace is given in conclusion. With this versatile sourcebook for reference, you, too, can create the special pieces of a lifetime: bridal veils, elegant gowns, shirts and blouses, shawls, scarves, curtains, table and bed linens. Among the lovely lace and net embroidery designs in this easy-to-follow guide, you'll find geometrics, florals, sprays, lovers' knots and other pattern classics. The lace-making art is not lost, just waiting to be rediscovered in this wonderful volume and revived in your capable hands.
The supportive, detailed guide that crafters want for frustration-free learning of all the basics, including core techniques and 40 different patterns.
325 exquisite lace samples depict human and mythical figures, filigree designs of hearts and flowers, and other motifs. Royalty-free designs from elegant borders, edgings, collars, doilies, and more.
Preface to second edition -- Réamhrá - foreword --The story of clones lace -- How to make clones lace -- Twenty-one motifs -- Some edgings -- Working with linen -- Irish crochet -- Twelve projects -- Footnotes.
An Excerpt from the Beginning: HOW TO MAKE BATTENBERG AND POINT LACE - SELECTION OF MATERIALS. THE same rules and instruction apply to Battenberg and modern point lace. The latter, being much the finer and more delicate, requires more time and patience. Both deserve equal care. BRAID AND THREAD. The pattern being chosen, select a smooth linen braid. Great care should be taken to avoid getting a cotton braid. The beauty and value of many a piece of Battenberg lace has been lessened because it was made with cotton braid. The working thread, as well as all other parts of the work, should always be linen. There are various lace threads that are good, and each has its friends. Some of the threads that are so slightly twisted as to resemble floss are good for the filling of rings, and, when a soft, indefinite effect is desired, is the right thing for their covering of buttonhole stitch or crochet. When it is desired to have each thread in the covering of the ring stand out distinctly, thread more tightly twisted should be used. For over-casting the braid, Nos. 70 or 80 may be used, while for the filling-in stitches, Nos. 40 to 60 should be selected, according to the degree of fineness desired in the work. The narrow braid calls for a finer thread than the wider braid requires. None of the cotton threads should be used for any part of the permanent work. To avoid knots and tangles in the working thread, the needle should always be threaded from the right end of the thread, and before working the thread should be drawn through the thumb and finger of the left hand to lessen its liability to twist and tangle. For needle point lace the best thread is the "Petit Moulin" linen lace thread, manufactured for the purpose in France. This thread may be had in numbers from 30 to 1500. For the very finest lace, Nos. 1000 to 1500 should be used, while for doilies and handkerchiefs it is advisable to use a slightly heavier thread. Nos. 600 to 1000 are good. In making Honiton and princess lace, Nos. 400 to 600 are most effective. The coarser threads are excellent for Battenberg lace. This thread comes in balls, varying in size from the tiny ball of No. 1500 to the large ball, of No. 30. Around the outside is pasted a ring of stiff paper, which serves as a protector for the thread, and keeps it free from soil. This paper should not be removed, but the thread should be used from the centre of the ball. On one side of the ball is a thread passing across from the centre to the circumference. By pulling this thread an end is discovered, and the ball unwinds from the inside in the fashion of most balls of thread and twine. It is advisable to put the ball into a little box, through a puncture in the lid of which the thread may be draw-n without risk of soil or injury. Thread bags of various kinds may be used instead of the box. RINGS. Very excellent rings may be bought ready for use, but many ladies prefer to make them. For their use a very handy little ring gauge has been invented, and is shown in miniature in Fig. 1. This provides for the making of rings in six different sizes, and permits of their being made of any thickness desired. The thread or floss is wound around the chosen section of the ring gauge a sufficient number of times, perhaps twenty, to make the ring of the necessary thickness. The thread or floss should be loose enough to allow of its being overcast. To do this, thread a needle and pass it repeatedly around the roll of threads by pushing the needle between the threads and the ring gauge. When it is closely overcast, push the thread ring carefully off the ring gauge without marring its circular shape. To do this successfully, give it a series of little pushes with the thumb around and around its circumference until it slips off. It is now a ring of threads held in place by the over-casting thread which is coiled around it....
