Lilibet Lace: the Big Finish

Ta da! Ready for a close up?

I love the sheen and silky drape that come with tencel. If you haven't tried tencel, try some of the cheaper undyed. It runs about $15 for a whole pound! By the way my next manikin is going to have arms since I like to weave shawls. I'll be keeping my eyes open for one next Okanagan trip as there is a used fixture store I like to visit there.

So let's back up a bit... the weaving went well and below is a picture of the shawl mid way. Notice the blue bow on the right hand side. I measure from point to point and keep a running tally on a sheet. I find a tape or pins too annoying while I weave but a slip of soft yarn is just fine. I'm methodical enough to keep a running count so it works for me. The centre handle on the Louet Spring makes a neat shuttle rest.

Once the shawl ( and small tray cloth) came off the loom, it was set up on my styrofoam board for twisting the fringes. See my post "A Good Twist to the Yarn" for details on on my method of fringe management. In this case I decided to add a little pizazz to the work and alternated warp ends between groups like this:



Sorry this second picture is dark but you should be able to see the effect across the shawl. It added a 'softer' touch to what is a very feminine garment. I'm a huge proponent of not rushing the finishing. In fact it should take as much care and attention as planning the project did in the first place. Why go to all the trouble to weave and then cut corners at the end?


Then I dug out my bead stash bag and settled on three sizes of beads. One is a regular seed bead but has an opalescent quality, the larger one looks like a mini pearl and the the third is a mini seed bead.I start sewing but quickly realize that due to the fancy fringe twisting, the beads won't float to and fro and be seen from both sides when worn. So this means doing a row of beads on both sides, on both ends. Oh, well... better get busy.


Here is the 'raw' cloth with one side beaded. You can see how open the plain weave areas look. I crossed my fingers and pressed on.




Here is a close up of two rows and after washing/ pressing. The plain weave closed up! YEAHHH!



I threaded my beading needle and pushing through the actual tencel, I sewed beads on the cinch points of the Danish Medallions, all three rows and worked front and back at the same time. I used the opalescent mini seed beads. Some kind of silly huh? Can you see them? They are there! They add a sparkle.


Here are both beaded areas and fancy fringe. All in all, the beading took two full days to complete.Then I soaked it in warm sudsy water and let it sit for 20 minutes, then squeezed it gently to help work the lace into their little groups and hopefully tighten the plain weave! I spun out the excess water in the machine and then hung to dry over a pvc rod suspended in the laundry room. Excuse the mess...it's doubling as a storage room for paint cans while we do windows and other home projects. {Lynnette: I have a confession to make. See the small section of green hanger? That's yours... apparently we stole it last visit. It's coming back okay? :) }
I pressed it when dry, using steam and the sheen popped out! I fell in love and couldn't stop fondling it.

So here is the overall effect:

And here's a close up of the lace:

I think Ms. Hammel did a great job in designing this lace! I'll be using this draft again... I hemmed the tray cloth and it looks fabulous too. There is a single row of lace that I brought the hem line up to and blind stitched. Beyond that is a single row of Danish Medallion and the lace blocks after that. The turn under isn't as obvious as this picture shows. I guess the camera flash caught it just right.I'm really pleased with how this turned out and for some reason see it as a bridal shawl. Someone will feel special wearing this.... I loved making it!