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August 2008 - Posts
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A Lucet - have you ever heard that term? It's an old fashioned tool, very simple in design, that was used for making cording, similar to shoe laces, that could be used in clothing, at a time before zippers were invented. It would be laced up thru eyelets, like for shoes, in a crisscrossed fashion. It made for a secure but comfortable closure.
It is a U-shaped or lyre-shaped piece that fits in the hand, usually made of good wood that is polished smooth. The ends of the U flare out like horns so that when looping the stitches they don't easily slip off until needed. There are different ways to start the cord, I use a slip knot, some use a figure-eight around the horns, leaving a long tail for both ways. There is a small hole in the body of the lucet that you thread the tail thru, and that later the completed cord travels thru to make tension on the cord as you work it. The action of using the lucet is flipping it from right to left as you make each new loop. To make the cord you start with the slip knot loop on the left horn (make sure tail goes thru little hole), wrap the thread behind the right horn then around to the front and return to the left horn, flip left horn to the right side and wrap thread above the first slip knot loop. Pick up the slip knot loop, using a crochet hook, knitting needle or stylus, pass it over the thread and off of the horn to the center. Pull gently on the tail to tighten the center strand. Flip it again, carrying the thread to the other side as for the first wrap. Continue doing this manuever until you get the length of cord you want. Finish by threading the cut end thru the remaining loops and tighten.
Here is a website with pictures and instructions: http://www.finniwig.com/lucetinst.htm
A lucet would be easy to make if you have basic woodworking skills and tools. It can be cut from good plywood or thin board, the sides rounded off and the whole polished smoothed.
This would be a simple thing to teach a small child, to improve their hand-eye coordination, and they could be proud of their accomplishments.
Edey
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I remember reading a charming story in a quilt magazine one time, of a lady who made the most gorgeous award winning quilts using only the tools in her simple sewing basket. Needles, pins, thread, thimbles, ruler, tape measure, scissors, pencil, beeswax, awl for eyelets, and cardboard for templates/patterns is all the tools needed to turn out beautiful quilts. Some of these tools would be a one time purchase, and would be kept lovingly used and protected for the lifetime of the owner, then passed on to a daughter or granddaughter. I know from my own experiences that handsewing is a very peaceful pasttime, an almost mindless activity that calms the restlessness that can wear one down.
Everything the lady made was done entirely by hand from beginning to end, no machines were involved. That is simplicity.
That sort of simplicity is very appealing to me. Knowing that these tools, kept on hand and in good condition, gives comfort of and by themselves, because I know that if a severe emergency should exist, I could make or repair clothing, bedding, or shelter. Keeping the hands busy during times of stress, helps to alleviate that stress, as one feels useful - you are doing something positive and hopeful, when all around you is doom and gloom.
I feel the same way about the simplicity of woodworking tools. A toolbox of saw, hammer, drill, ruler, chisel and axe can build a house. When you look at the mansions, courthouses and other buildings built before the 1850's, before electrical power was available, they were all built by hand - power tools were not available. And at the time they made and built the most elaborate wood and stone carved interiors and exteriors - all by hand. The patience they had to turn out that kind of work and the quality of that work is quite amazing. The craftsmen took great pride in the ability to make a piece of beauty.
I like that ideal. Edey
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Once Upon A Quilt - A Scrapbook of Quilting of Past and Present, Margaret Aldrich, Editor.
If you like quilts and quilt history, this is a beautiful book to have. It is all kinds of stories and articles related to quilting; some fiction, some non-fiction. In addition to the stories, there is artwork, vintage advertisements, vintage pictures of people and quilts, pictures of old and new quilts scattered throughout the book.
A sample from the Table of Contents:
"Why We Love Quilts"
"Fannie and the Busy Bees"
"The Low Cost of Quilting" - a humorous writing from a bewildered husband whose wife has recently taken up quilting on their retirement income.
"The Quilter's Hall of Fame"
This is a feel good book, one that you might want to crawl up with on a cold rainy day with a cup of hot tea, a book to settle down with when the nostalgia bug starts buzzing around and your spirit needs a lift. The artwork and pictures inside makes it so inviting to spend a long relaxing time with the book.
It isn't an instruction book, there are no patterns or how-tos in this book.
Amazon.com has it for $14.95, the printed price on the back cover is $19.95 U.S.
Enjoy! Edey
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My grandson asked me to make some clothes for a favorite stuffed toy of his; he didn't think it was right that it was naked, he is very shy and modest himself. He had looked at clothes in the toy store and was told they were too expensive, which they were. He was sad that he couldn't buy any, but then he thought to ask me to make him some. Of course I couldn't say no.
It's been years since I've made doll clothes; I didn't want to buy a pattern so had to put all my drafting skills to work to figure out how to clothe a stuffed toy. I took several measurements all around the toy and used those measurements to make a rough pattern. I cut out some test pieces and sewed them up today.
Whenever possible I use one of my treadle sewing machines for most of my sewing. This treadle is 83 years old, it must have seen quite a bit of use, as it is well worn in places. As I treadled I thought of other mothers and grandmothers that may have been making doll clothes on that same machine. It felt like a time warp. I could just picture a mother making piece after piece of clothing, pressing them neatly, wrapping them up in a pretty package and hiding them until needed. Then comes the holidays or birthdays, and there is that beautiful happy look on the child's face when they see the clothes for their favorite doll.
It felt good to be participating in the long ago tradition of making something like that. I didn't have to go to the store to buy anything, I just used what I had on hand. My grandson will have custom made clothes for his stuffed toy; I know he will be happy with them.
Edey
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You don't have to spend a major amount of money to have a quilting frame for hand quilting. With some lumber and C clamps you can make a frame. For supports the frame can sit on the backs of chairs if nothing else is available to hold it up. Sawhorses would be another thing to use to hold up the frame.
Use 2x4 lumber in a length needed to fit the width of the quilt to be sewn, use some strips of old cotton sheets, wrap it around the boards tightly 2 or 3 times to cover completely and pin it securely with safety pins or staple it to the board. Assemble your frame into a square using the C clamps and rest it on the supports. Take one short end of the quilt, pin it securely to the strips on the frame. Then do the other end and when finished pinning, roll that end of the quilt around the board, taking up the slack and making it as tight possible when clamped, leaving an exposed area for stitching that can be easily reached when sitting down. Pin the sides of the quilt to the side bars of the frame, making the quilt taut as you do. As you finish quilting one section, release the sides, roll up the finished section onto the first board and unroll a new section from the second board then repin the sides and re-set the clamps. If necessary you can pin or baste a long scrap of fabric to the ends and pin these to the frame cloth strips to make it easier to work on the very ends.
In Pioneer days when there wasn't much room in small cabins a quilt frame was attached to the ceiling by using pulleys and ropes then could be lowered to work on. It could be suspended over the dinner table or over a bed in the bedroom.
A nice thing about a frame like this is that it can be set up anywhere easily, can be made any size you want or need. You can paint the raw wood before wrapping with strips, thereby protecting the wood and eliminating splinters. The 2x4 boards are stronger than most of the commercial quilting frames with dowel-like rods for holding the quilts.
There are variations of this type of frame, one of which is several holes would be drilled along the ends of the boards to use pegs or bolts for holding the corners together instead of C clamps. I like the clamps myself.
Edey
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I love lace! I love making lace! and I love learning about the history of lace. There is bobbin lace, needle lace, crocheted lace, knit lace, plus many other less well known forms. Cities and towns in Europe became known by the style of lace they made, and that style was readily recognizable as coming from that certain town. France, Italy, Belgium, Croatia, Ireland; all became well known for their styles.
Lace making at one time was a million dollar industry, all hand made by the most skillful of artists. It was at first a cottage industry, made by women working in their homes, then selling the pieces to buyers. It evolved into an industry that had several levels of skilled workers; those at the bottom who made the simple pieces that would then pass on their work to more skilled artisans who embellished the pieces and finally the last level, those who made it into the beautiful veils, curtains, dresses, collars, gloves, etc. that only the very wealthy, nobles and kings could afford.
This lace was made by hand, often using a size of thread smaller than a human hair, and it would take months of work to finish even a small piece. One way that needle lace was done was working on a piece of stiff paper, in which the pattern had been drawn. The project would be layered first with a piece of fabric on the bottom, then the paper pattern. A frame work of heavy thread would be couched down around the edges of the piece and thru sections of the pattern to form a stablizing network, then variations of the buttonhole stitch would be used to make the lace. When the design was finished the stitches holding the lace to the paper would be cut to release the lace from the backing.
The small western town of Julian, CA, in the mountains east of San Diego, has a beautiful collection of handmade lace in it's museum, which it claims to be the biggest collection in Calif. They have many examples of different kinds of handmade lace on display, some so fine as to need a magnifying glass to see the stitches well.
Julian is an old mining town, known for its old time flavor, old buildings and it's historical interest. They have a pie festival every year and sell some of the most scrumptious apple pies! It's worth a trip to see this beautiful little town! Edey
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Nostalgia and simplicity are ideals that strongly influence my life.
One of the my hobbies is collecting old sewing machines. The engineering of these old machines is a marvel of simplicity and functionality, and of fortitude, because these old machines are still quite functional today once cleaned up and oiled well, and in some cases re-wired. These were made at a time when a business man wanted to put his name on a manufactured item because he was proud of the fine work that had been done to design and make these machines. His reputation as a manufacturer of quality, well functioning goods was more important than the inflated bottom line of a balance sheet. Yes, he made money, but the money was built on that trustworthy reputation, not on building a cheap product and being indifferent as to whether it works or not after purchase.
An old sewing machine compared to a new sewing machine could be used as a metaphor for living now compared to then. An old sewing machine is a few levers, iron bars, springs, nuts and bolts, and wheels powered by a treadle or hand crank; i.e. human powered. Uncomplicated in it's use, it could sew anything a needle could go thru, and if it broke (which it rarely did) it was easily repaired, often by the user. New sewing machines are a maze of electronics; plastic gears, wires, motors, circuit boards, sensors, micro chips, computer screens, memory disks, etc. all with hundreds of special functions. If it breaks it's function becomes useless, it can't be repaired, the parts are obsolete. It's headed for the dump.
Life for most people seems to be like that new sewing machine, complicated, pre-programmed, rushed, multi-tasking, capable of doing special functions, but not knowing how to live, not being able to see the beauty of a calmer, slower, life, not being able to "smell the roses". Life breaks from the stress, and for some can't be repaired. They aren't useless, no one is useles, but life becomes non-functioning.
Thus, the need for Simplicity and the desire of Nostalgia. Edey
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