I use my favourite white thread for the first test making of my patterns. This makes it easy to experiment, carry threads, cross trails, and swap workers if thread runs low. Coloured pens were used to identify the possible trails on this pattern and I quite liked the effect so I jumped straight in with loads of coloured threads to echo the pen colours.
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| Gorgeous colours of cotton thread. |
Little did I suspect how complicated this makes a new pattern, more like a Rubik's cube than a piece of Muaiga Cluny! Colours had to be carried inside tallies, thrown in and out with little thought to all the rewinding to be done, and dizzy eyes when I left the pillow.
The threads I used were mostly Empress mercerised Egyptian cotton, an old, gorgeous green Sylco and a pale peach Tanne. I also had to mix my bobbins from different sets as I raided my cases for left over prewound coloured threads to use.
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| My Muaiga Cluny pattern being made in Colour |
My usual blue pricking card (though I dont preprick as I don't know where the pins need to go until the tester is made) was not suitable for this piece because the blue threads were too similar in colour, which would make them invisible to work with. I chose a dull cream which worked for the colours, but was harder on the eyes.
The first section is now made. There are a lot of 'leave it and come back later' points where I couldn't continue until a crossing was made at another point so all the trails have to be worked concurrently as they interlace. The interlacing points is where the white thread is very flexible, the ability to change pairs at any crossing makes it easier to blend and minimise obvious carrying of threads over and under. Colours don't make this as easy so I have had to make a feature of the crossings as a design detail.
