Lotus Flower

A fellow bobbin lace maker, Pam Crouch, was gifted some Lotus thread and she wanted to make a bobbin lace lotus flower with some of it as a thank you gift in return.    This thread is not an ideal material for bobbin lace, it is made of long, super fine, fluffy fibres, and mainly used to weave fabric, and proved to be problematic to wind onto a bobbin.  The original idea was to make the whole piece in lotus thread, but this proved impossible.  We created this pattern so that the unwieldy threads could be used as passives (warp) and a cotton thread used as the worker (weft).  

Pam's Lotus flower using Lotus Thread as a thick passive thread. 

This pattern was made first as a lotus flower motif, then again attached inside a bangle which helped to maintain the structure of the lace without having to use stiffener on this delicate thread.   

To create 25 kg of silk thread takes 100 tons of lotus stem. Unlike real silk, which is a protein fiber,  lotus silk is a cellulose plant fiber.  Lotus silk was first used to weave monastic robes as an offering to Buddha images or Buddhist monks, but is now also used for a variety of clothing.  Due to the complexity and labor-intensive nature of weaving lotus fibers, lotus silk is considered one of the most expensive fabrics in the world.

Lotus thread next to a 30wpc cotton thread. 

It was only when I was designing that I saw how much like a bug it looked when turned upside down so I call it my Lotus Flower Bug. A couple of big sequins for eyes would completely change the look of this piece of lace from a delicate flower to a fun insect.  Now I have thought it, I cannot unsee the bug!

My own making of the Lotus Flower, using cotton thread and beads. 

The sharp eyed amongst you may also see the where the idea for the Swirly Turtle design started!

The .pdf is available to download from my Lesley's Lace facebook page in the Files tab. 

Mildred the Magnificent

Mildred the Magnificent is a Winged Serpent, known down the ages for being magical, intelligent, dangerous creatures, often found guarding treasure.  Mildred, however, prefers to spend her time learning to crochet and making her own bread.

 Mildred the Magnificent

The reworked pricking does have some changes from the original photograph.

The coloured, numbered trail diagram shows how I made this design.  It will not be the only way.  I work on my original line drawing, placing the pins as I work.  These are not necessarily the only way the pattern works, so do feel free to alter how you make the points, and move any bars or pins to where you feel may work better.

Suggested order of working

Five pairs only used for the whole design, though you may wish to make the outside edges with an outside pin (pin under 4) using an extra pair.    The center band of half stitch can be replaced with any filling of your choice, there are some lovely Milanese braids which would look lovely here.  I made the two 5 pair trails and sewed the half stitch center in afterwards. See the coloured diagram for the order of work.  I would be tempted to use 15 pairs and work the trails and half stitch together in one go. 

Suggested workings.  

I played about with the points, finding that most of them can be made with the 'double double' sharp point technique, (Idrija = sharp point using two sewings and two turning stitch passives).  The Idrija technique for making asymmetrical points will work nicely here too.  

The wings are made with the center trails first, then the outside edge to avoid working over the pins.  The position and number of bars can alter the narrow areas between the wing trails, use the minimum to create a dark space between trails, add more bars to fill in spaces between bars.  Compare the plume on the head to see a trail shape filled with bars, and the cheek with no bars. 

The .pdf pattern is available on my Facebook page  Lesley's Lace under the Files tab.