Here's the Question that started it all:
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 22:30:12 -0400 (EDT)
From: Tamara Duvall <taduvall@liberty.uc.wlu.edu>
Subject: [lace] Gathered corners
Hi All,
I've designed an edging which has no corners. Decided to do it that way because the whole has very little ground and will be difficult to join inconspicuously. I thought it might be better to make the traditional gathered corners and hide the join among the gathers.
Can anyone tell me if there is a formula for calculating the extra amount necessary for making a gathered corner? Should the width of the edging be considered (the wider the lace, the more gathered on the inside)?
Yours, mathematically and geometrically challenged,
- --
Tamara Duvall
taduvall@liberty.uc.wlu.edu
And here are the replies:
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 00:13:11 -0400
From: gerald gunderson <ggunderson@home.net>
Subject: Re: [lace] Gathered corners
Dear Tamara,
I have been doing a lot of "fiddling" as I continue to make Bucks insertions, edgings, frills, etc for a blouse that might be finished in another lifetime. However, I have found it very useful to take a piece of inexpensive machine-made lace, cut it down (if necessary) to the width of my current lace-in-the-making project, and play with it on the fabric. Maybe this would help you figure your extra inches because, yes, the width of the lace determines the extra length needed to round the corner.
But I have used an interesting formula for making a mitered edge for quilts which is to stitch the binding to within 1/4" of a corner, fold back twice the width of the finished binding, then turn the corner and continue stitching--which ends up being the normal 2 to 1 rule-of-thumb for gathering. Hope this helps.
Good luck,
Margaret in Simsbury, CT
ggunderson@home.net
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 97 10:39:56 +0100
From: Margery Allcock <margery@burgh.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [lace] Gathered corners
Hi, Tamara and others -
Suppose you have a hanky which is 6 inches square. You make lace (with corners) to go round it - the footside of the lace must be 4 times 6 inches long, and it's the corners which make the outer edge of the lace long enough to go round the outside of the finished square.
If you're going to gather the lace to go round the hanky corners, then the outer edge of the lace must still be long enough to go round the rather larger square that you will be making, and still lie flat; so the width of the lace does come into it.
What you have to do is this: imagine the square hanky (6x6 inches) and then imagine it with its lace attached - if the lace is 1.5 inches wide then the large new shape is 9 inches square (1.5 plus 6 plus 1.5).
The outside edge of the hanky was only 4x6 inches (i.e. 24 inches) around. But the outside edge of the finished work of art will be 4x9 inches (i.e. 36 inches) around.
You work 36 inches of lace 1.5 inches wide, attach it to the hanky 6 inches per side and gather in the extra 3 inches per corner.
The rule is: length required = hanky side plus twice lace width, all multiplied by four.
Try out the geometry with a 6 inch square of card and a length of paper 1.5 inches wide. It's amazing how much extra length you need if the lace is wide!
Hope this makes sense - if not, tell me and I'll s-mail a diagram.
Bye for now,
Margery.
------------------------------------------------------------------
margery@burgh.demon.co.uk
Herts, UK
------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 15:32:25 -0700
From: jjalace@swbell.net
Subject: [lace] gathered corners
Dear Bev in Sooke,
There is a formula for yardage requirements if you plan to gather the lace around a corner. I was given it by Geraldine Stott and have since used it to calculate yardage for a christening/receiving blanket edged in Bucks. I found the formula to be only slightly shy of enough or I could have miscalculated. Either way, I would suggest adding a few inches for security.
Supposing the shape to be edged is square:
(2x the width of the lace + length of one side)x4 = total length of lace required
For those of you who are able to remember their high school algebra, please forgive me in advance. It has been too long since I had to worry about how to write a math formula. I'm sure I need some more brackets or ('s in there somewhere to make it a proper formula.
Another way to explain it would be: 2 inch wide lace, 4 inch square (2+2+4)x4 = 32 inches
If anything, I would allow 3x's the width of the lace to make sure of enough fullness to turn the corners.
Geraldine also suggested laces with lots of ground and less pattern worked best for gathering around corners.
Hope this helps...
Judy
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 21:13:12 GMT
From: Stephanie Peters <steph@sandbenders.demon.co.uk>
Subject: [lace] Re: Gathered corners
Margery gave an answer to this which certainly will work in practice, but the geometrician lurking inside me wants to have a go. Margery calculated enough lace to lie flat if the outside edge of the lace followed an outer square. Think about going round the corner, the lace has to make a quarter arc of a circle. The lace stays the same width, so it just cannot span the diagonal of an outer square.
I will stick with the sizes of a 6 inch square piece of fabric with a 1.5 inch wide edging. Four sides of 6 inches requires 24 inches of lace. In addition the lace has to do four quarters of a circle whose radius is the width of the lace, ie one full circle. The circumference of a circle is 2pi times the radius, that's 6.28 times the width of the lace, so in this case 6.28 times 1.5 ie 9.42 inches. So the total length of lace needed so that the outside edge will lie flat is 24 plus 9.42 inches, say 23 and a half inches.
Using this formula will give a very tight corner, in practice I think I would add a little margin for inaccuracy in my mounting technique, and also to do an exact number of pattern repeats. But I hope it is useful for you to know that the *absolute minimum* length of lace to enable it to lie flat is 4 times the length of the sides plus 6.28 times the width of the lace. And that formula will work in any measuring scheme.
Steph
steph@sandbenders.demon.co.uk
Manchester, England
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 22:28:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: Tamara Duvall <taduvall@liberty.uc.wlu.edu>
Subject: [lace] cornered (fwd)
As promised, more on gathered corners. BTW, from the volume of response I got, I gather :) that the method isn't all *that* outmoded
Tamara Duvall
taduvall@wlu.edu
- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 97 12:50:27 -0400
From: Sally C. Barry <sally@platsol.com>
To: taduvall@liberty.uc.wlu.edu
Subject: cornered
Hi T -
Yes, it is as someone (in the UK, as I recall) said. Geometrically, you want to make extra edging for each corner that is twice the width of the lace, in order for it to lay flat. If you make less than this, the outer edge will not lay flat. You could make more, if you want the outer edge to be ruffly, too.
+-------------------
| \ :
| \ A : lace
| \ :
| B \ :
|........+----------
| |
| lace | hanky
| |
Note the elegant diagram above. Here you can see the lace as it goes around the corner. You would like the outside edges to lay flat. Look at triangle A. Note that it is a right triangle, with two sides (the --- side and the : side) equal. The same is true of triangle B; the | side and the ... side are equal. So, the extra lace that you need to make for EACH corner is twice the width of the lace.
There you have it!
S
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 20:39:22 +0200
From: Barbara Maren Winkler <barbara@math.tu-berlin.de>
To: taduvall@liberty.uc.wlu.edu
Subject: Re: [lace] Gathered corners
Dear Tamara,
Well. Assuming an outside corner, e.g. of a handkerchief edging. Assuming further that the corner is right-angled.
The theory: The outside edge of the lace should form a quarter circle (90 degree segment of a circle) around the point of the handkerchief corner. Now you really do mathematics, and yes, it does depend on the width of the edging! The width of the lace is the half-diameter of the circle. The circumference of a circle is Pi*diameter, so of a quarter circle, it is diameter*Pi/4 = Pi*(edging width)/2 = (approx.) 1.57*(width of the edging).
The practice: You are laying fabric, and it should also drape nicely. So this measurement will be too tight. Twice this measurement will make a corner that is gathered (ratio 1:2) on the outside. Anything in between may do, according to your choice; experiment and have fun!
The hard bit: Is the corner not right-angled? If the corner angle is more than 90 degrees, the circle segment you want to form diminishes by the difference. E.g. when your fabric/doily/whatever is a regular hexagon, with 120 degree corners, you can leave 30 degrees out of the quarter circle, leaving a 60 degree circle segment. That's 1/6th of a whole circle, and its circumference is diameter*Pi/6 = (edging width)*Pi/3 = (edging width)*1.05. That's the minimum amount of length you should allow per hexagonal corner.
If the corners are less than right-angled, you need more lace by the same system.
My mother said she always wondered how women who haven't studied mathematics can cut fabric for sewing (and do a lot of other geometrical household tasks), and since I studied mathematics, I agree. :-)
Greetings
Barbara Maren
- --
Barbara Maren Winkler barbara@math.tu-berlin.de
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 98 23:59:33
From: (Brenda Paternoster)
Subject: [lace] Re: Two BL Questions
Hello Jacqueline
1. If you use a length of lace (no corners) for a hankie edge how much extra would it take to gather around the corners?
Answer: At least eight times the width of the lace. Example: Your hankie is 8ins x 8ins and your lace is 1.5ins x 1.5 ins. Total width across is (8 plus 1.5 plus 1.5 ins) equals 11ins. Therefore you need 4 x 11ins which equals 44ins to go all around without pulling out of shape. Add a bit to come to a number of pattern repeats divisable by 4 and that's how much lace you will need.
2. Would a person be banned from this list if they sewed the above described length of lace to an already hemstitched hankie??
Answer No! Actually that is the only time that I would recomend a ready hemstitched hankie. If you've worked corners on your lace you should ALWAYS make the fabric fit the lace but if you have a yardage of lace it's quite OK to make the lace fit the hankie.
PS If this is what you are planning to do then make the required length of lace and join it end to end. Fold it in half and insert two pins to mark halves - then fold in half again with pins together and insert another two pins to mark quarters. Then find the centres of each side of the hankie by folding in half and marking with a pin. Now pin the lace to the hankie along one side, right sides together, with a pin in the lace right next to a pin in the hankie. Repeat for all four sides. Attach the lace to the hankie by oversewing, leaving about a quarter of an inch at either end of each side. This will leave loops of lace at each corner. Gather the lace tightly and oversew into place and hey presto a lace edged hankie.
Brenda in damp and windy Kent, UK
Back to Lacemaker's Mailing List FAQ - Main Page
This page written by Mimi Dillman - send comments to me at ntrop@ix.netcom.com
This page created 14 June 1997, and last updated 15 January 1998