This introduces tallies.
Pattern:
Bobbins: 11 pairs
Style: English Midland
Stitches:
tally (blue)
join - 2 pair + 1 pair
cloth stitch and twist
cloth stitch
Details:
trail headside (red)
double twisted footside (grey)
Description:
Tallies are closely woven strips, and are worked in rows not with a worker pair, but with a single thread. There are no pins to shape it (other than the pin at start and end) so they can be tricky to master. Here is a simple strip of lace to practise on! Click here to see how to do a tally. You will probably find it easier if you hold all four bobbins in your hands, twisting them with your fingers, or swapping them between hands. The correct tightening of the threads in tallies is vital, and holding the bobbins in your hands makes this easier.
The footside is a double twisted footside, with two passives.
The headside is a trail. This is a simple strip of cloth stitch, but it has more or less pairs of bobbins as passives. This allows pairs to leave the headside to join the rest of the lace, or to leave the lace and rejoin the headside. There is also a gentle curve to the headside. This means that at some point there are a lot of passives in the headside, and it can be quite tight to work. Make sure you keep it tighten here, to stop loops.
The other possible awkward point is that a pair leaves the footside, and has to work through four pairs coming from the tallies, and then returning to the next tallies. Click here to see how to join 2 pairs + 1 pair. This is actually 4 pairs + 1 pair, but the principle is the same - you work the single pair across the others in cloth stitch, pin, then work it back again. There are just more pairs to work across!
Close up of the lace, so you can see the working in more detail
© Jo Edkins 2016 - return to lace index