Click here for vertical edges.
Shapes in Torchon lace tend to have diagonal edges, such as diamonds, zigzags and hearts. This can be very restrictive if you want to make more interesting shapes. Of course, Torchon lace is traditionally a geometric lace, with no ambitions to do otherwise, but lacemakers may be more ambitious! In the picture of a cat, below, there are some diagonal lines (which run parallel to the Torchon ground). But the top, bottom and side edges are horizontal and vertical. See pattern 151.
A triangle running along a footside has a vertical edge. Click here for a description of how to do this in detail. Summary - there are a number of pinholes down the vertical edge - with a pinhole for every row of lace.
This means that there are more pins than usual. In this example, the top, middle and bottom pin can be treated as usual - a pair comes in from the right to make a stitch with the worker pair, then returns to the lace on the right.
The other pins have no pair coming in from the right. The worker pair works across all pairs in the triangle at this point, the pin is put in, and then the workers are worked back for the next row.
This can give a weak vertical edge, as the rows with pairs coming in from the right have more stitches than the rows without. If the triangles touch each other, then I sometimes include an extra passive pair, which can run along this edge, just to neaten the edge up a little. Non-standard for Torchon, but this is rather a non-standard technique anyway. Do not put in an extra passive pair if the shape with vertical edges is isolated, like the cat, above. You will come to the end of the shape, and you will have a surplus pair, and nothing to do with it! Perhaps you could tie it off in the middle of the lace (but you would not want to do this all the time if you had lots of isolated shapes.) This does not happen if the shapes touch each other, as the extra pair stays within the shapes, so it does not appear in the rest of the lace. This extra pair is quite a technical point, so you do not have to do this if you do not understand it - just put up with the jagged edge!
A left-hand vertical edge behaves just the same.
Now for a horizontal edge. A top vertical edge has the same number of pinholes as Torchon ground - it does not have the extra pinholes.
Work the lace down to, and including, this top row of pinholes.
The left-most and right-most pair, having worked their stitches, will immediately leave the shape, so push them to one side.
Take an end pair of those still remaining in the shape as the worker pair (I have taken the left-hand pair). Work across the passives still remaining in the shape.
You can see that the other pairs may need to shift across to their correct positions. Remember, this is an exaggerated diagram. In the lace itself, the threads are far closer together, and the direction changes are not so noticeable.
Carry on with the rest of the shape.
A bottom vertical edge has the same number of pinholes as the top vertical edge.
Work the shape down to, and including, the last row. The diagram below shows roughly where the passives end up.
You will have twice as many pairs (passives + workers) in the shape at this point as there are bottom pinholes. Move the passives across to group them as couples of pairs. Start where the worker pair ended up (in this example, on the right). That has just worked a passive pair, so you should have the couple of pairs. Take the next couple of pairs, and persuade them to move towards their pinhole. Then the next. The end one (left in this case) will cause problems, as you have already got a pin here, but not with the couple of pairs you want (one pair is the worker pair, and it has disappeared off to the other end of the row!) You need the pairs at this pin to hang either side of the pin, and they are both on the same side. The edge pair is OK, but the other pair needs to be looped round the back of the pin.
Pin the missing pins in their holes. (Make sure that they go between the pairs.)
Work each couple of pairs in cloth stitch and twist.
Now carry on with the rest of the lace.
© Jo Edkins 2016 - return to lace index