HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dawn@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Dawn Burgess)
Subject: Re:  needlepoint, cross stitch, pearl cotton
Organization: Stanford Univ. Earth Sciences
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 16:54:43 GMT

In article <9207220048.AA02372@marny.Corp.Sun.COM> Marina.Salume@corp.sun.com (Marina Salume) writes:



>the fattest pearl cotton. It is nice and shiney, though. It looks like
>silk, I think, which would probably cost even more and be even less
>durable. 
>
>--marina

I keep hearing people talk about silk being fragile.  I was under the
impression that silk is one of the strongest natural fibers available.
Since it is made of long filaments, not short fibers like cotton,
I am quite sure it is at least as strong.  I seem to recall that 
someone (maybe Threads) had an article about what thread to use with
different fabrics and warned against using silk thread with cotton,
as the stronger silk would cut the weaker cotton with wear.  Does anyone
know if I am wrong about this?

Dawn

Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles
From: GC.AVW@forsythe.stanford.edu (RAGIN CAJUN)
Subject: Re: yarn storage
Organization: Stanford University, California, USA
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 08:26:15 GMT

In article <1992Jul15.155206.8890@news.larc.nasa.gov>,
posenau@suntory.larc.nasa.gov (maryanne posenau) writes:
>(Apologies if I have screwed up, I'm trying to get this cancelling and
>reposting straight)
>
>O.k., I'm curious.  It seems like everyone acquires more projects in
>the background than they can currently work on.  My yarn collection
>has gotten out of hand (thanks in part to the Maryland sheep & wool
>festival ;-).  How do you store your yarns until you "release" the
>sweater that's in the yarn? (I have lots of beautiful sweaters, it's
>just that they haven't been made yet :-) What do you do with the
>wools, and with cottons, and with blends?  Do you have a storage
>chest, or does everything stay in the back of the closet in the bag
>you brought it home in?  'Fess up!  Enquiring minds want to know!
>--
>Mary-Anne Posenau
>posenau@ipsun.larc.nasa.gov

I have bought those big plastic stackable storage bin.  They hold
all my yarn plus whatever I need to protect them from moths, I use
cedar chips.

Alma
From: karplus@cse.ucsc.edu (Kevin Karplus)
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles
Subject: Re: silk vs cotton thread
Date: 22 Jul 92 20:35:34 GMT
Reply-To: karplus@ce.ucsc.edu (Kevin Karplus)
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz; Committee for Open Access Computing
NNTP-Posting-Host: ararat.ucsc.edu

Questions about the strength of silk:

>I keep hearing people talk about silk being fragile.  I was under the
>impression that silk is one of the strongest natural fibers available.

>I think I saw that same article about thread strength, and you're right,
>it does seem to be contradictory. But you
>only have to look at two quilts, a cotton 1820's quilt and a silk 1890's
>quilt. The silk quilt will, in all likelihood, be falling apart, held 

I think people are confusing several different characteristics of the
fibers here.

Silk is indeed strong---take a silk thread (filament, not spun) and a
cotton thread of the same weight and pull on them---the cotton thread
will snap at a much lower force than the silk one.  Part of that
strength is due to the strength of the individual fibers, and part is
due to the staple length (filament silk, like monofilament nylon is
essentially and infinite staple length).  With long staple length
fibers, you have to break the fibers to break the thread, but with
short staple length you can pull the fibers apart without breaking all
of them (particularly if the thread is loosely spun).

The strength of silk can be seen in the extremely lightweight fabrics
that can be made from it.  Making fabric with the same weight of
cotton thread is difficult (it breaks in the weaving), and the
resulting fabric would be too fragile to be useful.  To get
lightweight cotton fabrics one generally has to use a coarser thread
and a gauze weave.

Silk will also cut cotton threads, because it is a stiffer fiber than cotton.

However, silk is easily damaged by sunlight.  Sun-damaged silk fibers are
extremely fragile.  I believe that UV light degrades silk particularly
rapidly, but that they will weaken with age even if stored in the dark.

So silk is strong, but not durable.  
If you want a long-lived natural fiber, linen seems to be the best
bet, followed by wool, then cotton, then silk.
If you want strength from a natural fiber, the order is silk, linen,
wool, then cotton  (though the strength of the thread depends a lot on
how the fibers are spun).
(Note: this order for durability and strength are my own guesses---I
would be glad to be corrected by someone with some real research data
or authorative references.)

Kevin Karplus
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles
From: dmiller@theory.lcs.mit.edu (Dick and Jill Miller)
Subject: Yarn Holders
Organization: Laboratory for Computer Science, MIT
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 13:17:40 GMT

> I've started doing needlepoint recently and am having trouble keeping
> the yarns separated while I've got a project going.  The craft store
> sells a flat butterfly-shaped plastic thing with a bunch of quarter-sized 
> holes along the edges (about a dozen of them) to tie the yarns on, but it 
> was about $13, and doesn't have as many holes as I need anyway.  It seems 
> like I should be able to improvise something like this myself, but I'm blank.
> 
> Any suggestions?  
> 
> Jan
> 

Instead of the butterfly, I often use a six-pack holder (the rings, you 
know).  Nowhere is it written that you can't put more than one color into a 
hole.  Just put several small colors thru one hole and use a single hole 
for large colors.

For the twisted skeins, if they open out to a large circle, open it and cut 
to make strands.  If they don't open out put in a zip-lock baggie.

I use the latter method for cross-stitch floss.  I punch the corner of the 
baggie and string them all on a openable ring I bought at the stationery 
store.  Then I write the color of the floss and the symbol and any notes on 
the baggie with a permanent marker.  Keeps together the extra pieces of 
floss after I've split it, and is much easier to find the color I want 
especially when some of the colors are so close that I have trouble telling 
them apart except is strong daylight and I do most of my stitching in the 
evening.

Your needlepoint is probably printed on the canvas rather than charted, so 
you can dispense with the marker part.  Then your baggies will be 
re-usable. :')

--Jill
--
A. Richard & Jill A. Miller            | Miller Microcomputer Services |
InterNet: dmiller@im.lcs.mit.edu       | 61 Lake Shore Road            |
Voice: 508/653-6136, 9am-9pm EasternTZ | Natick, MA 01760-2099, USA    | 

Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles
From: dawn@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Dawn Burgess)
Subject: Re: Need suggestion for an alternative
Organization: Stanford Univ. Earth Sciences
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 17:22:17 GMT

In article <1992Jul30.152143.5023@chpc.utexas.edu> jbyrd@chpc.utexas.edu (Jan Byrd) writes:
>I've started doing needlepoint recently and am having trouble keeping
>the yarns separated while I've got a project going.  The craft store
>sells a flat butterfly-shaped plastic thing with a bunch of quarter-sized 
>holes along the edges (about a dozen of them) to tie the yarns on, but it 
>was about $13, and doesn't have as many holes as I need anyway.  It seems 
>like I should be able to improvise something like this myself, but I'm blank.
>
>Any suggestions?  
>

I use a heavyweight paper plate (chinet or similar stuff) and cut slots into 
the edge.  Then I write the color and number by the slot and wedge the 
yarns into the slot.  It is cheap, holds the yarn quite securely, and 
when it dies, it is easily replaced.


Dawn

Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles
From: "VICKIE STARBUCK" <TS0058@ohstmvsa.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: Herbal Moth Repellant
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 13:43:00 GMT

A few years ago I was very into herbal moth repellants,
I still am, but haven't done much about it lately.  Here
are some plants I put in my garden, and purchased, to
prepare my own formula.  I used rose-scented geranium, because
I love the way it smells, and is does have replellant
qualities.  Maybe a list would be easier.

   Rose-scented Geranium
   Pennyroyal
   Artemesia

These together are quite pungent, in fact I dried them in my
kitchen and my son complained of headaches.  Personally I was
quite happy.  These plants are also fairly easy to grow.  The
geranium is annual here in Ohio, the artemesia given half a
chance will grown like a pernicious weed, and my pennyroyal
comes back every year so far, although it's not hardy everywhere.

I also put:
  Cedar chips (bedding from the pet store)
  Tobacco     (Bugle Boy, although I have friends
               who bring me dried tobacco from the
               farm)

 Nicotine is a very deadly insectiside.  For some who handle
 it it is more frightening than other chemicals, I have read.
 It hardly smells at all in the moth repellant, and I believe
 is very efficacious (to use herbal speak).

The last ingredient I put in mine is not necessary, but
you can add some oris root for preservation.  I discovered
the  iris whose root is used to make oris root.  Well, that
is I discovered it at our fresh market here where it was well
labeled.  :-)  It is a german iris with very fragrant, large
and lovely white blossoms.  It is not well enough established
to harvest, dry, poweder, etc.  so I used purchased oris root.
When you are looking for some of these things, you might at
least try your pharmacy.  In the small town where I grew up
in eastern Washington, the pharmacist could order many things
for me if I asked.

So most of this stuff I grew, dried, put in big bowls and
mixed up till I was happy with it.  I don't go by ounces of
this and that etc.

Vickie

From: sam@hpsad.sad.hp.com (Vicky Hansen)
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 20:59:03 GMT
Subject: Re: cot quilt
Organization: HP Signal Analysis Division - Rohnert Park, CA
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles

> whitaker@qut.edu.au /  8:11 am  Jul 24, 1992 /

>I'm about to make a quilt or a patchwork cover thing for a cot for my sister
>who lives in Mt Isa. Actually for her baby. I haven't made a quilt before, and
>am wondering about how easy it is to wash a quilt made with synthetic batting,
>and if there is anything else to use in the middle. How do you wash quilts?
>Can you put a piece of material or something other than batting in the middle?

I have made several baby 'quilts' without batting.  For fair-weather areas,
I use a thick terrycloth layer inside.  For colder areas, I use blanket
fabric.  Both wash well.  If I have an area that I want a tufted look in,
I sew another layer of the inner fabric to that section (somewhat like an
applice) before adding the outer layer.
The disadvantage to these middles is that the final product is a bit stiffer
than batting would produce.
From: sam@hpsad.sad.hp.com (Vicky Hansen)
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 21:41:33 GMT
Subject: Re: Re: Would a quilting group be worthwhile?
Organization: HP Signal Analysis Division - Rohnert Park, CA
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles

Fred Ullom asks:
>On a daily basis, I receive less that a screen's worth of posts for
>rec.crafts.textiles which is inclusive of knitting, quilting, weaving,
>spinning, dyeing, etc. Why would we want to make the reader invoke 
>multiple groups when one will suffice?

One thing to keep in mind -- not everyone recieves this information free.
The percentage of 'notes' patrons who pay for modem time may not be large
but for them it is more than a simple niusance to page through information
they don't want.
As for me, I only read the notes every few weeks or so and the number of
quilting items can be quite large by that time (of little interest to me).
      
      ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     | Vicky Hansen                      | e-mail: sam@hpsad.HP.COM         |
     | Firmware - 859x Product line      | Telnet: 794-4442                 |
     | HP Microwave Instrument Division  | AT&T: (707) 794-4442             |
     | 1212 Valley House Dr.             | HPDesk: Vicky HANSEN/HP5300/UM   |
     | Rohnert Park, CA 94928-4999       | HP Mailstop: 2LR-R               |
     |----------------------------------------------------------------------|
     |        Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty         |
      ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles
From: jbyrd@chpc.utexas.edu (Jan Byrd)
Subject: Needlepoint, Cross Stitch, and Pearl Cotton
Organization: Center for High Performance Computing, Univ. of Texas System
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 19:34:51 GMT

I've just recently gone back to needle-pointing after investing in a
really nice stand (frame?) to roll the canvas on while I work on it.  
The unit is in 2 pieces, the base (which is expandable from 13-24
inches) sits on a table in front of me or on my lap, and the frame
can be removed and carried off separately from the base.

This stand has made all the difference in the world to me, and I'm fast
on my way to finishing a large Christmas stocking I only started 2 weeks
ago.  The stitches are so even and neat, and the work is not skewed dia-
gonally the way my needlepoints usually were.  It will make the blocking
so much easier.

After that plug for the stand.....I have a question about Pearl Cotton.
The needlepoint kits I've bought come with wool yarn included, but I
saw someone working on a hand-painted canvas (the 3 Wise Men) with Pearl 
Cotton, and it was gorgeous.  A saleswoman at a yarn shop told me that 
Pearl Cotton won't endure (forever?) like wool, but it can be used on 
the same canvases as wool.  I liked the colors, the shine, and the fact 
that the yarn isn't fuzzy like wool.  The little Pearl Cotton skeins 
(DMC) were $1 each, though, and that will drastically increase the cost 
of my projects if I decide to use them.

Is anyone out there using Pearl Cotton?  Is it worth the money?  Can I get
it cheaper through a mail-order?  Is it ever used for X-stitching?

Thanks,

Jan
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles
From: Marina.Salume@Corp.Sun.COM (Marina Salume)
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles
Subject: Re: need suggestions for an alternative
Date: 30 Jul 92 20:39:49 GMT

>I've started doing needlepoint recently and am having trouble keeping
>the yarns separated while I've got a project going.

You could just put each color into it's own separate plastic baggie,
then punch a hole in the corner of each baggie and clip them together
with a key-chain ring. There is a similar product sold for cross
stitch floss, the bags are too small for needlepoint wool but the
idea could be adapted quite easily. You could even put a piece of tape
on the outside of each bag with the color number on it, for easy
identification.
 
>Others I have purchased separ-
>ately, and they come in that twisted skein that's really just a circle 
>of continuous yarn (these are especially hard to deal with)

I usually cut the circle all the way through at one point. Then
all your threads are the same length and you can attach them to a
thread holder in the usual way. If that creates lengths that are too
short, you may need to unwind the whole skein, lay the lengths out
flat, and cut it. But cut it all before you start stitching, not piece 
by piece.

--marina
Xref: sparky rec.crafts.textiles:1406 alt.sewing:2266
From: dmd2@ra.msstate.edu (David Dumas)
Subject: TIE Fabric--You know...the beautiful silks, etc.
Organization: Mississippi State University
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 12:10:50 GMT

Can someone please direct me to a source for men's tie fabric?  I'm
not talking about the striped, boring fabrics.  I'm looking for those
fabrics that have paisleys, rich designs and embossments (sp.).

Does anyone know of a source?  Where do the tie makers get their fabrics?
The local Hancocks and Cloth Worlds just do not have this sort of stuff.

Thanks,

David Dumas
-- 
David Dumas
dmd2@Isis.MsState.Edu
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles
From: ccd@ccadfa.cc.adfa.oz.au (Carol C Denehy)
Subject: Knitting 
Organization: None, and I like it like that
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 00:46:52 GMT

I asked a while back for knitting advice and I got several helpful
responses which soothed my anxieties a great deal. I have recently
returned from a trip to the states where I searched for the E.
Zimmerman "Knitting without Tears" in vain, but will attempt to
special order it. In the meantime I also stumbled across Maggie
Righetti's "Sweater Design in Plain English" (St. Martin's Press,
1990). This is EXACTLY what I was looking for and I read it straight
thru the day I bought it.  Not only does she cover designing a
sweater with such things about patterns, estimating yarn needed,
calculating no. of stitches, but describes the behaviour of
some pattern stitches as part of a garment (stretching, etc.).
And how to knit for people who are not of standard shape. Like
how to add darts to a sweater to accomodate a large bust (my
problem) or a large tummy (my husband's shape). She states for some
basic sweater styles whether it is flattering to certain body
shapes.  And she also is very comforting in relieving fear of
failure, admitting that everyone makes an occasional failure,
which just doesn't work as intended no matter how accurately
knitted, but that her book can help eliminate some of the fear.
Not only knitting for gauge, but washing the sample to see how it
behaves then and using THAT gauge as your guide. All of these
things I knew for sewing but knitting seemed so cut and dried
that I didn't know you could do all these things! 

But in the meantime, I have decided to make a quilt next, so
my next sewater will have to wait a bit...

Carol Denehy

Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles
From: vln@icpsr.umich.edu (Victoria Neff)
Subject: Re: silk vs cotton thread
Organization: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 14:06:18 GMT

In article <14kgqmINNf0u@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> karplus@ce.ucsc.edu (Kevin Karplus) writes:
>Questions about the strength of silk:
>
>So silk is strong, but not durable.  
>If you want a long-lived natural fiber, linen seems to be the best
>bet, followed by wool, then cotton, then silk.
>If you want strength from a natural fiber, the order is silk, linen,
>wool, then cotton  (though the strength of the thread depends a lot on
>how the fibers are spun).

And then there's abrasion resistance -- another thing altogether....


Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles
From: Marina.Salume@corp.sun.com (Marina Salume)
Subject: Re: baby quilts
Organization: Cornell University, Ithaca NY
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 18:45:08 GMT

>I'm about to make a quilt or a patchwork cover thing for a cot for my >sister
>who lives in Mt Isa. Actually for her baby. I haven't made a quilt >before, and
>am wondering about how easy it is to wash a quilt made with synthetic >batting,
>and if there is anything else to use in the middle. How do you wash >quilts?
>Can you put a piece of material or something other than batting in the >middle?
>Also if anyone in Mt Isa is reading this, are quilts for babies a totally 
>useless item up there?

I assume this is a warm climate. If you'd like, you can use a single
piece of flannel instead of batting. This will actually make the
quilt easier to quilt, also, since flannel won't tend to shift as
much during stitching as batting does. You'll probably want to prewash
the flannel, since it shrinks a lot if it is all-cotton. Place it between
the top and backing and quilt or tie. It won't need a lot of quilting
as the flannel can't come apart in clumps like batting does. I always
wondered how early quilters got such tiny stitches, until I realized
that many of them used very thin battings and/or flannel instead of thick
battings! Seems like cheating to me :-)

--marina
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles
From: joannl@vlsisj.uucp (Joann Loos)
Subject: Re: Needlepoint, Cross Stitch, and Pearl Cotton
Reply-To: joannl@vlsisj.uucp (Joann Loos)
Organization: Compass Design Automation/VLSI Technology, Inc. (San Jose)
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 21:03:49 GMT

There's a mail order source called something like 
_The Treasure Chest_.  They advertise all the time in 
the back of _Threads_ magazine.  I mention them because
they carry all the DMC threads; pearl cotton, 6-strand embr,
tapastry wool, etc.  I can't comment on their cost, because
I haven't ordered from them in a few years, but if you can't
find in anywhere else, they usually have it.

  The only concern I have with them, is that their brochure
is printed on newsprint type paper, and doesn't have much
in the way of pictures (or even description) so its harder
to find what you want.

   joannl@compass-da.com
From: dsr@philabs.philips.com (Deborah S. Rech)
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles
Subject: Rug Hooking
Date: 28 Jul 92 16:49:06 GMT
Reply-To: dsr@philabs.philips.com (Deborah S. Rech)
Organization: Philips Laboratories, Briarcliff, NY 10510
Originator: dsr@bubba


I bought a second-hand book yesterday on rug hooking -- the old-fashioned, looped
style, as opposed to latch hook.  The book was not particularly descriptive on
technique.  Can anyone recommend to me a good book to learn more about hooking?

Thanks, Debby
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles
From: laura@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (Laura M. Edwards)
Subject: Help with cross stitch/DMC
Originator: laura@space2
Organization: Vanderbilt University School of Engineering, Nashville, TN, USA
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 18:00:51 GMT


Okay, so I can't seem to get the hang of posting to two groups at once.

Could someone help me out?  I had the list of DMC colors that run, but
now that I need it, I've misplaced it.  Also, is the recipe to set the color
something close to:  1 cup hot water, 1/4 teaspoon salt, soak ten minutes,
rinse and dry?

More questions: What is blending filament, how do you use it, and where
do you get it? 

If I wanted to try stitching on linen, do I need a specific kind?  All I've
seen are in kits or on bolts at the fabric store.

As if my project list needed to get any longer......


Thank you very much!

Laura
laura@vuse.vanderbilt.edu


Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles
From: smaxwell@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Sara Maxwell)
Subject: Re: Need suggestion for an alternative
Originator: news@ernie.Princeton.EDU
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 04:21:31 GMT

In article <1992Jul30.152143.5023@chpc.utexas.edu> jbyrd@chpc.utexas.edu (Jan Byrd) writes:
>I've started doing needlepoint recently and am having trouble keeping
>the yarns separated while I've got a project going.  The craft store
>sells a flat butterfly-shaped plastic thing with a bunch of quarter-sized 
>holes along the edges (about a dozen of them) to tie the yarns on, but it 
>was about $13, and doesn't have as many holes as I need anyway.  It seems 
>like I should be able to improvise something like this myself, but I'm blank.
>
I'm not sure I understood all the details you gave about the different
ways your yarns were now.  But all I do is cut a rectangle of cardboard
(like the one that made the kit package sit up pretty) and cut it
the long way in half into two long narrow rectangles, say 4x11 inches or
so.  Then I cut 2 to 3 inch slits along one long side if each triangle.
They only have to be an inch or so apart, give or take depending on the
cardboard.  Then I just tuck the yarn in the slits, and write the color
name, number, whatever right underneath.  (The wool is already cut into
workable lengths, say 18", at this point.)  This works for all but the
2 or 3 most used colors, usually, but I find 2 or 3 colors can take care
of themselves--again, they're cut into lengths, and i just roll the
bundles up loosely.  I've never found any need to tie the yarn onto
anything--it stays in the little slits just fine, and each strand slips
out when you need it without fussing.

sara
.


Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles