Chrysanthemum lace
We are going to Nella Wensing’s class on Chrys. lace in about 12 days, and wonder How large/small are the patterns? What size pillow would do – Will a 16 inch or 18 inch pillow be big enough?
At the Sale weekend I found a book on this lace and they said preferably a 24 inch pillow, or maybe an 18 inch would do, but probably better the larger one.
I have not the workshop with Nella but have seen some pieces made by other Brisbane lace makers who have attended her class on this lace. A pillow about 18 inches should cover all you will need. You do move it around quite a bit but the finished lace motifs you start with are about 8 x 5 inches. Then you can move on to better and bigger things when you have the technique conquered. Hope this gives you some idea about the amount of contact to take with you.
I did a workshop with Nella some years ago. She has two sample pieces you could choose. They were no bigger than 5″ X 3 1/2″ if I remember correctly. They incorporate the special stitch that is in Chrysanten lace.I loved it.. it was so pretty. I would love to find a larger pattern with it in and do it again now that I have more time. She may have changed her patterns but I would not think she would start you with too big a piece.
A 50cm pillow should be just fine as most of the patterns will fit nicely onto that, and I don’t think Petronella will start you on something very large anyway. Most patterns in my book measure about 6″ or less with very few larger ones.