February, 2002

Won by Barbara Kaelin.

August, 2001

Won by Diane Bossom

Caroline Begbie won the doily shown here for this freestanding lace coaster design .

Caroline said, "I wanted to show you the reason why I bought Thred - to create freestanding embroidery. I thought that if we can't all win your beautiful doily, we can all have a set of coasters!

Caroline's Stitching Tips:-

For freestanding embroidery I always tighten my tension a little. (I use 1 - 1 1/2 for embroidery, 4 for normal sewing - for freestanding I use about 3) For the gold one, I used 40wt Robison-Anton rayon for both thread and bobbin (if you use bobbinfil it shows on the lattice part) on 2 layers of quite thick laundry bag. For the yellow one, I used 80wt Madeira cotona stitched out on 4 layers of Madeira's Avalon, just to check. (My home looks like there's been a multi-colored snow storm through it!)

Don't soak it too long - a little stiffness is good for coasters."

Caroline caroline@austarnet.com.au

The coaster in the picture was stitched using Mettler 50 weight cotton thread, top and bobbin . Alfie used two layers of soluble laundry bag and four layers of light weight water soluble stabilizer. You can microwave the doily in two inches of water for 1 minute or less to soften the stabilizer and then gently rinse it, do not wring. It works very well and is amazingly sturdy.

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