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Two more painted doilies - I'm addicted

Raine59

By Raine59
in Doilies & Runners

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Raine59 Explorer

Raine59

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They are both amazing. I love the colorway you did. How did you ever seperate the floss without having a big tangled mess and how long did it take to get all the threads ready?

 

Marcia

 

It took me a while to figure out how to separate the strands and I messed up 2 or 3 skeins of floss in the learning process. What I finally learned to do is I tape one end of the skein (all 6 strands) to the back of a chair in my kitchen and stretch out the whole skein through my kitchen and into the living room, all the way to my front door. Then I go back to where it's taped to the chair and separate it into groups of 3 and 3 strands. Then I walk along the length of the floss, continuing to separate the groups of 3. It tends to get twisted and about halfway through I have to stop and lift up the part that's still 6 strands and let it hang down and untwist. Finally when it's separated into groups of 3, I take each group one at a time and do the same thing but separate it into 3 single strands. Then I roll each thread onto a wooden spool (found at Hobby Lobby), putting all 6 strands onto one spool. I need 3 spools of each color so I do that process 3 times for each color. It is very time consuming but worth it to me. I don't keep track of how long it takes, but I probably spend almost as much time unwinding as I do crocheting. I don't unwind all the colors at once but usually just do them as I need them. I wish I could find an assistant....LOL Of course if you are using sewing thread, this step isn't necessary (just unwinding some of it onto different spools) but I haven't found a sewing thread I like that comes in enough colors.

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Momcrochets Proficient

Momcrochets

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I've also separated floss for tiny projects, but big enough to want the whole 8 yards stranded...

What has worked for me (so far) is to place the "open" hank around my wrist. (If they're hard to open into a loop, then you have to unwind it all the way first.) The I find one end, and separate a single strand--often it seems as if there's one strand sticking out a smidge, I start with that one. Then I pull that one, gently, straight out. The other 5 will bunch up, coil-wise, but until it "snags" it's very smooth. I have to keep pausing to unwind the hank on my wrist, but that's a split second move--like when you have a pull-skein that isn't pulling smoothly yet. When the coil-bundle gets thick, I've had to pull it in sections...grab the back of the coil, slide it down (away from the single strand), two or three sections worth. Once that single strand is free, the coils un-bunch. Then I'll wrap the single strand around my fingers (or a free cross-stitch card, whatever works), straighten out the now-5 strand floss, finding that front end again, and repeat the process. It's when I try to pull the strand out sideways, like a 'Y' that I get those impossible knots.

 

I can see how Raine's method would work well too. :)

HTH

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Raine59 Explorer

Raine59

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Wow, I never thought of using DMC thread for crocheting. What size would it end up being?

 

I used 3 strands together which I estimate to be equivalent to a size 20 thread. The brightly colored one was about 17 inches in diameter.

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Fiberfolly Rookie

Fiberfolly

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The pastel one is from one of my Japanese doily books and is about 12 inches. I made both of them with DMC embroidery floss.

 

Do you used the coned floss and if so, where do you get it? I have some machine embroidery thread I am going to use for a painted doily whenever I get finished winding off 3 bobbins of each color. I keep forgetting to do it when hubby is gone and the noise from the bobbin winder interferes with his TV.

 

Those doilies are absolutely stunning. I am very impressed with your work!

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Raine59 Explorer

Raine59

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Do you used the coned floss and if so, where do you get it? I have some machine embroidery thread I am going to use for a painted doily whenever I get finished winding off 3 bobbins of each color. I keep forgetting to do it when hubby is gone and the noise from the bobbin winder interferes with his TV.

 

Those doilies are absolutely stunning. I am very impressed with your work!

 

I didn't know embroidery floss came in cones. I just use the little 8 yard skeins (yes they do run out fast and I was constantly adding in new thread). I tried using polyester machine embroidery thread but it was so slippery that I gave it up in frustration.

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