Filet crochet - purposeful shrinkage?

[Filet]

I found an old curtain graph that had no indication as to what thread to use or how big it would be. So I “winged” it and guessed how big to make it. It turned out to be the perfect width but is quite a bit too long. Can I purposefully shrink it? Will it shrink more in length than width? Could I block it to retain the width after losing the length?

Any sage advice would be much appreciated.

[ReniC]

This is a tough one for me. I assume the curtain is made with cotton thread? I'm not sure how it would shrink as I've always tried to avoid shrinkage. Maybe you could hem the top enough to fit on a curtain rod. Or if possible, unravel (frog) the bottom to fit the window. It might take some fiddling with unraveling at first, but, might be worth it. Maybe other members on here will have better suggestions. I hope you find a solution.

[bgs]

We might need to see a photo.

Reni I was afraid she worked it from side to side so it couldnt be frogged. I  wonder about folding it over at the top then seam it for the curtain rod to go through making the excess an attached valence.   Have no experience with steeking and this might be too lacy to try.  I could never bring myself to cut into crochet.

Edited April 28, 2021 by bgs

[Granny Square]

I agree with ReniC and Bgs, probably the best fix after the fact is trying to hem it up at the top in the neighborhood of the curtain rod (steeking is scary, I haven't managed it successfully, but only ruined little samples not projects thankfully).  I work with a lot of doily thread and actually end up stretching it quite a bit when I block it, but I doubt that if you tried to shrink it we would be talking about not enough to make a difference.  You might be able to lose a LITTLE length by aggressively blocking it widthwise, but not a whole lot (If extra width were OK, as in gathering it more on the curtain rod).  

You have learned a hard lesson the hard way.  You could have figured out what the measurement of the pattern's # of meshes in depth would have been if you had made a comparatively tiny gauge swatch and done the math*.  Or 2 or 3 little swatches until you got the gauge to work.  Blindly winging rarely results in a happy ending. It's too bad you had to learn this on such a big thing, to bad it wasn't a bookmark or a  coaster.

Everybody's gauge is different, including designers'; a designer could have said it should be a certain measurement at her gauge, but it is up to you to figure out if you are hitting her gauge, and if not figuring how to deal with making the thing her size at your gauge, or knowing and deciding it will or will not work at your gauge as designed, or planning how to get it to work. 

I know, I know, everybody hates to make gauge swatches but...this is the reason it's done.  

* measuring the height of your meshes & calculating the height of 1 of your meshes, multiply that x the number of meshes in height of the filet pattern would have told you it would be too long; you could have decided to omit rows or change the edging/whatever to end up with right length before you started the curtain.

 

[Filet]

Thanks for your suggestions. I am taking your advice and unraveling as I write! Hard lesson indeed.

[ReniC]

I do hope this works out for you. We love to see photos of finished projects. 😉