After too many hours of making the thread lace, I determined it was time to quit and get this thing put together, especially since I want it done for show and tell next week!
The thread work had drawn up quite a bit, so I decided to cut out all the negative spaces. That still didn't release the tension enough, so I moved forward with blissful ignorance. Into the water it went. That worked fairly well, except then I had a wad of thread! Yikes! Just keep moving forward---it can't get any worse.
I began manipulating that mass of thread and eventually the design began to reappear. Ahhh, sigh of relief.
It still isn't quite as I had envisioned it, but not bad. I almost lost the curving grid, so had to do some referencing to previous pictures to get that curve back any where near the original design.
I have it pinned onto foam core board while it dries. Hopefully there is still enough Solvy in it to help it hold its shape when it is dry.
I haven't a clue how I am going to attach it to the base, but heck, I haven't known what I was doing with this from the get go, so why should I have a clue now?
So these are things I have learned:
1) be more accurate with the initial drawing.
2) use a different color of marker. I used a permanent black marker. With that purple thread, I wasn't able to assure that I had connected my threads. Some of the lace isn't anchored very well which caused some gaps. I just couldn't see that with the black marker. Not really a big deal in this case; I'll just incorporate that into the next step~~whatever that may be.
3) mark the design onto the base fabric as well for reference
4) Do not dissolve the stabilizer until the lace is anchored onto the base fabric. My reasoning was that I didn't want all that residue in the base, but I think that was a mistake.
Ever onward. I wonder what surprises are in store for me next? I think I can see some pebble quilting in my future, but since every step has had a life of its own, I'm not committing to anything!
Stay tuned........