how long to lace?

[penguin with sun glasses]

Hi everyone. this is probably a really anoying question, but I'm wondering if anyone is willing to share how long it should take to lace a cross stitch.

The reason I'm asking is that we are just begining to offer that service here. We can't charge them for the time it takes for a beginer to do it, obviosly.

What do you think we could use as a starting point for pricing?

Oh, and maybe I should introduce myself.

I've been framing for a few years and just started work at a new shop. I chose July for my handle cause thats the name of my favorite film director, plus it's a good month. The grumble is awsome--I've been using the search feature a lot. Thanks for your time.

 

[Lori Drugan]

Hi Lisa,
Welcome to the "G".
We charge the same for Lacing as we do for regular stretching on foam center with pins. We have been at this for many, many moons so time wise it's comparable.

Lori

 

[Jim Miller]

Depending on the relative humidity and my mood, 35 to 50 seconds per united inch.

For typical cross stitch on Aida cloth, pinning to foam center board is faster, but not as good as any kind of lacing to alphacellulose board.

Attach EZ-lacing is better and faster than the traditional stitch-lacing. The cotton-thread "speed laces" over the installed nylon thingys are faster than stitching, and easier to tension. Also, the nylon thingys impose less stress on the fabric than stitched laces, because they spread the tension over several threads of the weave, not just one.

Of course, for fine-woven textiles such as silk or linen, Attach EZ is not applicable.

 

[osgood]

Originally posted by Jim Miller:
spread the tension over several threads of the weave, not just one.

When lacing, if you pass your needle through then back out a quarter inch away before going across to the other side, the tension is never just on one thread, it is on many threads.

 

[Jim Miller]

Hi Ormond:

I guess that would help, but Attach-EZ is still better at spreading out the tension. When a single thread is passed through the fabric, the farthest-away thread it touches deflects in reaction to the tension, and that one pulls against other threads. Weaving that thread into the textile would help some, but how much? If the thread is passed through the textile twice, I'd say the second point of passage would be the one that takes most of the tension.

But in any case, woven thread(s) running perpendicular to the direction of tension take all of the stress -- whether that is one, two or a dozen of the woven threads. Those threads tend to deflect and stack together, something like falling dominos.

With Attach-EZ, the "T" shape of the nylon attachment pulls against woven threads parallel to the direction of tension, over a distance of about 1/4". Those threads, in turn, also pull against threads perpendicular to the direction of tension. Thus, the tension is spread over a larger area and on woven threads running in both directions.

Does that make sense? I conducted my own study of the way tension is applied with lacing, pinning, and nylon attachments. The differences are not obvious until the tension becomes significant, so I used a 5 lb. weight at the end of my threads, which might simulate the long term effect of the slight tension that is actually imposed in textile mounting. There was no comparison; the nylon attachment was far less damaging to the weave than either pins or single-thread lacing.

 

[penguin with sun glasses]

Thanks for your quick reply!

Originally posted by Jim Miller:
... 35 to 50 seconds per united inch...

Thats twenty-one to 30 minutes for a 16x20. Pretty fast!

A few questions about the attach EZ: will the nylon stretch, and if so, does it matter? Is nylon too strong for cotton? Does it matter that using it violates the principle of using like with like?

Also, I don't know how its done. The Attach EZ booth at the trade fairs are always swamped, so I haven't had a chance to learn from Pat.

 

[Jim Miller]

Originally posted by July:
...A few questions about the attach EZ: will the nylon stretch, and if so, does it matter? Is nylon too strong for cotton? Does it matter that using it violates the principle of using like with like?..

Pat Kotnour, the originator of Attach EZ, demonstrates a method of using the nylon devices to directly attach the cross stitch to foam center board. I do not recommend that method for the concerns you mention, although it is faster and easier than any other method I've seen.

To address the concerns you mention, I recommend pre-installing the nylon attachments, spaced about 1" apart all around the textile's perimeter, and then "speed lacing" them behind the board using cotton thread.

The cotton thread is the limiting factor of stress and it may be tensioned/retensioned, so all the benefits of lacing are provided in the faster & easier stretching method.

The nylon devices are chemically stable and will not stretch under the stresses of textile tensioning. The worst to be said about nylon is that it is light sensitive -- but in this application the attachments would have no light exposure.