Awls and Needlecases - what are your preferences????????????

Hello All

A friend is considering making beautiful bones awls and needlecases, (he is
currently making bone lace bobbins which are beautiful beyond belief), and
he would appreciate some of your thoughts on what you'd like as needlework
candy........



Does an awl / needle case combination work as an idea - is it something that
stitcher's would find appealing / useful or do they prefer their awls to be
awls and their needle cases to be needle cases?

What length might be considered perfect for an awl? It is very hard to find
clean bone of length so he's thinking of making them in two pieces. Rather
than just join two pieces of bone together and make a solid awl he could go
the extra mile and make them double up into needle cases as well - is that
sensible or just plain mad?

3 I've seen a lot of awls that are a smooth taper from one end to the
other - is this preferable or just the "tradition" of some awl makers? I did
wonder if this type of smooth awl was used to push right through a piece of
fabric and out the other side like a needle in which case I would assume
that turned bits in the shaft would be a nuisance as they would catch as
they were passed through?

4. Do you prefer the points of the awl to be very sharp or just a soft
point. It's amazing how sharp a piece of bone can be made!

5. Would an awl with a flat side be good so it didn't roll off the work?

6. Could decoration be run right to the point of the awl or is a clear area
near the point desirable?

7. What do you think to the idea of a windowed awl like the hollow bobbins?
I appreciate it would have to be stronger than the bobbins with thicker
walls but could it work?

8. Is the awl something that stitchers would have one or many of? Is it one
of the main tools of the stitcher or just something that is used
occasionally?

9. In terms of the handle of the awl - is it better to just not try and have
a defined handle area so it can be treated like a big needle or is the idea
of a handle that can be pushed with the heal of the hand desirable?


I love to encourage someone interested in making items of great beauty and
function, and any opinion/input will be much appreciated.

Cheers

Joanne

The Lady Gardener wrote:
Hello All

A friend is considering making beautiful bones awls and needlecases, (he is
currently making bone lace bobbins which are beautiful beyond belief), and
he would appreciate some of your thoughts on what you'd like as needlework
candy........



Does an awl / needle case combination work as an idea - is it something that
stitcher's would find appealing / useful or do they prefer their awls to be
awls and their needle cases to be needle cases?
.........Big Snip..........
Cheers

Joanne

HMMMM the only time I use an awl is when I am doing silk ribbon
embroidery and then I use one of laying tools. Now I could see having a
laying tool that also works as an awl AND is also a needle case! The
only thing I would suggest is that your friend make any needlework item
so that it could be attached to a chatelaine. Most of my stuff is
sterling and has little metal rings at the top or is on a little chain
with a ring so that the stuff can be clipped to my chatelaine.
Now that I think of it, I don't have a laying tool -- nor have I
ever seen one -- that attaches to a chatelaine! Probably because laying
tools are usually long, slender and pointy and would likely get stuck
into a portion of a persons anatomy -- LOLOL! So, IMHO, I don't think
many of us really see the need for an awl when doing needlework but a
LAYING TOOL -- well, that's a horse of a different color. A laying tool
with a needle case in the upper portion would be great and a laying tool
with a needle case in the top PLUS a little metal ring to be used to
attach to a chatelaine would be perfect :-).
OH -- having some sort of nice looking "bumpiness" around the top of
the laying tool would make it even better. This would make getting the
top off the needle case easier ANd it would give you something to hold
onto when actually using the item as a laying tool :-).
Of course, a carved KITTY would be the **perfect** thing to have
around the top of the item in question :-))))))) CiaoMeow ^;;^

PAX, Tia Mary ^;;^ (RCTQ Queen of Kitties)
Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about
their whiskers!
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