Lucet cording: first samples

I’m starting to get the hang of the tension to produce an even cord. I haven’t had time since vacation to play with it anymore but here are some of the cords I made:

My housemate has a book on lucet cording variations & such so I plan on trying to learn more about it. So far it has come in handy for lacing up a pair of breeches for one of my clients. I experimented with running two colors together in the one example.

Still a time consuming practice when you can buy cord on huge spools! But it is really easy to learn & creates a lovely cord. I’m told there are a lot of different techniques but I sorta use this technique.

There are many places to buy a lucet but I got mine from Hedgehoghandworks.

I like the lyre shaped one for my hands. If you can handle a few in person that is a good way to find out what fits your hand size well. I find the ones with smooth edges are easier to work with. And edge even if blunt cuts the thread too easily. I have a smaller bone lucet that I’m going to have to sand down the edges for that very reason.

Very mind numbing but I sorta enjoy not having to think for a while – it becomes ingrained in your muscle memory. I have to be careful and remember to take hand stretching breaks though!

I’m currently using DMC floss just to practice and one skein yields approximately one yard. So you have to start with longer skeins of thread to get enough to lace most things. But when spiral lacing you need less yardage :) I have a huge spool of linen thread for making cording but so far I just keep breaking it and it fuzzes a lot. I haven’t been able to manage good results yet.

You can try just about any thread which is nice because you can get some good color matches for garments. Not that we always need them to match….