I ended up making an "emergency" run to the LNS at lunchtime today. While there, I found out that they didn't have 20 ct. linen. The woman who was working at the LNS today actually seemed convinced that it couldn't possibly be 20 ct. LINEN and said simply that it must have been mislabeled. Of course, that was because the original piece of fabric did not come from their shop. If it had, I'm sure the "20 ct. Natural Linen" tag would have been deemed correct. LOL She insisted that what I have at home *must* be 18 ct., since 20 ct. apparently does not exist. Even the colors were not quite right-- but of course I couldn't be 100% sure, because I did not have the fabric in question with me.
I was quite anxious to get back to work on Robert's Stocking and didn't want to take any chances, so I purchased 2 pieces of 18 ct. Natural Linen. I figured that the best case scenario would be that the 20 ct. was indeed mislabeled, and I'd simply have an extra piece of fabric. Nothing wrong with that!
I brought the new fabric home and laid it out next to what I had already started. Indeed, they were not the same fabric. The color was off ever so slightly, and the count... definitely not the same. I measured the fabric I already had, and it is absolutely 20 ct. linen. My best guess is that it's a fabric that has been discontinued. That wouldn't exactly be a surprise, since I've had this fabric for at least 7 years or so. ;)
Not wanting the pair of stockings to not quite match, I went ahead and started over on the new fabric. I'm not thrilled about this, but it's really the only practical solution. I could find different fabric in the same count, or 18 ct. linen in a color that was just barely off. I knew that no one would notice the difference, but it would bother me forever. So, I started over. And here it is...
I haven't caught up to where I left off, but it's not too bad for an evening's work. Especially when that evening consisted of a lovely dinner with wine, flowers and candles before I started stitching. And no, there was no 'special occassion,' it was simply a Wednesday night, and I love to cook! It just didn't leave much time for stitching.
4 comments:
There is indeed such a thing as 20 count linen - Zweigart make it and it's called 'Cork' linen. Don't you hate it when when snooty LNS assistants act like they know everything when they clearly dont? ;)
I'm sorry you weren't able to find something comparable :( Your progress looks great though. I will enjoy watching you stitch on it.
Yikes! Glad you got it all figured out. Don't you love it when salespeople look at you like you're totally cracked? LOL
Look on it that you can use the 20ct on something else. I hate snotty sales assistants, they always try to make you feel small don't they.
Your stockings will look lovely on 18ct linen non-the-less and I will be watching how they progress I would like to do one of them too.
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