A Finished Doily (Reprise)

My first time blocking a lace piece this large taught me two important things:

1. Overstretch it. Cotton lace settles back a bit as it dries, and on something this big, that "bit" is several inches.

   

2. Measure it after unpinning, before you wrap it up and give it to your stepmom.

Of course, those lessons were learned the hard way. 

My heart sank when she unwrapped it and spread it out on the table. The inch and a half of overhang I’d planned for was gone—it just barely reached the edges. 

She thought it was beautiful as it was, but after all the time I spent designing and planning it, I knew I could do better. I knew it had a couple more inches in it. So back home it came with me.

For reference, here it is blocking the first time:

And here it is blocking the second time:

It's not a dramatic change, but you can see the size difference when you compare it to the bed underneath. The center motif looks a lot cleaner and more open this time.

Having learned my lesson, I measured it once it was completely dry and unpinned before folding it up to wrap again. Even though this was technically the third time wrapping this doily gift, I still couldn’t just hand it to her raw.

Here it is wrapped and ready to give:

And here it is! Finally finished and in its final resting place:

Phew. Really proud of this one.