I've participated in several round robins over the years which were made in color. Each of us selected a few colors we would like to see in our finished doily and we tatted the center. Then the project, its threads, and the instructions for that center moved to the next person in our group. Each of us added a round and the instructions to the project as it moved through the entire group.
muskaan shared some wonderful tips in her blog about selecting colors for the different rounds in a doily. She told me about this in the comments of yesterday's post. She has some great insights there. With the help of those who shared comments with her, she puts terms to some of the concepts I just instinctively applied in planning.
When a project arrived at my house, I spent time thinking about what the project needed next in order to move forward. It was important to keep in mind the number of people to come along behind you as you planned your round. (You can't be the one to add that spectacular attention-getting round to every project.) In reality, sometimes it took a couple of rounds to do what you felt needed to be done at your point in the project. Selecting the color from the package to be used in your own round(s) was a matter of determining what is needed next from this group to keep the project flowing. You know that each tatter behind you will carefully consider the way color has been used in the design thus far, as well as the design itself, in the planning his or her own additions. The last person to get the doily before returning it to the originator had the task of pulling it all together with that final addition to give it a finished appearance.
Believe me when I tell you that this was much easier than selecting colors for a Tat-Along that is being designed in one color! Let me say that I LOVE tat-alongs! The latest Renulek WIOSNA is the first time I've tried to do a tat-along in colors. I started by choosing colors I'd like to see used together, just as I did for planning my own round-robin doily. I found the first tatting to be the easiest as the first three rounds were revealed all at once. At least one other round I waited until the reveal of the following round before tatting the next round. That has seemed to make color selection easier.
Perhaps I'm making it all more difficult than it need be. Maybe I should look at the round to be tatted and just ask which color will help this doily continue to flow (my term that encompasses a lot of what muskaan describes in her post linked above), knowing that there is at least one more round to go. I shall have to think about that some more.
Just in case you would like to see a few of the round robins I've worked on, I'm sharing a collage below. It was the job of the final tatter, or the originator, to share the pictures and pattern with all of the tatters at the end, and that often didn't happen. I'm sorry to say I have images of only three of them (and they are not the best image quality). I know three is not a very large sampling. Some of the others contained a wider range of colors.
I added the last round in white to the one done in pink, blue, and white in 1997. The purple one and the brown one were made in the same round robin in 2000. I added the final two rounds to Sue Hanson's purple one. She added the final rounds to my brown and ecru one (I wasn't very adventurous, I know). Notice that Sue used crochet to add the final finish to the last round of mine.
7 comments:
I love the colors you have chosen, and I think too that years ago there were less colors to choose from too (that you got to take into consideration) I love all your doilies and they are beautiful!
It seems a shame that you didn't see the final results of the all the tats-along (tat-alongs?)
As long as you're having fun choosing colours it's all good. Sometimes people become stalled or stressed as they get too technical about colour choices!
That doily looks like it is going to be fabulous!!!! :)
You have a really good point, Madtatter80. It took me years to get brave enough to try DMC size 80 which was where all of the beautiful colors were. I discovered Finca size 12 perle cotton in a local thread store in lots of pretty colors, but it wasn't a good thread for doilies. Manuella threads were the first size 20 threads I acquired in beautiful colors and some of them were not colorfast. That must have been some where around 2000.
I know how time-consuming it was to put the patterns together once you received them. The formats varied and they were often handwritten or hand drawn diagrams. Finding the time to pull all of that together was probably more than many could manage. Pictures were posted on the web of the final doilies. I didn't think to save them.
Thanks, God's Kid. I'm determined to stress less about this one and just enjoy the process.
A very insightful read ! And I agree with your observations.
I enjoyed reading about the round robin process & do find it difficult to believe that choices for a RR doily are easier to make :-) But I guess since part of the designing is in your own hands, colour choice becomes that much easier.
The RR on Craftree has also been captivating - such talent !!! But as the rounds became larger, the posts have dried out :-(
Thank you for your pearls of wisdom
I love the colors you've chosen for your Concentric Rectangles doily! I've never participated in a round robin, mainly because I'm not confident enough to take a chance with someone else's project!
Thanks, muskaan.
Diane, the first few round robins I did were with others who were on the same skill level. In fact, I did my first two with my daughter who was about 12 at the time, I think. Most of them are not very large. Rounds of a doily are just edgings or a series of motifs. You don't have to come up with something that's never been done before. That's one of the things I love about Renulek's doilies. She uses simple patterns to create something that looks much more intricate. I feel confident you could do it. In fact, you just let me know when you are ready and we'll do one together.
Post a Comment