Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Motif 11 of 25: Stiffening the Crown

Motif 11 of 25 in the 25 Motif Challenge of 2017
5 strands of Coats & Clark All Purpose Thread, article 210 color 83B
modified version of "Pinnacles"
Tatting Patterns and Designs, pp 92-94
by Gun Blomqvist & Elwy Persson

I still think I liked this crown best stopping before the final round (see previous post), but we opted to add just one peak of the final round. In this picture you see it upside down over a plastic-wrapped Jif Peanut Butter jar. After a major search of my home, this peanut butter jar was the only thing I could find that was the right size to hold the drying crown.

Working with five strands of this thread wasn't bad. It was also easy to un-tat when I made a mistake. The biggest drawback is the appearance of the picots. They have a sort of feathered look to them that is obvious even in the picture above. 

I hope to provide you a better picture of the finished crown. I wasn't thinking when I let it leave my house after being approved by its recipient. I think she plans to send me a picture of it in its place on the Christmas tree.

Happy tatting!

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Crown in Progress

Work in Progress
"Pinnacles" 
Tatting Patterns and Designs
by Gun Blomqvist & Elwy Persson
pages 92-94

This is my first effort at trying to tat anything larger than earrings with multiple strands of sewing thread. This is Coats & Clark All Purpose thread, article 210 Color 83B. It looks a little washed out in this picture, but it is a lovely gold color without being a metallic thread. I'm tatting with five strands to produce a crown approximately 5 inches in diameter. The hardest part about working with this thread is dealing with the all of those ends!

I'm really amazed at how well it looks already. I still have two more motifs in this round and then the final round which provides the peaks. If I were making it for myself, I would be tempted to stop at this round, but I may think differently once I see the final round in place.

Happy tatting!

Note to those of you who have seen a large image overlaying my blog post: I haven't been able to get it to appear for me. You might check to see if you are visiting my blog through an http link or an https link. Try https://www.tatknot.blogspot.com.




Sunday, November 12, 2017

Monster Edging Project

You wouldn't think an edging for a table runner would be a monster project, but this one qualifies. It's a simple pattern, Clover by Mary Konior that was published in Tatting With Visual Patterns. The problem? The only thread I could find that matches the fabric in color is some Coats and Clark from my vintage stock, color #61. It is size 70!


It's a project that I can't work on very often or for very long, but it is going to be gorgeous when I finally get it finished. My sister chose the fabric and asked me to tat an edging for it. This is a picture of the sample I tatted for her to pre-approve. I'm actually about 1/8 of the way around the runner now, and I've only been working on it for about 3 months. I told her that she might get to use it at Christmas next year. :D

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Muskaan's Quatrefoil Medallions & Hiding Ends Knot Free

After months of seldom posting, it may start to look like I'm tatting up a storm. The truth is that you are seeing the things I've done, or been working on, for many months. This one is about my explorations of muskaan's Quatrefoil Medallions and the knot free hiding of ends that she shared in her August 18 post. You will find the patterns for the various Quatrefoil Medallions on her Tatting Patterns and Designs page under Motifs and Medallions. What I love so much about muskaan's method is the effortless way it cinches the last ring up against the first with no gap at all. You have to look closely to figure out where you began and ended.


Motif #10 of 25 Motif Challenge of 2017
muskaan's Quatrefoil Square Version 1



Motif #11 of 25 Motif Challenge of 2017
muskaan's Quatrefoil Square Version 2



Motif #12 of 25 Motif Challenge of 2017
muskaan's Quatrefoil Square Flower 1
After having such wonderful success with muskaan's method on the first two Quatrefoil squares, I decided to try using it on both ring 1 and ring 2 in Quatrefoil Flower 1. It worked great as expected, giving me a tight fit up against both of the rings and making it even harder to tell where the medallion began and ended.