Stars in Stars Ice Drop pattern shared

The Stars in Stars Ice Drop pattern has been posted on the My Tatting Patterns page of this blog, but I also add it here for your convenience. Just click on the image to be taken to the pdf. It's written with pictures rather than diagrammed as I don't have time to do the diagrams right now.

This pattern has not been test tatted. If you spot any errors, please let me know.

Element-al Approach Update & Links Corrected

I'll post some updates on some of my tatting later this weekend, but I wanted to get these corrections up right away. Many thanks to Don who emailed me for permission to view the documents. Had he not alerted me to his difficulty in accessing them, I would not have discovered I had shared the wrong links. I went ahead and updated the documents while I was at it, so the links on my Techniques page should take you right to them.

Oops! Can't salvage this one.

When I use the Magic Thread trick to hide ends, I usually wait until I've joined at least one more round before I snip the ends. This time I slipped into production mode to make several Valeire Square Ice Cream Cones and didn't give it a thought as I did the finishing of all of the first rounds before starting the second ones. You guessed it. On number 5, the ends came loose as I was working round 2. My nimble-fingered daughter tried to salvage it by making a knot with those tiny ends, but instead we managed to pull another double stitch off. Maybe this will help me remember in future to wait until the project is finished, or at least until another round or two has been added, before I snip those ends.

Element-al Approach to Designing

I've finally made some progress on a project I've wanted to do for ages. It's a resource for those of us who want to design tatting. If you think about it, tatting is made up of ring shapes (usually a ring), curves (usually chains), and straight lines (traditionally the bare thread). So with those basic elements in mind, what can we substitute or modify to get a new look? Georgia Seitz is going to share my handouts in the online classes tomorrow. I invite you to visit the links she has provided at http://www.georgiaseitz.com/2016/2016index.html and even attend one of the class sessions if you can. I value your input, so email me or post here if you think of something that should be added. It is a resource I want to make freely available to all, possibly even in a format that you can modify to reflect your personal preferences. One handout contains ideas for modification or substitution. The other includes links to techniques and patterns for practice or example. In some cases, there are lots of sources for the technique, and my document can't reasonably include them all. For that reason, I'm thinking it might be good to make it customizable. I'm still thinking. Remember it's a work in progress.

An Element-al Approach to Tatting Design*

*Please note that I've changed this link to take you to my Techniques page. I will keep the links on that page of my blog connected to the latest version of these handouts. The pdfs will eventually be replaced with Word documents that you can customize for your own use.

Happy International Tatting Day!

We are just 3 minutes away by my time, but it has already begun in other parts of the world. I wanted to do something special for all of my tatting friends and promote the art of tatting at the same time, so I'm offering you a pattern today. It offers a chance to practice Catherine Wheel joins if you wish, along with half-stitches, split rings, and a little block tatting. The sample was tatted with one of Jess's beautiful threads available through her Etsy shop, Tatilicious. The pattern is available here. Please let me know if you have any problems with the pattern.