1 year 1 and half months after starting tatting!

It's been just over a year since I started tatting...

Here's this week's little bits

three little things using Lizbeth Scottish Thistle size 20 and a few more inches added to my length of trim.

the tatting around the key is something I made up as I went along - it ended up being entirely chains of 8ds.

The two-layered flower is from the patterns page at www.cariad-tatting.co.uk.

Last weekend I went to the Makit Fenland Lace & Textile Craft Supplier Fair 2013 in St Ives and bought 2 more small books and quite a lot of thread - mostly Valdani - and a nice little wooden picot gauge.  I also had a really nice chat about tatting with the lady on the stall with the picot gauge - but I'm useless at names so I've forgotten what she trades as :(

An entire year of tatting over - and a new project

This week I realised that I have now been tatting for a year (plus a week or two).  To "celebrate" I'm thinking of digging out all the tatting I've done that I still have and taking a picture of it all together in one place.
Until I get that done, here is a pic from 11 months and 14 days ago which would be about a month after I started tatting...

I've started a new project today - but what it is going to be is a secret for now so that the friends for whom its a present don't find out too soon...
But at the moment you can't tell what it is yet so I'm safe for now :)

The motif on the left will become the middle and will have another 5 copies of the motif on the right.  I'm going to have a little think now about whether to follow the original instructions and cut and tie each one or to see if I can be clever with split rings and climbing out because I really don't like sewing in ends :)
Looking at this picture reminds me that I still struggle with larger rings ;)  With this piece I have the extra difficulty in that I'm trying to keep the tension lighter than normal because I want the finished item to be fairly soft so I'm going to have to be a lot more careful about how tightly I draw up the rings when I close them so that I can keep them a consistent size.  Not tatting too late into the evening will also help as my tension definitely gets worse the later I tat.

This is alongside the current TIAS and working on a long length of some simple tatted trimming.

I'm still here...

I'm not very good at keeping up with blogging it seems!

But I am still tatting and I've joined in with this autumn's Tat it and See (TIAS) which is hosted by Lady Shuttlemaker on her blog with a shared blog with  the results at http://tiaspence.blogspot.co.uk/.  Here's my latest TIAS post.

Last weekend was a long weekend with no tatting because I had this to distract me:

  and this:

and a LOT of this:

Yes I spent a long weekend dog-sitting so that my brothers could take Dad out for a big weekend treat.
Now that I'm back I need to get on with tatting more white trimmings for an Edwardian outfit.

(update) I just looked at the dates of my posts and I've realised my rate of posting drops off suddenly in May so I can blame most of it on getting distracted by the shiny new tablet I bought that month. I've never owned a smart phone so having a gadget like that is quite distracting...  but very handy for the TIAS.

So many distractions...

I've been distracted by a lot of things over the last couple of months.  I did tat some lace for a new Edwardian-style blouse but the blouse itself went a bit wrong so no pictures of that until I have time to make a replacement blouse - serves me right for making the tatting for it before I actually made the blouse!
Next weekend I will be part of the WWI weekend at Lincoln Castle, mostly as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nursing assistant. Only 4 buttons left to sew onto my VAD uniform!
The weekend after that I will be part of the Edwardian themed weekend at Papplewick Pumping Station where I probably will be doing some tatting as long as I remember to fill up the right kind of shuttles (Edwardians did not have bobbin shuttles with plastic bobbins).
Then 1 free weekend before its The Asylum at Lincoln.  1 weekend to recover then its off for a weekend of dog-sitting where I definitely won't get any tatting done :)

Victorian edging patterns

I realised at the last Victorian weekend that I needed more samples using Victorian tatting patterns.

 Top two are really simple off the top of my head patterns and probably really similar to ones I've read somewhere in the various old tatting books.  They're using ecru thread not yellow - that's just my photo :)

The bottom one is from the Mlle Riego Royal Tatting book and is called "Lilly of the Valley pattern". This is my first attempt at this pattern and it even features the first bit of crochet I've done in years!  I felt my crochet was a bit too wobbly so on the right half of the top edging I've gone for a tatted chain instead.  It will hopefully look less wobbly if I press it.

In the mood for tatting this week

After yesterday's homage to women's suffrage here's some more tatting I did this evening.

At the top is a variant on yesterday's pattern only this time done the normal way with just one thread. It's a bit wriggly at the moment because it hasn't been damped and flattened yet.

At the bottom is and the right : a 2-layer flower pattern from cariad-tatting.co.uk, and on the left is a variant on Rose and Leaf from This 'n' Tat - it's supposed to have chains but I left bare thread instead so that I could do it with one shuttle.

All these are thread that arrived today - Carnivale and Purple Twist both Lizbeth.

Yesterday one of my friends pointed out that Green White Violet for Give Women Votes is a bit of a myth. She says

From 1908 the WSPU adopted the colour scheme of purple, white and green: purple symbolised dignity, white purity, and green hope. These three colours were used for banners, flags, rosettes and badges, and appeared in newspaper cartoons and postcards. Mappin & Webb, the London jewellers, issued a catalogue of suffragette jewellery for Christmas 1908.
In 1909 the WSPU presented specially commissioned pieces of jewellery to leading suffragettes Emmeline Pankhurst and Louise Eates. Some Arts and Crafts jewellery of the period incorporated the colours purple, white and green using enamel and semi-precious stones such as amethysts, pearls, and peridots. However jewellery that incorporated these stones was already quite common in women's jewellery during the late 19th century, before 1903 and could not be connected with the suffragettes, before the WSPU adopted the colours.

However in my piece of tatting the colours do stand for Give Women Votes :) 
(WSPU stands for Womens Social and Political Union)

I'm fighting the urge to order yet more thread already - I hadn't noticed the Scottish Thistle variegated lizbeth thread which should be much easier to use for purple/white/green tatting than trying to juggle three separate threads. Postage costs have gone up lately now so placing a small order is too expensive so it'll have to wait until I succumb to more colours.

In memory of Womens Suffrage

Just over a week ago I was acting the role of a suffragette so I decided it would be nice to do some tatting in suffrage colours - Green White and Violet which stand for Give Women Votes.
(and before I forget - a link to some photos of that weekend courtesy of Lincoln's local newspaper)

I got the threads yesterday and after a lot of thinking yesterday evening this is what I came up with this evening:

It's 3 cm wide. The threads are all lizbeth 20 and are Leaf Green, Natural and Antique Violet light. Three threads, three shuttles, 6 ends to sew in :(
The green isn't as bright in real life as in this picture.

Now I've got this out of the way I can get on with what I should have been doing!

Recent tatting

I said I had done some tatting and here it is...

At the top is some Etruscan braid from a Mlle Riego book - it's also in a Mary Konior book where she gives the directions for the corner.  This is going to be the edging for a tray cloth for Victorian/Edwardian re-enactment.  It's in size 16 Puppets Eldorado thread.

In the middle is more Etruscan braid, this time in size 40 Anchor mercer. This is the piece I was tatting in public over last weekend (a bank holiday weekend) during the Victorian Weekend at Lincoln Castle.  This will probably become trimming for the cuffs of my next Edwardian-style blouse.

At the bottom is Curds and Whey from one of Mary Konior's books, again in size 40 Anchor mercer.  After the first few repeats I switched to front-side/back-side tatting and that is making it lie much flatter than the first portion.

quiet month for blogging

This blog has been rather quiet this month...

I have done some tatting.  I took part in the Victorian Weekend at Lincoln Castle this bank holiday weekend just past. I don't have any pictures myself but I have managed to find this picture on flickr where if you look carefully you can see some tatting in my hand (I'm seated second from left). I spent a fair part of the weekend tatting and succeeded in getting people interested enough to ask about it - I was quite impressed by how many knew it was Tatting.  I'm hoping that some other photos will turn up outside of facebook so that I can link to them.

Because of the lack of pictures in this post here are some links to some useful videos that I came across today

First from yarnplayer's blog: Tatting video: reverse work, join, chain, and ring. This is a nice clear video showing how to do a chain.

Then via Le blog de Frivole: Marie Smith's Method for split chains

First piece of tatting trim that I've actually attached to clothing!

I've been rather quiet on this blog lately but that's because I've been busy making things...

I've made a pair of bloomers as part of a Victorian/Edwardian style swim suit and decided to do some tatting to trim the legs. Here is one leg of the bloomers with the tatting sewn in place and the tatting for the other leg lying on top. I've used a size 16 thread because of the time constraints and also because the tatting is below my knees and going to be dunked in a swimming pool!

I chose this pattern because I wanted one where I could thread through a thin ribbon if necessary - I sketched out some ideas then went hunting through my books to see if I could find something similar and found this design from a  book in Japanese by "Sumie" so I don't know what the name of the pattern is! The book uses diagrams for the actual pattern so being able to read Japanese isn't necessary.  The book's title translates as "Japanese craft book "First tatting lace"#2153 (Lady boutique series 3215)"

I've also made a mob cap which I was going to trim with tatting but it didn't work with that particular style of mob cap so I'm going to make a second one and trim that.

The final part of the outfit is actually a very cheap blue and white striped dress from Primark!

In other news I've just bought my first pop a bobbin shuttle made by "im in the garage" via Jane Eborall's etsy shop. I think about 35 went up - by the time I got there 45 minutes later there were 9 left!

Working on trimmings

At the moment I'm working on trimming for a mob cap.

I've put aside the Curds and Whey trimming that I mentioned in my last post - I decided it was going to be too bulky for the mob cap so I started a new piece using Anchor Artiste size 40 instead.

Then I decided that was maybe going to take too long to tat so I've switched to a pattern that Mary Konior called "Scarlett" and describes as a Victorian favourite.  In this picture the longer piece of tatting is the Scarlett and the shorter piece is the Curds and Whey.

I've left the bobbin of thread attached to the piece of Curds and Whey so that I can carry on with it later and use it for something else. I'm keeping it inside the pouch in the photo so that it doesn't unwind and get tangled.

The pouch and the tatting bag in the picture are a gift from Laurie E as part of a Mayan-themed exchange recently held on InTatters.

TIAS 2013 completed, and some random tats

Here's my (almost) completed TIAS 2013. Just need to sew in the ends.  I thought it was a pram back on day 6, then I thought it wasn't, then a couple of days later it turned back into a pram only facing the other way!  What I thought was the handle on day 6 turned into the back of the hood.
For this TIAS I've learned Catherine Wheel Joins, Split Rings and Split Chains.

I'm a whole week late posting this - I sent it to Jane Eborall back on the 10th and managed to be tatter number 11 to send in a completed (as in fully tatted) pram!  It's lucky that Jane isn't requiring the ends to be sewn in before counting them as completed!

Since then I've just done some little bits.  These are all Puppets Eldorado size 16 except for the purple circular one which is Lizbeth size 20

Inspired by the wheels of the pram I did the circular piece. Not sure what I'm going to do with it but I quite like it.
Then I saw onion rings on someones blog so I had a go at them using the thread left on my shuttles at the end of the TIAS.
Then I had a play with a simple design with and without picots - again using left-over thread which is why I ran out on the picot-less version. I'm quite pleased that the center ring is much more circular than my previous attempts.

Finally at the top is the start of a piece of Curds and Whey trimming from Mary Konior's Tatting with Visual Patterns.  It's intended to be trimming for a mob cap - hopefully it won't be too wide. The fabric for the cap should turn up this week so that I can sew it up and check that this size trim is going to look ok on it.

random thread

No TIAS today - next one is tomorrow.  Instead I did these little motifs using the thread that came in the post today with the lizbeth thread holder I ordered.  The thread is Denim Whisper size 20.

This week I also got my own copy of Tatting by TH. De Dillmont. This was one of the two books that I learnt from - I originally found it on www.antiquepatternlibrary.org. It's from about 1920 although mine is a 1952 re-print. I'm really chuffed about being able to get my own copy :)    The 2 motifs on the left are medallion #20 shown in plate III. This is the 3rd or 4th time I've tried this one but I'm still having some problems getting it to lay nicely. On the plus side I can see the improvement.

TIAS 2013 day 8 and still guessing

We're now on TIAS day 8.
On day 6 I thought it was going to be an old-fashioned pram and came up with this:

Day 7 it changed shape so I decided it wasn't going to be a pram after all but then after today's part - day 8 - now it's a pram again but facing the other way! What was the handle on day 6 is now the back part of the hood.

In other tatting news I've finished the edging for my very small tablecloth, now I need to make the cloth itself.

TIAS day 6 all split rings

Here is my T.I.A.S day 6 - today it is all split rings... and my first photo in daylight :)

So far in this year's TIAS I have learned:

• Front-side Back-side tatting
• Split Chains
• Split Rings
• Catherine Wheel joins
• Lock Chains

My current guesses are Viking ship (but looking less likely) or old-fashioned baby's pram.

T.I.A.S Day 5

Day 5 of the Tat It And See.   Maybe it's a Viking Ship?

The edging for the tablecloth for my little table is now about 1m long which is just over halfway.

TIAS day 4

Today brought day 5 of the TIAS - and this time I didn't have to wait until evening to do it!  Since I was working from home today due to the snow I did most of it in my lunch break and the last two chains in my afternoon short break. Today's part is the chain along the bottom edge and up the left-hand edge.Since I've been intrepidly learning new things with this TIAS I went for the Catherine Wheel join option for most of the joins except for the first 2 which are plain old lock joins. I've decided I like Catherine Wheel joins.

The TIAS is not the only tatting I'm doing at the moment - I've started on my first piece of tatting for reenactment.   This is going to be the edging for the table cloth on my little table in my tent.  It's a pattern published by Mlle Riego and was also included by Mary Konior in "Tatting in Lace".  The picture shows my "working" box which holds the screwdriver for the silent tatter shuttle, a spare bobbin - sometimes I wind 2 at a time - and a bit of paper with the instructions written in modern short notation.  The red thread is my measure for this piece - it's the length of 2 sides of the cloth with a knot marking the corner.

Forgot to mention that I added that book to my Mary Konior book collection last week - don't think it was on ebay for very long before I pounced on it.   If someone's looking for a good book to add to their collection I've just spotted a copy of "The Craft of Tatting By Bessie M. Attenborough" for under £2 (paperback). I've already got a copy and its a nice little book - it's also mentioned in the bibliography section in "Tatting in Lace".

There was a full 3 inches of snow outside this morning. People reading this from some countries won't think this is much! 
I made a Snow Mouse.

When we went to the bank at lunchtime I couldn't believe the number of drivers who hadn't bothered removing any of the snow from their roof - or even from their bonnet. I really dislike driving behind people who have their own personal snowstorm trailing behind them which is one of the reasons I chose to work from home today.  We did notice that one of the minority of snow-free cars passing by had a number plate for Poland where like most of northern-ish Europe they're a bit more used to snow than we are here.

A day on the trains and TIAS day 3

Here is my TIAS day 3. It's looking a bit like a boat at the moment.

The picture makes it look a bit like it has fine dark threads sticking out but that's just shadows.

I was expecting to do it this evening after a long afternoon of company meetings but when I was nearly at Maidenhead I found out the meetings were all cancelled so I was back home and on-line earlier than I expected.

I didn't see much of Maidenhead since I never left the station - just got back on another train headed back the way I came. The meetings were cancelled due to snow stopping other people from getting there. There was much more snow in Maidenhead than there was in Cambridge and the train back towards London was full of people who were leaving work early.

That guy in the corner with a computer had been criticizing my blog styling so I changed it a bit. He admitted it was an improvement but claimed he could improve on it and this is the result.

TIAS day 2 and my first split ring and split chain

Here is my try at day 2 of Jane Eborall's TIAS 2013  I still don't know what it's going to be.
And then after emailing it to Jane I realised I'd done too many rings so I'm about to un-tat the last one. Looking at Jane's TIAS blog there are a couple of others have made the same mistake ;)

This is the first time I have done a split chain or a split ring. The split chain took 2 attempts but then I manage the split ring first time :D  I found the split ring to be much easier than the split chain.

I've also had a go at styling up my blog a bit.

First post of the year

Quick catchup of the year so far at least as far as tatting is concerned.

I've been trying out some vintage patterns - all dating to 1916 or earlier.  This little motif is from 1896 and is tatted using Lizbeth size 20 thread. I think the colour is called Falling Leaves. 

And here is a portion of a medallion from a book from 1916

They are for an exchange so I'm going to hold off on the rest of the pictures until after I've sent them.

"That guy" left it really late to buy his mum a christmas present so last week we put together a Beginning Tatting kit for her.  On thursday evening I had a go at quickly tatting up some small bits to send to her to show her some actual tatting. Since I did 2 of the 3 in a hurry there are rather a lot of mistakes but at least you can see how the number of picots can make the tatting look lacier.

The bottom motif is supposed to be Mary Konior's posy. I made the join between 2nd and 3rd sets in the wrong place and then did a rather clumsy finish.
The top right one is supposed to be a Mary Konior bud fragment but went a little wrong near the bottom plus I was running out of thread so I just improvised.  The top half came out ok apart from the stray extra picot at the top left.
The round motif at the top I can't find the pattern for at the moment - I just copied a motif I already did a couple of months ago.

Finally I've decided to join this year's Tat It And See or TIAS at http://tatitandsee.blogspot.co.uk/
This is my go at Day 1.

As you can see I rather like the brown/cream variegated thread.