full stop

I put a video in YouTube to show how I've been tatting the little squares for the international project started by Cathy de Greef ( "Tat a Brussels’ monument in pink": http://www.canarithy.be/cinema ).
If you like, here is the link:



I tatted and mailed 101 squares. I put my full stop.

My squares have just started their journey.
“What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.”

The beautiful postcard with the butterfly is from the original handmade painting by Barbara, her shop is here: https://www.zazzle.co.uk/barbaravicari

Ciao
Ninetta

nothing is perfect

Don't look close, it is nothing but the trick of a magician. My new toilette...

Of course I mean my dollhouse's toilette! I can't wait to have the stool, if you've been following my blog you may remember that I'm collecting these things that are sold weekly, piece by piece. The "doily" is the little motif from the "Nuovo manuale elementare dei lavori delle dame secondo le più recenti variazioni della moda", 1868, fig.15, page 55.

I've started following some blogs where they share miniature pieces, furniture for dollhouse and stunning little flowers. Among these, I absolutely love the "Atelier Sakamichi", a tatting blog from Japan, link: atsaka.exblog.jp. She also has a tatting shop that is here: https://www.creema.jp/c/sakamichi. She uses ribbons and beads, bugle beads too, and makes amazing little bouquets!

Browsing in Pinterest, I found a site on how to make little perfume bottles and I couldn't help myself I had to try them, so in next picture you see what I did. The link is this: http://www.cynthiahoweminiatures.com/onlineclasses/dresserset.htm

The beautiful little flower on top, has been designed by Daniela Mendola. I've been following Daniela's blog: http://danielamendola.blogspot.com and she also has a Facebook page: Daniela Mendola Pattern&Design. My flower is not as perfect as hers but I like it. The size is quite big for the toilette, despite I used the white size 100. There are many lovely patterns in her blog, not only tatting but also crochet and embroidery, she writes in English and Italian.

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I'm still tatting Brussels' squares, different patterns are showed in next picture, but you see in the background many attempts too! I have 62 squares that fit the correct size, and 12 discarded squares that I won't send to Brussels because they are bigger or littler than 3x3cm, that is my fault of course, I've used the wrong thread or/and the wrong tension and/or the wrong brain cell!
In the pictures, I tatted the squares with a Lizbeth size 40 and a pink sewing thread, wound together, that is very close to a size 20 thread.

Patterns:
- Weldon's square (1911 pattern is in Craftree)
- my square pattern (read about it in this post: anonymous)
- Kathy Konek's design, pattern shared in Facebook
- Jane McLellan, pattern shared in her blog janemactats.blogspot.com
- Cathy's square (Cathy de Greef  Tat a Brussels’ monument in pink )
- Carollyn's square, pattern shared in her blog here: tennbrown.blogspot.com

I'm supposed to be an experienced tatter, but I still do common mistakes. Are you wondering if I've the list of what - in theory - I know I must avoid to do? So here it is...

DON'T (((possibly))):
1. tat with little light or tired: I'm that "only-another-ring-before-going-to-sleep" kind of tatter... and then often I retro-tat the day after!
2. tat with tension: I'm relaxed when I tat but my tatting is always tight. Not every pattern asks for a tight tension, for example my first Weldon's square came out shrunk, in the picture above I put the second one tatted.
3. miscount stitches - that is very common especially when I'm very relaxed...
4. ‎make a join without thinking beforehand, I mean that there are many type of join and the fastest one it isn't always the best
5. start tatting fast with any leftover thread on the shuttle, thread can be too thin or too big for the pattern.

I should listen to me when I speak... Ooops!

Ciao, Ninetta

Related posts

dollhouse miniature doily

tightening the center - as much as I can

anonymous

anonymous

I wonder if the anonymous inventor of tatting would be surprised to see how many passionate lacers have been conquered by the magic 2 stitches. I just love these little roses, they look so simple and realistic. 

While playing with my dollhouse project, I learned that things haven't to be real but only look almost real. I must tat again a doily for the table, yes sigh, it arrived and it is very small and the doily I tatted is too big (!!).

Pattern is just an adaptation of the beautiful Roses' pattern by Jeanne Lugert (it can be found here:
http://www.georgiaseitz.com/2002/jlrose/jlrose.html). Please note that she is the only owner of the copyright for this pattern.

My adaptation for the mini roses:
SR 3/1-1
(SR 4/2-2) repeat for 4 times
(SR 6/3-3) repeat for 4 times
(SR 8/4-4) repeat for 4 times
 The finishing is the same as the original pattern, passing tails in picots, as I already explained here: http://ninettacaruso.blogspot.com/2016/04/beautiful-roses.html

There are a lot of tatters that have already joined the international project started by by Cathy de Greef ( Tat a Brussels’ monument in pink ). I've tatted 50 squares till now. For the first 30 squares, I followed her pattern, then I finished the pink thread. I have a bad flaw, indecision, made even worse for the fact that I always tend to put off everything. So now I think I would had to buy online the right thread in november, instead of trying HWT or making up a new square for the thin thread I have handy. However, that happened, I have almost a full ball of Lizbeth size 40 color called "Raspberry Frappe" (yum!) and a square that only needed to be tested. I have tatted 20 squares with this thread and my alternative pattern.

I also tested the same pattern (different stitches' count) with a size 20 thread, so if you have that size, you please would like to give it a try, please feel free to test it and in case it works for you, you can use it as an alternative for the Brussels squares. The finished motif should measure 3cm x 3cm. In the next short version text, R means ring and Ch means chain; FR means floating ring.

Pattern is worked with two shuttles CTM, I load all thread in shuttle2, unwind about 80cm and then put this tail in shuttle1, start the center ring with shuttle2, then do not reverse work and change shuttle, tatting the rest with the shuttle1 as the core shuttle.

Short text:
Center ring: R 3-3-3-3
First round: mock picot, (Ch 3-3, lock join to center picot) repeat for 4 times
Second round: Ch 3-3-3, *[ R 3+3 (join R to first round), FR 3+6-3 (join to last picot in chain),
FR 3+6-6-3 (join to previous FR), FR 3+6-3 (join to previous FR), Ch 3+3-3, lock join to first round in the space between two chains, over the previous lock join] repeat from * for 4 times except that in the last chain the last picot must be a join to the first picot of the first chain.

Drawing is in Flickr:

Ciao,
Ninetta

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beautiful roses

dollhouse miniature doily

miniature bed 

miniature sofa

spread

miniature sofa

Thread is DMC size 80 ecrù.

Those pillows are my second attempt, the first ones were too big for the sofa and I had to start again, measuring the fabric and browsing the internet in search of any help. I found an inspiring site with many tutorials for little furniture, I'd like you have a look, for example at this: http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.com/2017/11/1-inch-scale-embroidered-table-topper.html

The first pillow version is on the right in that picture.

The "big" ones would be lovely scissors fobs, they will be given away. I only need a cord for the fob, there is a knotted cord here in fig. 835 of the Encyclopedia of needlework by Th.de Dillmont: http://encyclopediaofneedlework.com/chapter_15.html

The pattern in the left is an adaptation of Mrs Odum daisy. Textual directions are in the same style as they are for the original pattern that I found here: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art61288.asp

With two shuttles begin with a round centre ring.
1. R 1 - (1 -) x 6, 1 close ring, mock picot climb into next round
2. CH 4 + (join to next picot) vsp CH 4. Repeat 7 times. ((((I used lock joins))))
Lock join thread to first picot and make vsp.
3. CH 5 + (join to that vsp on the previous row) and repeat around. 
4. CH 6 + (join to that vsp on the previous row) and repeat around.
5. CH 7 + (join to that vsp on the previous row) and repeat around. ((((I put in the last chain the magic loop thread for hiding the end tail))))

6. *make a vsp. CH 7, position chain on top of motif and join it to the first picot on the round centre ring, going across the picot. ((((I only tat a second half stitch after the join))))
CH 7, position chain on top of motif and bring back to the starting point.
((((I used an ANKARS over join in this point, joining the vsp)))) 
Continue to the same direction.
7. CH 4 - 4 as part of the outer round and lock join to the next picot on the outer round. 
8. Repeat from * around for a total of 8 petals positioned on top the flower motif.
(((( I finished with the method by Frivolè for Hiding Ends in the Last Chain and hid the second tail with the magic loop left in previous round ))))

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In the next pic, I used HWT (a cotton without a label and a sewing silk thread) to have a size 20 thread for tatting again the pink square by Cathy de Greef ( Tat a Brussels’ monument in pink ). I've tatted five till now. For the first two squares, I started with a ring, then I tried to go down or up with a chain. I was looking for a simple way to teach beginners how to tat it, in fact I hope to involve my friends - the bobbin lacers of our local lace association. In her video, shared in the site, Cathy started with a chain and now I think I've understood the reason. I think that starting with a chain is clever, as you don't have to worry about how to join the last chain in a narrow curve, that's easier for beginners. But I found that starting from the second chain (labelled 3 in red in her picture with the pattern) it is even easier, that is you join in the normal way the second last chain and then you have the last chain where to finish and hide tails... I hope I was clear. Just my two cents among the many possibilities we can choose for tatting that little square.

Ciao,
Ninetta

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miniature bed

The thread I used for tatting the edging for the bedsheet and pillows is Anchor Artiste Mercer Crochet 100. Bedcover's fabric is linen.

Well, my mum thinks the bed sheet needed some white embroidery! I'd like tatting something for the cylindrical pillow, I don't know the correct English term for that kind of pillow, neither if it has an Italian name, I just call it "cuscino a cilindro".

(Update: a friend in Facebook kindly commented that the term is " bolster cushion")

The pillows are so tiny, I'm also trying to scale down Mrs. Odum pattern, I love it!

Have you noticed the book in the background?
"323: Tatting" by Pam Palmer, current link in Amazon: http://amzn.eu/20vcuKg 
An interesting cheap booklet - about 30 pages - about the history of tatting, first published in 1996. I'm really disheartened when thinking that all those historical infos have been available for such long time and still we can find misleading information in Italian sites. One funny thing I've found was that the lace itself had been called Carmen Sjlva (yes, sigh!, with the j), I'm almost like to believe that it was a mistake in translation for the 'nom de plum' of the queen of Rumania.

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I found a very inspiring initiative on Facebook, the project Tat a Brussels’ monument in pink by Cathy de Greef (Canarithy). A lot of people all around Tatternet are already joining. I still don't have a size 20 pink thread. One possibility may be to boil the little square with beetroot....!!!

Ciao,
Ninetta

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dollhouse miniature doily