Priscilla Cross

In my previous post, I talked about using software to help visualize pattern adaptations. I took the Priscilla bookmark and spliced it together to create a rough draft of a cross. Over the weekend, I estimated stitch counts for the inner rings and chains and began tatting. Here is the result:

As expected, the pattern adaptation was simple...though I could not have done it without the visual road map. The only stitch counts that were missing from the original bookmark were the floating rings and chains in the center of the cross. It took two tries to get it right, due to overestimating the size of the floating rings the first time. The discrepancy was apparent early on so I had only two arms of the cross completed before I started over again.

Like the bookmark, this cross is very large. I tatted it in DMC size 80, which is ever so slightly larger than Lizbeth size 80. It measures 5.75 inches long and 4.25 inches wide. It's all done in one pass, and is quite tedious, taking about 8 hours to finish.

I think the pattern would really benefit from the use of two colors. While tatting this, I realized that it would also make a nice square. The outer picots are already in perfect position to join multiple squares together. So, before making any diagrams, I will probably go off on a tangent and tat one square just to see how it looks. I say one square because I don't think I will have the stamina to make four...each square taking about 6 hours!

As I was looking through Craftree last night, I noticed that I am not the first person to adapt the Priscilla edging into a bookmark (maybe I am the first to adapt it into a cross?). I saw that Susie Arnholt had created the same bookmark in 2013, with different stitch counts and different corners (look for the off white bookmark in post #1, instructions for completion in post #5). Her rings are smaller and would work better with size 20 thread. My variations are somewhat limited to the tiny threads, unless you want a giant bookmark or cross.

Software Assisted Pattern Adaptations

When it comes to tatting, I am an absolute visual learner. I can follow diagrams with ease, but give me a written pattern and I don't know how to make heads or tails of it.

It naturally follows that to adapt a pattern, I need some kind of visual reference. Any computer program that has copy, paste, crop, resize, and rotate will do (though I tend to use various Apps on my iPad, because my laptop is usually tucked away in a closet.)

The Priscilla bookmark, for example, started as an edging from the Priscilla Tatting Book #2:

I wanted to see how the pattern would look if I turned it the other way around, so I took a photo of the pattern and cropped it:

I used two copies of the photo, making sure to rotate one of them so I could splice them together:

This gave me a basic idea of how the bookmark would look, though it still needed a corner. To do so, I used a third copy of the image and spliced it onto the end:

I tried pulling the corner out a little more, but found that it looked best as it is pictured above.

Figuring out the stitch count for the corner required only minor adjustments to the chains. However, as is the case with many vintage patterns, this one needed a bit of tweaking to get it to lay flat. I tatted a small sample to test out the corner and to adjust the stitch count:

From this, the final pattern was constructed:

At the beginning of the year, mb duke made a blog post and asked if the bookmark pattern could be converted into a cross. I believe the answer is yes, and that it would be fairly easy to do. Using the same concepts above, I can splice four images of the bookmark together to create a cross:

A bit of adaptation is needed to get the pattern to flow continuously, so I used an App on my iPad to draw over the center portion in white. I also began to draw connecting chains:

From this point, one can add their own ideas of how to stabilize the central part of the cross. I chose floating rings, which I drew on my iPad (please excuse the poor drawing quality!)

I don't have a finished version of this, but I am really confident that the idea would work. All that is needed is to estimate the stitch counts for the inner chains and floating rings. The rest of the stitch counts are already provided in the bookmark pattern itself. This is something that I have added to my ever growing "To Do" list, and if I ever complete it, I will add it to the free patterns section of my blog.

More Stawasz

Seeing the second batch of tatters start on their Stawasz Mega Doilies has inspired me to work on mine again. I'm on Round VIII now, which is one of the rounds that has missing stitch counts on the chains. The numbers that monedido from InTatters/Craftree provided are working out well. They are 5-5-9-9 (beginning right after a clover is formed and ending at the single ring "G").

I'm going to try to get this round and the next finished before I set the doily aside again. I have too many ideas floating around in my head to tat these large doilies for long. My mind often wanders through the monotony of these larger rounds :)