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Monday, January 4, 2016

Backwards Designing

I've been wanting to experiment with making small doilies and have drawn up some ideas on my iPad. It seems that no matter how much pre-planning I put into a design, it never turns out how I imagined. I'm not really sure how I feel about this one:


I had envisioned it with much smaller flowers and then realized that I had to make them fairly large to get around the circumference of the doily. Even with the larger flowers, it required some stretching to fit. I can get this to work by reducing the chains, but I don't know if I like the proportions. The flowers are too overwhelming.

I think the reason this is so difficult is because it is being designed backwards. I started with the idea of interconnected split ring flowers for the outer round, and tried to design a middle that would match up.

I actually designed backwards for the Frauberger Doily as well, starting with the edging and creating inner rounds to fit. It was tricky then and it is tricky now. I'm always up for a good brain teaser though. Maybe I will have more ideas after I sleep on it.
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11 comments:

  1. muskaanJanuary 5, 2016 at 3:20 AM

    I think it looks pretty :-)
    One way of working with smaller flowers, is to increase the number of flowers. That, of course, would require re-computation of chains ;-)

    I'm really impressed with your coaster/minidoily. I tried this reverse designing on 2 different edgings for coasters, and the pieces are Still incomplete :-( One day I might just cut and sew some fabric in the center ;-P

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  2. MirandaJanuary 5, 2016 at 5:12 AM

    I find the proportions of this piece quite pleasing, though of course I can't see what's in your head. I don't find the flowers overwhelming at all. I wonder if it might look different to you if you tatted them in a solid color? Or you could go for a larger design instead, adding more rounds to tame the flowers.

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  3. JennJanuary 5, 2016 at 5:31 AM

    Beautiful :). What about spacing out the flowers with maybe chains in between?

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  4. God's KidJanuary 5, 2016 at 8:53 AM

    I think it's a beautiful doily!!! :)
    I am not sure if this is a good idea, but just a thought....could you tat the smaller flowers attaching one to the chain and leaving one "free in the air" above the "dip" in the chains, and then another attached to the next chain??? Just wondering. :)

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  5. Margarets designer cardsJanuary 5, 2016 at 9:04 AM

    I rather like that pattern as it is, the flowers around the edge look lovely and the colours are beautiful
    Margaret

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  6. Madtatter80January 5, 2016 at 2:17 PM

    It does look beautiful to me too, but maybe smaller flowers with green leaf in between, but you loose the connecting thing that way and I understand what you where going for :)

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  7. Madtatter80January 5, 2016 at 2:19 PM

    Ok hows about this, smaller flowers and skip connecting every other one so they are more delicate :) like 24 flowers

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  8. Lace-lovin' Librarian ~ DianeJanuary 5, 2016 at 5:11 PM

    Very pretty! It reminds me of some of the Mary Konior designs I love.

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  9. Robin PerfettiJanuary 5, 2016 at 11:34 PM

    Thanks everyone, all good suggestions! I've thought about increasing the amount of flowers, changing colors, or maybe slightly decreasing the size of the inner chains so that smaller flowers would work around the circumference. I also like the idea of alternating flowers so that one is in the air and one is attached to the chain. As you can see there are so many possibilities, it makes it difficult to choose. I might just end up with multiple patterns!

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  10. BerniceJanuary 6, 2016 at 12:04 AM

    Perhaps it is the angle of the photograph but I do like the color and design of the piece. Love the green between like background space.

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  11. UnknownJanuary 16, 2016 at 9:36 PM

    Have only just found your blog. Love your patterns and look forward to seeing more. Very inspirational. Thanks Elaine

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