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Thursday, December 15, 2016

Dainty Snowflake

Well, it's not a very original name (it's been used for lots of crafted snowflakes), but I still wanted to call this one Dainty Snowflake because it's been designed to be tatted with small thread. I've been making these to put into Christmas cards and to give as gifts.


The one on the left has been tatted with size 80 DMC Cordonnet Special, using 4mm Swarovski bicone crystals in the center. It measures 3.4 inches from point to point. The one on the right is tatted with size 50 DMC Cordonnet Special, which is about the same as Lizbeth size 40 thread. It measures 4 inches from point to point.

As a holiday gift to my blog readers, I'm including the hand drawn diagram for this pattern below :) Right click and open the image in a new tab to see the numbers more clearly:


UPDATE: Here are a few more diagram photos that are colorized to show when to reverse work. Reverse works will occur every time the color changes from red to blue, or from blue back to red:



I've been having a lot of fun using Frivole's method to add the Swarovski Crystals to the middle of the flakes. These are placed instead of the central 4-2-4 rings in the above diagram (see below for more details about sizing).

The pictorial for Frivole's technique is part of her Crystal Star pattern, which is available in her Etsy shop. Frivole has also uploaded a YouTube video showing how to add the crystals to the center of her star.

Sizing for the Crystals:

For each snowflake you will need six crystals, and a large picot gauge. I made my picot gauges by measuring and cutting index cards.

In size 80 thread you will need:

  • 4mm Swarovski Xilion Bicone crystals
  • 60 mm picot gauge


In size 40 to 50 thread you will need:

  • 5mm Swarovski Xilion Bicone crystals (these can be purchased on eBay)
  • 74 mm picot gauge


In size 20 thread you will need:

  • 6mm Swarovski Xilion Bicone crystals
  • 90 mm picot gauge. (The 90 mm picot gauge will make the crystals very snug, so if you feel like this might be a problem, increase the gauge by a couple of millimeters.)


Although I've included details for size 20 thread, you probably don't want to use anything larger than size 40 (unless you want a really big snowflake). I think size 50 DMC thread makes a good snowflake:


If you have any questions about the pattern, feel free to let me know. Now I must get back to tatting snowflakes...

21 comments:

Anetta (Jamiolowo) said...

Beautiful snowflakes:) Thank you for nice pattern :)

God's Kid said...

Awesome snowflake!!!! :) Thank you for sharing your pattern!! :)

muskaan said...

Try this as a star, too, Robin. The arms have that triangular shape already in place. Very beautiful and dainty :-))

Jane McLellan said...

It is daintily beautiful! Thanks for sharing the pattern.

Lace-lovin' Librarian ~ Diane said...

That's a lovely snowflake! Thanks for sharing the pattern!

Małgoś 13 said...

Piękna śnieżynka. Dziękuję bardzo za udostępnienie wzoru.

Madtatter80 said...

Thanks for everything information and pattern it's great and very pretty also the methods are a nice touch too. It's weird I just bought the same hooks a Hobby Lobby the other day!

Robin Perfetti said...

Hmmm, maybe if I have some time after I finish all the flakes. I have a feeling it won't be as straight forward of a transformation as it seems, but it would be a nice experiment to do!

Robin Perfetti said...

Haha, yeah I got these hooks at Joann Fabrics a few years ago. It seems that the craft stores are the only places (besides online) that I can find the fancy hooks.

Margarets designer cards said...

Beautiful snowflake, thank you for sharing the pattern

PinhousePlaymate said...

Thanks for sharing your pattern! Happy holidays 😉

Robótki Marleny said...

Piękna :) Jeszcze zdążę ją zrobić do świąt :)
Dziękuję i pozdrawiam, Marlena

N. Maria said...

Love these....

Sarah said...

Lovely! Thank you for sharing. :)

Debbie H said...

How do you stiffen your snowflakes, please?

Robin Perfetti said...

Hi Debbie,

I don't actually stiffen them, as they seem to do well hanging on the tree on their own. At most I will dampen the tatting to block it if it is not laying flat. However, for this pattern, no blocking or stiffening was used. Hope this helps!

Gosia said...

Beautiful snowflake. It was a pleasure to tat.

Unknown said...

Hi. I am a needle tatter and an intermediate one at best. I am just learning how to read design charts and have no problem with some simple ones, however this is a little bit above my level. Mostly I am having a problem with knowing when to RW and When not to. I can follow most of the rest. I know the arms down, arms up rule, but not when the design is more intricate as this one is, at least for me. Any help with when to RW I would greatly appreciate. Thanks for the design and for sharing it

Robin Perfetti said...

Barbara, I just realized I have no way to contact you directly because your email is not available to me. I've updated the blog post to show a colorized version of the diagram for when to reverse work. Reverse works happen every time the color changes from red to blue, or from blue back to red. Hope this helps!

Liz. said...

Thank you so much for sharing your patterns, - and writing them out with the red and blue lines so they are so easy to follow. I really enjoy working them. You are very generous to share them with us.

Unknown said...

Realmente es un regalo de Navidad el que recibimos. Gracias.