One more down, three more to go

Now that these crosses have been written up and posted, I just have three more pattern sets to do before I'm done with my triangle themed experiments.

What's left? I've got a couple of bookmarks, which can be extended into a mat or a coaster. I've also got four repeatable squares, and a mini flake that I'm hoping to be able to turn into a small doily. For the doily, I've tatted the first and last rounds and have yet to design the middle:

I've found that this is the best way to design a doily with a pre-determined outer round. You see, the last round is kind of set in stone, because the triangular ring clusters need to match the first round. So the flexibility has to come from the middle rounds, which don't follow as many rules and can be adjusted as needed. It's also much easier to tat and redo the middle rounds because they take a lot less time to complete than the outer round. If the middle doesn't work, I snip it out and start again.

To brainstorm how the middle rounds will look, I've made a drawing on the Amaziograph app. I think this will be a good test for using this new app in tatting design.

By the way, Etsy seems to be having a few technical difficulties again, and I'm not sure if these are affecting the ability to download digital files. If you buy something from my shop and have any trouble getting the pattern, send me a message and I'll be happy to email you a copy of the file.

Clearing the queue

There are several patterns that I designed last year waiting to be written, proofread, and tested. I'm slowly working my way through them, starting with these two crosses:

The one in black would normally be a lot larger than the pink one, but I'm tatting it in size 80 (the pink is done in size 20). It will take about 10 more hours to finish up this pattern set and then I will be moving onto writing the triangle themed bookmark patterns. 

After that, there's a few repeatable squares and I'm still debating on whether or not to design an edging for one of them. I guess I'll see how much stamina I have left when I get to that point!

Small Cross (made from a repeatable square)

Here is a small cross, made using the repeatable square design from my last post. On the left (in burgundy) is the square, and on the right (in blue) is the cross:

If you missed my last post, you can click here to see what the squares look like when they are put together.

Triangles (Part 2)

This is a continuation of my previous post in which I was exploring different patterns that could be made with triangles. I was able to put together a cross based on the bookmark pattern:

Like the Priscilla Cross, this is a large piece of tatting and takes a while to complete. In size 40 thread it measures 6.75 inches long and 4.75 inches wide. You can get a better idea of how big it is in this photo:

I also wanted to mention that if you send me a message through my Blogger Contact Form, please check your spam/junk folder for a reply as well as your inbox. I try to respond within 24 hours, but sometimes my responses get sent to the spam folder (especially for those using Yahoo accounts). Always feel free to send me another message if you haven't heard back within a few days. It probably means that something went amiss with the email filters!

Small Floral Cross: Written Instructions

Last night I received a comment asking for written instructions for my Small Floral Cross pattern. I've created a PDF file which can be accessed by clicking here or by going to my Free Patterns page. The written instructions appear on pages 2 and 3 of the document.

Small Floral Cross

Let me know if there's any issues accessing the file or if you find any mistakes. I did a quick test tat with size 40 thread (pictured on the right) using the alternate stitch count of all 5's in between picots. Hope the written instructions help to clear up the pattern for those who found it confusing!

Small Floral Cross

As I was tatting a sample for my floral doily, I noticed a small cross taking shape. I fit the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle and came up with this:

If you can tat split rings and follow a diagram, the cross is pretty easy to make. It measures 2 inches across and 3 inches from top to bottom in Lizbeth size 20 thread. Here's a diagram that I put together in Inkscape (right click and open the photo in a new tab to see a larger picture):

Just in case I missed anything in the Inkscape diagram, here is my hand drawn sketch:

Update: Click here for the PDF file with full written instructions and diagram

This little cross is made with a stitch count of 4 between every picot. In theory, the cross can also be made with all 5's or all 6's. That's because six ringed flowers are super easy to make. Just use the same number four times for each petal. Take a look at a page from my binder below:

The binder is a new side project that I've been working on. Every time I have spare thread left on my shuttles, I tat a small ring formation. I bought a pack of trading card sleeves to store the samples in. Each sample is taped down to an index card that has been cut in half to fit in the sleeve.

Right now I'm just tatting flower formations, but I will eventually expand the project into other small shapes. It's like having a reference book, and has already come in handy when creating new designs.

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.

First Draft: Garden Cross

I'm really trying to keep up with the Stawasz Mega Doily, but I've been so busy these past couple of weeks that I haven't had any time for tatting. And then I had another designing withdrawal, and just had to create something. Designing is more relaxing for me than tatting from a pattern. There are no mistakes to be made because there's no written pattern to follow. Instead, I can cut, tie, make adjustments, tat sloppily, and pretty much do whatever I want. In the end, all the experiments provide useful information for creating a final copy.

Here is my first draft of a design I drew up many months ago. I've only now gotten around to attempting to tat it:

(The finished version of this pattern can now be found in my Etsy shop)

Right now it's crooked and needs a lot more work. I've already written down a bunch of adjustments and will be making many versions of this cross until I find one that I'm satisfied with. That could take a while, but hopefully not too long.

Another nice thing about designing is that executing a pattern is a lot easier when you are the person who came up with it. No guess work at what someone was going for when they made the piece, everything is already in your head. Surprisingly enough, I managed to mess up the above cross more than once...I was getting confused at my own pattern! That's never happened before, so I think that's a sign that this is a tricky sequence to follow.

Anyhow, here is the drawing I am using as a guide to creating this pattern:

I hope to have a more presentable tatted version in the next week or so.