More Minis

I hope everyone is doing okay. I have been staying in and working on my mini flakes. I'm tatting them in light blue, so they can be scanned and put on pattern pages without using too much printer ink (if one decides to print the pattern).

These are done in size 80 DMC Special Dentelles thread, color number 3325. It's surprising just how far one small ball of thread goes. I have tatted 12 mini flakes and might have enough for one more before the ball of thread runs out. I still have plenty of this color left (I bought seven balls from an online retailer called Minerva Crafts in early February), and this project will keep me busy for a while. I ended up designing a total of 40 mini flakes, so I have a lot of diagramming and tatting to do!

Pastel Hearts and Pattern Update

I've been making more hearts, and decided to add lock chain hangers so I could use them as ornaments.

These are made with size 80 DMC Special dentelles thread, in colors 744, 3325, 210, and 3326.

As I was making these, I adjusted the join location for the first flower, which I think gives a better shape to the heart. I updated the pattern to include a diagram with the new join location, as well as instructions for the lock chain hanger.

For those who purchased the Floral Heart pattern before February 8, I sent out Etsy convos this past Saturday with a link to the new file. The new pattern contains 10 pages whereas the old pattern had 8 pages. If you bought the pattern and have not received the updated file, please contact me.

New year, new thread

I have an antique thread cabinet that I purchased a few years ago at the DC Big Flea market. I bought it with the intention of holding antique tatting shuttles, and I did use it for that purpose until recently. After joining Instagram and seeing lovely photos of DMC tatting thread, I wondered if this thread would fit into the cabinet. I knew I'd be in trouble if it did...because then I'd have to go on a shopping spree. Well guess what? It fit perfectly:

This thread cabinet was originally meant for sewing thread, but I don't sew. Instead, I tried to match the colors of the DMC thread to the labels in the cabinet as best I could. I even bought extra thread so that I could tat things without messing up the display:

This thread (DMC special dentelles, size 80) has been discontinued in the US, so it was a little difficult to find vendors that had it in stock. I placed a lot of online orders over several months, and eventually moved onto shops based in the UK. I found Minerva Crafts to be a good option, because they carry a wide variety of colors and restock whenever they run out.

The thread cabinet has a glass top that opens and closes on a hinge. The photo below shows it in a closed position:

My antique tatting shuttles have since been moved into different displays, one is a Milward's Needles display and the other is a Clark's Mile End set of drawers. Maybe I will post pictures of those sometime in the future.