iPad Design Tutorial: Part 5

Making Adjustments and Finalizing Your Piece

Last time, I talked about how to begin tatting your design. Now it's time to talk about making adjustments and putting the final touches on your piece.

Nearly all of my designs go through a series of changes before becoming written patterns. The types of changes that I make can be lumped into four categories:
1.) Trial and error
2.) Altering the size of an element
3.) Relocating picots
4.) Making last minute changes to improve visual effect

Let's talk about them in order, starting with trial and error. Most of my adjustments are based on trial and error, especially in the beginning stages of designing. I like making snowflakes because I can use each of the six points to try something new. Often, the first version of my snowflake will look horrendous, with six differently tatted sides. If you read my post about designing Solstice, you will see what I am talking about.

I don't worry about things looking pretty at this stage. I simply try to get an overall "feel" for the pattern, finding stitch counts that form a good solid base. These counts will undergo smaller changes later on.

Now, let's talk about the second category: altering the size of an element. This happens when I have a ring or a chain that is proportionally out of sync with the overall piece. It can also happen when I want to adjust the size of my entire design to create, for example, more open space. (You could say that using a larger thread will also create a larger piece, but sometimes that is not the effect I am looking for.)

Let's use the snowflake from this tutorial as an example. In my previous post, I mentioned wanting to have more negative space to make room for a jewelry finding in the center. I don't own any thread larger than size 20, so I couldn't take the easy way out by using a larger thread. Instead, I relied on simple math to make everything bigger. Here, I changed all of the 2's to 3's:

By turning every 2 into a 3 I ended up increasing the size of my motif rather drastically. If you want to make a smaller adjustment, carefully select a few locations to add a stitch or two. Or, if you are good at math, you can calculate changes in size by using ratios.

iPad Design Tutorial: Part 4

How to Begin Tatting Your Design

Now that we have a rough estimate of stitch count, it's time to begin tatting. This is the most rewarding, yet most challenging part of the design process. In fact, it's even difficult to write about. Designing is a very subjective thing, and everyone will have their own styles and methods of creating their piece. As such, I will be straying from talking about design objectively, and instead show you how I tat my designs. As you follow along, perhaps you will find some tips and tricks that will be useful in your endeavors.

Let's begin by talking about thread. I've tried designing using variegated thread and have found that it makes my tatting unnecessarily hard to see. Therefore, I stick to solid colors. I've also tried using leftover bits of thread and found myself running out before getting very far. I would rather be designing than tatting four ring butterflies, so I had to part with the idea of saving every last scrap from the bin. The following bits were unwound and thrown away because I was running out of empty shuttles to use.

This brings me to my next topic: wasting thread. When you design, you have to get used to the idea of wasting thread. There will be a lot of prototypes that don't fit the bill, and a lot of reloading of shuttles. If you'd rather not waste your good thread you can buy a ball of cheap thread just for design drafts. If you are near a Jo-Ann Fabrics or a Michaels you can buy a ball of size 10 Aunt Lydia's crochet cotton, usually with a 40% discount. I always have my smart phone with me so I can quickly load up a coupon before entering the store.

Keep in mind that crochet cotton will not tat as nicely as tatting thread, and you will need to use a larger shuttle when working with size 10. I prefer using Lizbeth size 20 for my drafts because it tats rather nicely and I have a large stash that I would like to reduce.

iPad Design Tutorial: Part 3

How to Make a Rough Estimate of Stitch Count

In the previous post I talked about how to draw a design that can be turned into tatting. Now, it's time to make a rough estimate of stitch count so we can begin to create our piece.

First, you will need to make a sample piece of tatting to use as a measuring tool. I recommend choosing a color and size that will be easy to see, so that you can count stitches to approximate the location of your joins. To keep things consistent, make sure to use the same color and size for all of your measuring samples. I used size 20 white, simply because I had a lot of it on my shuttles.

For my sample, I used rings and chains, increasing the stitch count as I progressed. The stitch count is as follows:

Ring 2-2
Chain 2-2
Ring 3-3
Chain 3-3
Ring 4-4
Chain 4-4...and so on until I reached a ring of 14-14

Using this sample, I can easily count up from 2 to see which ring or chain I am at, instead of painstakingly counting each stitch. You can use my stitch counts, or you can create your own. You may also wish to include clovers, self closing mock rings, or other shapes in your sample if you think they will be useful.

iPad Design Tutorial: Part 2

How to Draw a Design that can be Tatted

Now that we've practiced using Kaleidoscope Drawing Pad, it's time to draw our design. It can be tempting to draw something very complex, but I urge you not to do this, as the result will be difficult if not impossible to translate into tatting.

If this is your first time using the app to design, I recommend starting with something simple. You can always move onto more complex projects later on. Below is the first drawing I tatted, and as you can see it has only clovers and chains:

I didn't take any measurements before tatting the piece pictured above. Instead, I relied on memory and used similar stitch counts to a motif I had just completed from Tatting Patterns and Designs by Blomqvist and Persson. You can try to tat your design without taking measurements, though I recommend at least measuring a few rings and chains. I will talk more about taking measurements in Part 3 of the tutorial.

iPad Design Tutorial: Part 1

How to use Kaleidoscope Drawing Pad

Those without an iPad may wish to head over to Elaine's blog to access her free tatting design software for the computer. I will be focusing on using an iPad, so the first few parts of this tutorial will not be relevant to computer users (though you may find some helpful tips later on in the tutorial).

Update: If you are using a different kind of tablet, you may have better luck searching for "Doodle" or "Drawing" in your App Store. I've run a quick search and come across Magic Doodle, which seems to be a comparable program for the Android. It's also free.

For those with an iPad, the first thing you will need to do is go to the App Store and search for "Kaleidoscope." Here you will find a free app called Kaleidoscope Drawing Pad by Bejoy Mobile. Download this to your iPad.

The app is pretty straightforward, but I will go over some of the features that I regularly use.

iPad Design Tutorial: Introduction

If you have an iPad and are interested in designing, part one of my five part tutorial begins tomorrow. I will post one part each day and come back to make edits if anything is unclear, so if you are following along and have any questions, don't hesitate to ask in the comments below each post.

I find that using an iPad is a great help when brainstorming symmetrical designs such as snowflakes, flowers, small doilies, squares, butterflies, and crosses. If, on the other hand, you prefer making edgings, large doilies, or more free form shapes such as animals, then iPad design may not be for you.

I've broken up my tutorial into five parts in an attempt to provide as much detail as possible. They are as follows:

1) How to use Kaleidoscope Drawing Pad

2) How to Draw a Design that can be Tatted

3) How to Make a Rough Estimate of Stitch Count

4) How to Begin Tatting Your Design

5) Making Adjustments and Finalizing Your Piece

As you follow along with the tutorial, please keep in mind that I will be sharing what has worked for me, but that my methods may not work for you. Each of us has our own preferences, and I know a lot of you won't be keen to use the iPad to design at all. It is a very tedious process, as you will soon see!