hiding in vein

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Stepwise pictorials for dot picot leaf

and how to use dot picot strings as fillers

I’m forever playing catch-up with my blog posts; this time, too, it is ‘in vein’ :-D That did not stop me from taking a much-needed net break. Not in vain! 

Spent some relaxed de-cluttered time tatting a lot (which means more catching-up ;-P) and watching another net - the grass court season in tennis ! I'm sure this is Federer's swansong year and wouldn't want to miss his matches. And what a match the Halle final was - a glorious Master Class !!!! 

In my previous post, I was asked how the veins were joined to the leaf. Posting a pictorial showing my ‘hack’.

Dot Picot Leaf and Veins

Step-wise pictorials 

This freeform leaf is worked in size 20 thread, and the veins in size 40.

Techniques : large ring, dot picot on ring, dot picot string, whip stitching end tails, tatting over tails (knotless start. this is optional.)

I already shared how the leaf was worked, with 1 dot picot on ring at the tip, in this collage. Posting again to bring it all in one place. 

Dot Picot Leaf (with Dot picot on ring) pictorial

Complete sequence is notated in pic#11 below

1. What is ‘missing’ in the collage is that I started with both the leaf and the vein threads joined at the base as seen in this pic. The vein thread is merely 15-18 inches long. I used knotless method, but a weaver's knot can easily be used.

2. After completing the leaf to desired size and shape (it is not bilaterally symmetrical), I turn it over and work the veins from the back side, tatting over the tail in the first few dot picots.

Vein is simply a dot picot string.

3. We make the middle vein first & when the desired length is reached, unwind thread from the shuttle and thread the end through a tapestry needle.

4. Insert needle at the tip (point B) - specifically at the base of the dot picot on leaf and ….

5. whip stitch under the caps on the right edge for a few stitches.

((Yes, the entire vein can be tatted on a needle. But I’m not that skilled/confident yet.))

6. This is how it looks on the older leaves – invisible ! Despite the different shades, the dark green does not show up at all, only partly because it is thinner.

7. At desired point (point C) , I rewind the thread on to shuttle and tat the shorter vein.

8. When the required length is reached, pull a loop around the main vein, pass shuttle through and ….

9. tension carefully. Something like a lock join. It stays in place due to the notched texture.

10. Continue with the left side vein for required length and join to the edge (point D). With a needle, whip stitch along the left edge for next pair of veins.

11. Tat the vein, join to main vein & continue last vein which is attached to the right edge. I continue to whip stitch down this edge right up to the base. This pic shows how the entire pathway. Black arrows depict whip stitching.

12. This is how the leaves look from the wrong side.

These measure just about 1 inch.

NOTE : Instead of dot picot strings, one can make the veins in Lock Chains, Twisted Picots (as in rustic leaf), or simple bare threads ! Even regular chains ! Improvise & enjoy :-)
This effect can be used as a filler for any ring or mock ring ! Fancy some petals, wheels, et al ?!

The leaves are freeform, asymmetrical, & I eye-balled everything. 

If you wish, you can draw a sketch-to-size as reference. Remember this rustic leaf sketch turned into tatting ?

no tatting is ever in vain J

evolution of

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the dot picot on chain, on ring, and now a string !

Who would’ve thought that the dot picot could evolve so quickly, defying it’s initial definition of a 1ds ring thrown off a chain.

In May I figured out how to work a dot picot on a true ring.

And now Usha comes up with dot picots on bare thread - the dot picot string!

Pretty quick considering an evolutionary timeline.

All these are used in this

dot picot bouquet !

This bouquet consists of all 3 basic types of dot picots.

When I was asked to test tat the Exotic Pollen , I jumped at the opportunity – it is such an elegant pattern !

The inner round was a bit fiddly in my stubby fingers, and overlapped a bit. And I forgot to join one of the inner petals. But once the outer round was tatted, it lay flat and nice.

TIP : Instead of joining the pollen string to base of ring, I encapsulated it within the last half stitch of the ring, and closed ring. This was easier to work than fiddle around trying to find space in the base.

I ran out of thread on the pale yellow one, & had chosen a brighter yellow for the outer round, but this looks cute as is.

I was, still am, undecided how/where to use these motifs, hence left the tails unhidden. Any ideas ?

from leaf to stem !

This cluster of flowers needed some greens.

I started with a string of dot picots, joining back at a distance, to create the veins of a leaf. The leaf ring was to be attached to the tips. The working was fine, but I didn’t get the desired leaf shape – the string, tatted in size 20, was disproportionately large for a small leaf (forgot to take a pic). Pulled off the core thread but used the folded string as a potential branched stem.

This, however, gives an idea of the versatility of the dot picot string as the base of any pattern. It can even substitute regular chains in any pattern as Usha will soon show you (I hope).

In the initial stages I had also shared an idea with her to create a double picot with such a string of rings - I never got around to it, though.

Check out her blog for a video on how to tat the dot picot string

a new leaf !

This time, I tatted a complete leaf as a true ring, adding a dot picot for a pointed tip, in consonance with the flower petals.

Then, using size 40 thread, I created the string starting from base to tip and around the leaf for the radiating veins in one continuous process. I think the finer thread and single veins look pretty good, no?!

No stitch count – free-styled it. Lays flat.

dot picot on a ring – a how to pictorial

The dot picot on leaf ring is a nothing but a loop tatted ring on ring (a 1ds LTROR) ! Simple :-) 

This LTROR technique was first shared by Sabina Madden-Carden, and there are many resources listed here, but my favourite is this set of diagrams by Anastasija

To Summarize (at this stage of its evolution):

1. Dot picot is a 1ds ring (dot).
2. Dot picot on chain is a thrown ring, hence requires 2 shuttles, and works as a decorative picot or to make an angular tip
3. Dot picot on ring is a loop tatted ring on ring (LTROR) and can be worked with single shuttle. It can be either decorative or functional.
4. Dot picot string is a row of dots on bare thread, again worked with single shuttle. It is mainly decorative and also an alternate for regular chains.      

Many many thanks to Usha for sharing her lovely patterns & creativity!

I hope you enjoy them as much as I have J

Let the knot in your tatting be a happy dot J

tell the world it's not easy!

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daisy picot star and tatting notes

From now on we tell the world it's not easy. This delightful article was recently shared on Craftree.

It Is true – we generally spend longer than we care on our projects. I usually do share my mistakes and all, but don’t like to make it a sob-story.

This time, though, I stand by the title (no kidding, no fibbing, no embellishing) – this star did not come easy and I spent way too much time.

Daisy Picot Star

Jon Yusoff

Link to pattern diagram

I was inspired by Jane's star project to pick this up, and the fear that I'd forgotten how to make a daisy picot. And like her, I joined leaves which should've remained floating ! Too far into it to un-tat. Cut off and started afresh.

I’ve done the daisy picot before. It’s pretty easy once we know how to hold and how to wrap stitches. But rarely used, hence easy to forget. This time I referred to Jon’s own pictorial – excellent directions !

A stroke of luck from Utah made me realise that I the daisy picot stitches are wrapped in what we termed Twist Work in Reverse Stitch (TwW rs) !!!

Clearly I like to make my tatting life difficult! I've gotten addicted to directional (fs/bs) tatting. This star tested me to the limits. Not only did I have to refresh my daisy picot skill, but now I needed to tat them backside as well!

AND join to adjoining trefoil daisy picot backside ! Managed somehow, with lots of retro-tatting. But what's a project without some challenge, right?! And I was adamant. Fortunately I was working with size 20 threads.

My Notes :

• In the discarded attempt, I started with the inner daisy picot trefoils frontside. The work progressed in counterclockwise direction, and joining to adjacent daisy picot was easy.
• In 2^nd attempt, with inner trefoils being worked backside, and work progressing in clockwise direction, joining became difficult – it seemed like I was using “picot join to the right” methods. But it could just be some messing around with up and down picots.  
• To eliminate the space between chains at base of daisy picot, I had to pull real tight, not always successfully. Should’ve had an anchoring vsp !
• I slipped the yellow thread through the last half stitch of ring before closing in the hopes of keeping the 2 threads as close as possible. I think size of base ring (& thread size?) also has a role to play.
• For the leaves, I did not use SLT. Easy to make the ‘8’ leaves without any SLT if the side chains face in opposite directions.
• The arms need careful attention for some unfathomable reason. Perhaps some design-induced mind games coz I faced similar problems with Marilee’s snowflake!

Back to the aforementioned article – delightful read and I agree as a crafter. But she misses one point – not every crafter can fib and market oneself. That in itself is a skill that needs to be acquired :-D

Many thanks to Jon for sharing her pattern and tutorial

easy or difficult, it’s happy tatting time always !