Tatting Away III

Puerto Rican (Maga) Hibiscus

Designer : Wally Sosa   

A beautiful cluster of 3 hibiscus flowers loomed up one day in pinterest . They were by Umi & Tsuru, but with no link to the exact post/page. So it went into “inspiration”.

The very next day, I stumbled upon Crazytatter's (Grace) project on Craftree ! She had done a wonderful job of tatting the piece And she had also added links to the free pattern, as well as a Great tip from Jane McClellan  !

Well, I Had to get down to it right away …. or as much as was possible with Wimbledon finals going on …(this was in early July ...I just didn't post in time)

Originally, Wally's pattern is done in tatting and crochet. However, creative tatters have converted it into an all-tatting pattern, giving it a beautiful dimensional look – from a flat hibiscus to one that comes alive in 3D !

I have tried to do the same & must admit that I quite like it ;-)

Threads used : Anchor Mercer Crochet Cotton Size 20

Yellow : 0293

Red : 046               

Measurement :

The flower measures about 2 inches across (3D), without lying flat, when done in size 20 thread.

Main Techniques used by Wally Sosa :

SCMR – Self Closing Mock Ring

CWJ – Catherine Wheel Join

LP – Long Picots

JK – Josephine Knots

JCH – Josephine Chain

Crochet for Round 2

My Thoughts

No exact stitch count to follow in tatting for Round 2 of petals. Hence here are all my notes on the flower :

Additional Abbreviations used below :

SSSR – Single Shuttle Split Ring

ds – double stitch         

JR – Josephine Ring

1.      I would decrease the length of the very first large picot in the center just a tad. It is ½ inch in length … which is ideal for 6 petals. Hence a little less would do for 5 petals ..

2.      It can be done in one-pass if 2 shuttles are used, each filled with a different color.

a)      If one starts with the pistil – right at the very tip, & goes down to the center, then each ring with petal …. The first yellow center ring will have to be done in SSSR to keep the color same.

b)      Do not cut the thread after Round 1. Carry on with the 2^nd round, using CWJs to hide the yellow thread ….  

3.      The CWJ idea from Jane works incredibly well! It gives the edge a smooth & even finish, without the use of crochet. This truly is one project where the CWJs work like a charm for that smooth edge !

4.      In Round 2, each petal starts & ends with 6 chain as per original pattern. I used a variable of 6 & 7 ds. This causes the petals to overlap slightly. One can start with 6ds, join the picots, & end with 7 ds for each of the petals.

5.      In Round 2, between picots, I mostly used 3 ds, but interspersed with 4ds once or twice in each petal. No particular order…. Just eye-balled it.

6.      In order to close the SCMRs, I used Jane Eborall's method to avoid blips (Closing a Self Closing Mock Ring – 2 ways. I used the 2nd method explained there). Love it !!!

7.      The JRs have a variable count too – starting from 7 half sts for the topmost one, through to about 12 half sts for the 6^th/last one.

8.      For the lowermost segment of JCH, I debated whether to use padded Josephine Chain , to give it some thickness, but when I checked out the actual flower, the pistil was of even thickness throughout....

The 1st pair of leaves (pic on left) was tatted earlier for another flower & I kind of liked the arrangement. But since these differed in shape & colour from the actual Maga leaf shape, I made a new pair of leaves, in keeping with the pattern of the tatted hibiscus petals (with picots emanating from the central ring).

Both pair of leaves are my own pattern. If anybody is interested, I can share the stitchcount & pattern of both pair of leaves. Please leave a comment or email me.

I had tatted the Maga leaf pair separately, then sewed it on to the base of the flower. Then the flower, with leaves was tacked on to a hair band for my niece.

Motif #11 for 25 Motif Challenge