Tatting Away IV

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Morning Glory Bookmark

Designer : Eliz Davis aka Tatknot

( Released on April 1, 2013 on International Tatting Day )
free pattern on her pattern page

My hearty thanks to Jane McLellan , for graciously sharing this pattern & answering my queries. It was her beautifully tatted version that inspired me in the first place.

This is a quick project to tat for self or as a gift to any book lover !

Morning Glory Bookmark

Threads used : Anchor Mercer Crochet  Size 20

Ecru/Cream – 0300

Pink – 052

Mehandi Green – 0256

Measurements :

Flower –  ~ 1½ inches across

Josephine Chain – 2½ inches long

Leaf Vine/braid – 5 inches long

Abbreviations used in my notes below :

SSSR – Single Shuttle Split Ring

DDS – Padded or Double double stitch or Balanced double stitch (tutorial links in my Tatting Resources page)

FHS – 1^st half stitch of ds

SHS – 2^nd half stitch of ds

rods – reverse order ds

rs – reverse stitch

My Notes :

Each new project, complete & beautiful in itself, is a learning process for me. I use it as an opportunity to apply my learning, without any disrespect to the designer. This bookmark, too, saw it’s fair share of my cheeky tweaking (solely for my own learning!).

FLOWER

1. I made the central ring with a short length of ecru & did an SSSR, so no tails to sew in later. I’m getting to like the SSSR technique Immensely ;-)
2. A real Morning Glory flower has a subtle frill around the periphery. To capture that in 2D, I remembered something stored in the back of my mind. Fox’s “mistaken” DDS. I loved the texture it creates & was glad of the opportunity to use it here. It is basically sets of (2FHS, 2SHS) for required length.

STEM

A padded Josephine Chain. Each half stitch is padded, giving a broader chain & the spiraling is further apart. It is not, however, very flexible.

VINE/LEAVES

1. I made a mistake in the very first small leaf. The shape speaks for itself :-(
2. After a couple of leaves, I switched to frontside (modern) tatting, Teri Dusenbury style (which I learned in the Dandelion Chain Link Bookmark). Luckily I was working with 2 shuttles, hence the switch was possible.      

This frontside tatting required a combination of rods & rs, both in rings & in chains, by switching shuttles as & when required. The fun part was that I no longer needed to reverse work – everything was tatted with the front facing me at all times !!!

TIP : The leafy vine makes a nice pattern for a braid or bracelet or even an edging.

Another project that I enjoyed immensely, consolidating my learning.

Motif #12 for 25 Motif Challenge

Happy Tatting :-))