Thursday 24 March 2016

The advent of Spring

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Spring heralds activity in all living forms. Sharing some happy life here ... Two patterns are from Georgia’s Nellie Hall Project (2014) where volunteers have rewritten/converted Nellie’s motifs into modern format and one is Jane Eborall’s latest flower motif where she went crazy trying to name it.
This was intended as a composite post of 3 patterns, but length dictates that I save at least one for the next post. After all, we are only just opening our doors to lovely spring !

Abbreviations used :
CTM – continuous thread method
DS – double stitch
LCh – lock chain
RODS or fs/bs – reverse order double stitch or frontside/backside tatting 
RS – reverse stitch (unflipped)
SCh – split chain
SCMR – self closing mock ring
SH - shuttle
SLT – shoe lace trick / overhand knot
SR – split ring


Original : Nellie Hall Youngburg (1916)
Modern : Wally Sosa, Jane Eborall (2001)


Motif #28 from “Forty Original Designs in Tatting” by Nellie Hall Youngburg rewritten & model tatted by Wally Sosa and diagrammed by Jane Eborall
Materials : Anchor Mercer size 40 – 4054-0131 (blue) ; 1 black seed bead ; a few beads to finish ;
Measurements : 2¾” long & 2½” tall 
Techniques I used : 2 shuttles, CTM, floating rings, SCMR, SCh, Twisted picot (floating)

Detailed pattern instructions and diagrams are provided to suit tatter preference .
I decided to use a single colour & tat it in one pass.


Since this was in one pass, I started with Ring K & went in anti-clockwise direction to complete the 1st wing by joining J to base of K & proceeding with ring aa to tat the tail portion, working my way to the head, with a black seed bead for the eye. The last part of head is a SCh to bridge the distance, then continued with the 2nd wing.

Some of the rings in this pattern can be tatted as SCMRs, including the rings at the tips of tail & wings.
My Notes
  • Ring aa is exactly as stated in the text (5-5-5) with only 2 picots. Ring jj is linked to the aa picot closest to it; then chain kk; Ring ll is again linked to that same aa picot; thus 1 picot is “shared” by 3 rings (this is sometimes shown as a triangle in some diagrams). Continue working Ring ll & join to the only free picot of Ring aa. Thus both picots of aa have been linked – one shared by jj & ll, & one by ll only.
  • RW after Ch ii.
  • rr – R 5+5+5+5-5 clr
  • Remember to switch shuttles when working the floating rings & switch back when continuing with the chain.
  • A few picots are drawn extra in some diagrams; follow the written text in such cases.
As it neared completion, I decided to continue with the 2nd wing (as in original motif). It was only then that I noticed the 2nd large central rings in original pattern diagram. These could’ve been worked as SCMRs, too.
To continue with 2nd wing in one pass, chain vv was tatted as a SCh from the 4th picot point. Continued with ring ‘x’ as an SCMR to which the large central ring A was tatted after leaving a mock picot space. I decreased the chain stitches by 2DS on both ends between rings.
Instead of sewing in the ends, I continued with a LCh for a bit, but being the same colour, I have hidden it with beads to make a hanging ornament.

I like this pattern & plan on tatting Jane’s Robin to give this bird company :-)

For twig
The bird needed a dash of Spring colour to woo his mate & taking a cue from Wally’s cute flower, I went freeform.
Materials : Silk/rayon threads (2 strands each) in red, chrome yellow, & variegated green.
Techniques : 4 shuttles, Pearl tatting, Josephine rings, half-closed rings, long picots, floating/thrown dots, bullion knot.

2 shuttles were loaded with green thread CTM. I made one stitch, then joined in the red & yellow threads through their loops (doubled up threads), thus freeing myself from the prospect of hiding tails at this end completely!
Stem is pearl tatted with single stitches on either side; 
leaves are floating dots (R of 4 DS) ; 
red & yellow flowers are a mix of Josephine rings, dots, bullion knot, and one dot with long picots that were cut later to represent a flower in bloom (actually the thread broke at this point & it was my way of attaching new thread without having to hide ends).



Jane Eborall

Threads : Anchor embroidery cotton 2 strands  1305 in SH1
Anchor size 40 – 0300 (cream) in SH2
Measurements : Rnd 1 - < 1½” ; Rnd 2 – 2¼”
Techniques I used : SR, SCMR, LCh, SCh, SLT, RS

What was I thinking, tatting those teeny tiny rings with fine thread ?! I could barely see the rings in the center. Oh, but as the flower came together, it all looked so pretty & worth it. A fun tat & finished in one evening. As usual, the motif lay flat !
Tatted in one pass without any cuts, ties & hiding until the very end. In order to keep the SCh chain colour same in both halves, I made a kind of loose SLT with SH1, thus bringing SH2 in position to make the split chain. This was easier than trying to encapsulate SH1 thread within the SCh segment.
While writing this post, I remembered some tutorial where colour positioning was an issue & scrolled through my pinterest board. Voila there it was. Tatting Chic’s solution to a single colour SCh though one is working with 2 colours. Very clear pictorial.
What we familiarly call the Split Chain was Dora Young’s Knotless Technique or Dora Young Knot (DYK). 
Just goes to show it is so essential to read all one can. I had read & pinned this SLT trick over a year back, and it stayed somewhere at the back of my mind, which probably came to the fore here (you never know what will stick ;-p).
Round 2 was continued with SH2, and instead of RW after SR1 & SR2, I simply made a 1RS chain (unflipped stitch) like Frivole had explained in detail recently.
Check out the doily Jane made with these flower motifs. Her patterns are always a learning experience !

Hope you have lots of cheerful colours & pleasant chirping in days to come .

In the next post I will share a short pictorial on how I tatted Nellie's Wild Rose.


Thanks to all mentioned for sharing these lovely patterns with us !

Happy tatting :-)

Related Posts : Nellie's Wild Rose



9 comments:

  1. It's beginning to feel Autumnal here. I guess we'll need tatted flowers even more!

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    1. We Northerners seem to have the right of way - I keep forgetting that you will be going in to winter soon. Knitting will be on top of the craft list now ?

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  2. What a great bird, I'm hoping for an early Spring here.

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  3. Gorgeous tatting! Love the bluebird and flowers :).

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  4. Thanks Jenn & Sue :-)
    Wishing all a wonderful holiday weekend .

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  5. It will be nice for the weather to settle down and get warm again
    Lovely bird, must try this pattern,
    Happy holiday
    Margaret

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Margaret :-)
      Hope you are enjoying the holidays too, with better weather.

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