DYJ instead of LJ

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Enclosed space medallions, as the term suggests, have a negative space outlined with tatting elements. When this space is large, the lace lacks the structure to hold it’s shape. Early tatters added a needle woven scaffolding after tatting was completed. 

Dora Young Join variation of 

Daniela Mendola's Filigree Stitch Motif

Now Daniela has shared a filling method that is all tatting and can be done with a single shuttle or a needle. It is like mignonette but instead of rings there are lock joins to the bare threads in previous round because we are moving inwards instead of outwards! She calls it Filigree Stitch or Punto Filigrana.

For my first attempt, I chose thick thread (Bliss, size 3?) for medallion and placed it on grid paper to mark the picots and the distance between them. 
Ninetta’s blipless join (without the half stitch) is perfect for variegated threads.

This gave me an idea of the length of bare thread required. It is 7mm here.

For filling I chose finer Red Rose pearl cotton size 8 (≡20) to better see, feel, and control. Single shuttle required.

Filigree stitch is done with lock joins from the back side. I started, but managing the lj was tricky. So I switched to Dora Young Join (DYJ) which is like the Catherine Wheel join but with one shuttle/thread only. This is done from the front, and appears like a double stitch. It locks in the bare thread and holds shape well. It is the same as tatting over a cabone, but only one stitch.

At this stage it started to ruffle a bit. Simple rolling pin blocking flattened it out later.

I thoroughly enjoyed this DYJ filling - it was smooth sailing - though the BTS could've been shorter. This was so much more fun than needle-weaving. And this DYJ filling has created a bit of a different look. 

Apologies to Daniela for not following the letter, only the spirit. But now that I have an idea, I will be trying again with shorter BTS and lock joins to achieve the beautiful pinwheel effect. Might even need more rounds. I will be snipping off this filling to rework the new one. 

Would a variegated or tinted thread filling show off the swirl better?

Related Posts/Pages

introduction to enclosed space medallions

answering a question  

links to tutorials