false CTM Part 1

Before the tatted rope jumped in, I had started an old doily pattern to keep my hands busy, but my mind disengaged in order to focus on pattern writing. But it, too, led to a ‘quick’ foray into ‘false CTM', something I’ve been doing a lot, in numerous situations, especially when working with 2 or more colours. I like this term recently coined by Jane McLellan.

CTM – continuous thread method, where we wind one shuttle, and thread stays continuous with the ball. Or in case of 2 shuttles,(and here, including comments), wind one shuttle, then without snipping off thread, wind the other.

We tatters prefer to start with a ring and also add new thread on a ring.

With ctm, one can start anywhere, even with a chain, with NO ends to hide. However, it works Only with single colour tatting, obviously.

False CTM is essentially the same but one of the threads is a fairly short, utilitarian length, and new thread is added at a distance. This new thread can be of same or different colour. 

It is a very convenient solution to -

• use up threads already on shuttles
• climb out for continuous work
• start with a chain
• start with 2 colours
• add a different colour, yet work continuously
• spot or localised treatment for mistakes

It avoids having to hide a lot of ends in a single element and allows tatter to choose a convenient location to add new thread/colour. 

This may not be new for most experienced tatters. For newer learners, I hope the listing will help.  

1. False ctm to climb out in continuous/one-pass tatting

1A. Mignonette and single-colour tatting :

I first remember hearing it in the Online Tatting Class with respect to mignonette. Mignonette is a single shuttle technique with tiny rings and tatters began pulling out a length of thread from their shuttle to work the few split rings required to climb out after each round, and work continuously. No more cut and tie and hide ends after each round.

1B. Multi-colour continuous tatting :

This is a doily where I used false ctm a few times, reducing the ends to hide and also tatting the next rounds continuously despite using different colours. Where possible, either the core thread or ball thread from previous round is continued, replacing only one thread to change colour.

TIP : How to add new thread to a chain is a very handy skill.

2. False ctm when starting with a chain

I always make knotless additions – tatting over tail(s), as can be seen in next examples. Follow your preferred method of starting/addition.

2A. False ctm in chain, adding to core thread, closest ring faces inwards (is to be worked with core thread). The chain will continue in same colour (mustard here), but the new core thread can be of different colour, hence rings will be in that colour. This works on a shuttle and ball pattern where the red shuttle can be a ball.

2B. False ctm in chain, adding to working thread, and closest ring is a thrown ring. Pull length from shuttle and use this for the chain stitches. 2 shuttles.

Notice and compare the position of pulled length, shuttle(s), nearest ring, etc. in 2A & 2B. It keeps the old & new shuttles in the right position to continue without the need for any SLT (shoe lace trick).

2C. False ctm in chain with starter picot, 
A dead end chain or one starting with a picot is best started with continuous thread. In cases where this is not possible, a false ctm is Ideal. Pull out a length to tat till we reach a point where new thread can be added and hidden easily.

I have covered this earlier, in 2017, along with a pdf of Starting with a Chain (and starter picot) in 2-Colour Tatting.  

But here is where and why it started - starting chain with false picot – Needleart 1921 edging #6 where I wanted a grape bunch with leaves effect. 

3. False ctm when correcting a mistake

Jane used it to correct a mistake and avoid hiding 4 ends in the same place. With a false ctm, she moved the starting knots on both threads further down, hiding ends in elements of her choice.

There are More scenarios when a false CTM is so handy! These will be in Part 2. I didn't go into too much details for each collage pic, since the main points are already covered at the start. However, if anything is confusing, please let me know what you want.

to be concluded in Part 2

UPDATE : Part 2 of False CTM posted here