happeeeeee birthday

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 28th June is Eleonore Endrucks' birth anniversary and we had shared 6 derivatives of the E monogram for a combined ILD 2026 and birthday celebrations. I got so caught up that I tatted all six ... they are fairly quick tats anyways. 

So, here's wishing our designer of Endrucks 1920 Project a very Happeeeeee Birthday with expectations that she would be looking down on her Endrucksian tribe with pride.

All worked in size 20 threads (though some are closer to Lizbeth size 10) and arranged in ascending order for comparison.

My original idea was to arrange them in an arc as if we were calling out in a rising crescendo but it didn't quite make the mark as seen above.

All six patterns were shared here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2026/06/double-celebration.html

Sharing my thoughts and details in the same order as above -

Letter E Cursive from E32 by Paola Bevilacqua - I already shared my notes here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2026/06/multiple-celebrations.html

Measurement: 3cm wide, 4cm high.

Letter E from E1 by Manju Talekar. Notes shared here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2026/06/multiple-celebrations.html

Measurement: slightly more than 4cm x 4cm.

Letter E from E41 by Julie Villegas. This was an easy and quick tat.

Measurement: 3½ cm wide, 4½ cm high

Letter E from E1 by Vani Kattoju. I have tatted sooo many E1 original/reworked and derivative patterns that my motor memory kicked in and I made a mistake in the vertical chains. Instead of 4ds between picots, I made 3ds as in the original. Discovered this only on the return journey and had to un-tat a few segments before tweaking the count by 1 less stitch each. Thankfully it doe not seem to have made difference.

My slight tweak which isn't too obvious since I did it too late - In the 2nd motif I shortened chains and rings in the arms by 1ds to make the horizontal arm of E shorter than the end ones.

I was forced to play thread chicken for several of the final elements but managed to have just enough tails left to be able to sew them in. Reposition methods help a great deal as did not cutting for 2nd row - simply made a slip stitch.

Measurement: 4cm wide, approx 6cm high.

And when it is rotated we get some interesting possibilities! I see a chandelier, a bowl, but also an elephant, LOL.

Letter E from E41 by Ninetta Caruso. Now I had always intended to tat this with bugle beads, but this time I went for speed. And I was so inspired by Ninetta's version of Julie's E (for ILD) that I copied her colourway ;-D

Measurement: 4cm wide, > 6½ cm high

.... When rotated 

Letter E from E17 by Manju Talekar. I could've done a better job with sharper angles and straighter lines. 

Measurement: 5cm wide, >7cm high.

So that's it for now. 

For plenty more derivative patterns, tutorials, and the original reworked patterns from Endrucks' 1920 book, Die Schiffchen-Spitzen save this EP LINKS url - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w1TZBg-HIzseGEUoJ-rko7tNbtSgZY5A18Oy2Y9Hh0Y/view

Hopefully my PIC Ninetta and I can return to our FB group activities in full earnest next year.

Many many thanks to all designers and participants!

multiple celebrations

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Yesterday I wrote about two celebrations of which one is actually a week away. Turns out we have a full house today. International Yoga Day, Father's Day, World Music Day, and our very own International Lace Day all came together on this June Solstice! 

These are my tatted motifs for the day - two from our Endrucks Project and the other a better version of my recent unhappy trial.

My name badge from the ILD FB page. 

Letter E from E41 derived by Manju Talekar.

This letter was tatted a few days back when I was doing the presentation for this pattern to ensure that the correct shuttle and instructions were presented.

And if I rotate the E by 90 degrees, we get M!!! A wee bit of tweaking for it to look better is all that's needed.

Letter E cursive from E32 derived by Paola Bevilacqua.

This one I tatted today! However instead of captured picots I used beads. I wanted something festive.

TIP: Although it called for 2 shuttles, I used a shuttle and ball with beads pre-strung on both! Using SCMR (mock rings) and reverse join as well as any relevant reposition method, I managed to avoid the 2nd shuttle!

Earrings with Interlaced Onion Rings designed by Lauretta Tondelli.

This time her onion rings comprised of true rings and not chains as in the unhappy trial post. I like this Much better!!! Of course since the 2nd and 3rd rings were large, I left a core thread loop (2 in case of the 3rd ring) midways so that the ring could be closed in 2 (or 3) phases. Pretty happy with the result, though I do see the need for improvement.

Also, I had to un-tat and re-tat with 2 less double stitch in each segment of the inner chain to get the proportions right.

The two Es together. Both pattern links are in my previous post. I wonder if I can tat all 6 versions during our celebratory week?

All motifs tatted in Anchor or Red Rose size 20.

So, how did you celebrate the day? 

double celebration

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 Tomorrow is International Lace Day (ILD) and on 28th June is Eleonore Endrucks' birth anniversary. This time we decided to combine the two events into a week-long celebration if you would like to join us. We have a huge collection of Endrucks' original/reworked 44 patterns from Die Schiffchen-Spitzen, 1920, and the derivatives which are housed in 16 categorised directories. For our celebration, we released six Letter E patterns - initial of Endrucks' name. 

The six Es - 

Letter E from E1 by Vani Kattoju 2024 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W5Dvx4LTiFUtwaMI9XkwC8ecUW1FYuPc/view

Letter E from E17 by Manju Talekar 2024 – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aPpcIJiYFNTnzRQ9R5n8s54X1PT4paLl/view

Letter E Cursive from E32 by Paola Bevilacqua 2024 – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LFhDbOo3UGjw1eMywcz3R4pY76i9CAxP/view

Letter E from E41 by Julie Santos Villegas 2024 – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bKKeKLztN35vqCxVGKjSSxfhmTEEJBo2/view

Letter E from E41 by Manju Talekar 2024 – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-zQQ0ZQs1NLDmp5xPUAJzTIV3zy1JvTY/view

Letter E from E41 by Ninetta Caruso 2025 – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IGsQVjONbkvFY7lVUN5MmzezPpmvUnoy/view

 Most can be tatted up very quickly and if you rotate it slightly we get the letter M! It is amazing that one pattern E41 has generated Three versions of letter E!

Feel free to choose any of the above and give it your own spin - decorate as you wish - or derive your own E from the Endrucks collection!

For lots more patterns and inspiration check out the EP LINKS doc - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w1TZBg-HIzseGEUoJ-rko7tNbtSgZY5A18Oy2Y9Hh0Y/view

If you are on Facebook, here are the links to check out -https://www.facebook.com/groups/InternationalLaceDay/permalink/24271776935747699/ - ILD  group   https://www.facebook.com/groups/1235560633606162/permalink/2416136588881888/ and   https://www.facebook.com/groups/1235560633606162/permalink/2420591988436348 - EP group

💗💖💗 Happy tatting and sincere thanks to all the designers mentioned above and to the organisers of the ILD 💗💖💗

EP Tutorials

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Ninetta Caruso, my partner in crime! Ninetta is my PIC in the Endrucks 1920 Project and we have a great collaboration going. Add to the vibrant Project is something she and I have been working on since August of 2025 - a tutorial resource catering to the Endrucksian collection. but of course, it is relevant for any tatting project.

Eleonore Endrucks used very limited techniques to create unique patterns in her 1920 book, Die Schiffchen-Spitzen. Yet the derivatives and even some reworkings of her originals have applied a wide range of techniques and effects. Our members cover an entire spectrum of skill levels. Hence some required help at various stages. We tried to provide that help. Over time, these tips and techniques started growing and remained scattered. (We had used the #eptutorial hashtag, yet found that only some selective posts came up). Hence we needed to bring them all under one roof so that future tatters could find the tutorial alongside the pattern easily. To that end we worked on the EP Tutorials document and lo and behold, it started to grow and grow!

This is a quick collage showing some step in a pictorial or some application in a model, etc. 

As our technique list grew, we tried to incorporate what Frau Endrucks herself advocated through her advice and preface and balance it with what we do today. 

EP Tutorials :  https://docs.google.com/document/d/17Xh32ZlW5MmVTlidA8RzwwY7j-l4i_9YYv5N236R5RE/view    (click link to open/download)

Some features of this document include -  

• Endrucks' tips
• short introduction or descriptions
• pictorials (as PDFs)
• video links
• blog links (We have tried to keep it an in-house affair limiting the links to either Ninetta's or to my blog and resources created by us.)
• diagrams (as PDFs)
• pattern links where the technique was used or effect applied; these can act as practice patterns. All patterns are from our Endrucksian collection.

The document is divided into sections and each sub-listing is arranged alphabetically for ease.

We start with a general section comparing vintage or traditional tatting with contemporary tatting.

This is followed with 

1. starting and finishing
2. changing direction
3. 3D or dimensional tatting
4. picots
5. joins
6. classic formations
7. techniques
8. continuous tatting
9. needle tatting
10. working with beads and jewellery findings or notions

Some presentations are still works in progress; we had delayed the release of this document long enough and didn't want to wait any more. So these PDFs will be done over time and the document updated accordingly.

We hadn't realised ourselves how much diversification had entered into the Project! And I am sure we must've missed a few! Do let us know if you come across something we've missed or something you want.

On the top right of this blog page you will find important links relating to the Endrucks Project. I also added a new page (tab on top panel) titled 'Endrucks' to give a birds-eye view of the Project and all relevant links. It is still under construction. 

unhappy trials

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I was impressed by Lauretta Tondelli's experiments and effects which she shared in a FB group a couple of years back (she seems to have left FB when I checked before finalising this post and her posts are missing, too). Always meant to try them and here are two attempts - my first trials. Not happy but more details below ....

Lauretta Tondelli's Interlaced Onion Rings, a trial motif, placed inside a 2D medallion gone 3D!

 

The two images above show the piece from the 'front' and 'back' though it really depends on how you interlace the mock rings.

This interlacing effect of onion rings is made with one continuous chain starting with a small starter picot. Once all three mock rings made, they are interlaced through each other. Lauretta created a cute pair of earrings using this motif as the center and adding a teardrop.

My own reservation is about the third chain which I feel is too long in my trial and also the overall untidy visual. First trials, so perhaps there is still hope for me.

Okay this motif is supposed to be a flat medallion center for another effect that Lauretta was sharing. As you can see, my work has cupped enormously. I realised what was happening but continued nevertheless so that I can make the requisite changes in my next trial. For one, the picots should've been longer.

So now my issue was what should I make with this! It looks cute and has potential, doens't it? So I played around a bit ....

If we upturn the medallion it can make a nice bezel setting and one can add another layer beneath encasing the gem. I was too lazy to hunt around for the right sized gem, though.

I decided to add a base. This is a coil starting at the center with few slope and roll joins as the chain progressed. I should've stopped a bit sooner with a shorter coil.

The reason for the base is my idea to convert this into a miniature basket.

Same 'bowl' reshaped into a squarish bowl or potential basket.

And when I pinched the corners a bit more, ....

Some more pinching so that the cupping looks deeper and with addition of accessories, it can become a flower.

So, what is your verdict? What do you think it should grow into?

Many thanks to Lauretta for sharing her notes and apologies for my bungling ....

itch scratched

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 From April 2019 to May 2026 - took all of seven years for me to put up the pictorial for curled ring connectors! I had a one-page graphic prepared in 2019 but kept putting it off. The 7-year itch proved advantageous because now I am sharing a comprehensive tatted ring connectors presentation which includes two main types of connectors as well as numerous applications and variations along with tips and options! You no longer need to rummage through your stash of motifs wondering what to do with them, or to worry about finding the right findings for your tatted jewellery! No preplanning, no joining picots needed!

Since this is an image-heavy post, I will try to keep the text to a minimum. You can read all details in the PDF and the links provided below.  

Tatted Ring Connectors

PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vHuQjgEgH2vWSUX8JO5svG737jMM4Q9n/view

Two main types are the Curled Ring Connector (CRC) and the Tatted Ring Connector (TRC) as seen above.

Curled Ring Connector

All you need is a single shuttle to tat picoted rings and a lock join to curl each either individually or simultaneously at the end. 

Curled Ring Connector in progress. These are single shuttle rings curled around desired motifs to connect them.

Collect all your motifs or lace and arrange as desired.

My CRC SOUP bracelet. Here, I have added beads in the center of the 3-way CRCs. 

The large ring at the bottom left will be curled and will act as a toggle for the bracelet.

Detail of the beaded CRC.

First sneak peek here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2019/04/pattys-square-pattern-and-peeks.html

This is my Italian Connection bookmark made by linking Patty Castagno's Square Motifs.

Notice the 3-way CRC decorating the tassel and its 'empty' counterpart at the other end.

First shared here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2019/04/my-italian-connection.html

Not merely tatted motifs, these connectors can be used to link sequins! There are even 4-way connectors here tatted with metallic thread.

First sneak peek here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2019/04/pattys-square-pattern-and-peeks.html

Ninetta Caruso's E37 Iris Pendant uses a triple onion ring to curl around the necklace. And on the other end she worked a curled ring to link to the tatted motif with a split ring between the CR and OR!

First shared here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2023/10/rabbits-multiply.html

Tatted Ring Connector

All you need is a single shuttle to tat picoted rings and a picot join between them, encapsulating  two motifs/pieces. 

Some of my E37 Eye Spy Hearts #2 motifs left over from my trials and prototypes are now linked with TRC or tatted ring connector. More hearts here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2025/09/timeline-and-play.html

Detail of a TRC in progress.

My E37 SOUPy Vine bookmark with E37 Eye Spy Hearts #1 has a variation of the tatted connectors where the two rings are not joined to each other but to the motifs! More details here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2023/07/soupy-vine.html

My E1 Happy Hands Linked Bookmark uses the main motif 'hands' to link the tail to the body! More here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2022/03/linked-hands-trial.html 

My E1 Happy Hands Linked Bracelet has two motifs and the linkage to the body is made with the crossed long beaded picots. https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2022/08/a-bonanza-of-happiness.html  

Detail of the crossover picots between the two motifs.

Ninetta Caruso's E1 Happy Hands Necklace uses 3 individually tatted interlocking rings to link the clasp to the lace! Lots more pics and details here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2022/10/not-just-edging.html

Ninetta uses a similar technique to attach the clasp to the lace in her E2 Fishbone Bracelet. Her pattern pdf also has a detailed pictorial of the process and she has shared two important tips for our presentation as well.

I hope you are sufficiently impressed by the variety and will want to assemble your practice and prototypes pieces to create useable articles and jewellery!

Many thanks to Ninetta for her feedback, input, tips, and proofing!

vintage false CTM

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There are so many methods and even more combinations to add new thread to a work in progress lace. We came across Eleonore Endrucks' advice to fix mistakes in her 1920 book, 'Die Schiffchen-Spitzen'. Here is the translation - 

We now call it False CTM (false continuous thread method) and I have shared several scenarios and applications over time. Here, we limit ourselves to Endrucks' method, a variation of the same, and a knotless method.

All this has been presented as pictorials in this PDF - 

False CTM - Endrucks' Advice & Pictorials -https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_Jm7puHcMemY3lhwP2cP8G3EmcgamlVj/view

Since everything is already presented in the PDF, I will be brief here, with only a few selected pics. Please click on the link above to download the document.

1. False CTM - Endrucks' Method

Notice 1. the old tails tied together and the new ones tied together ; 2. the knots are far apart, with the new knot wound on the ball or 2nd shuttle, far from the point of attachment to the work in progress.. The blue thread between these two points creates the false continuous thread.

However, since the two tails (in each pair) are tatted over in the same element, it creates bulk. This can be countered to some extent by tatting very tightly.

TIP: Use a slip knot to tie the new threads (blue) so that it can be opened and the knot repositioned as desired.

2. False CTM - Variation of Endrucks' Method

In order to avoid bulk, here the old shuttle tail is tied with new shuttle tail and old ball/2nd shuttle tail to the new ball/2nd shuttle end. Preferably, maintain a distance between the two knots so that we have a continuous thread space to work with.

Look closely, all four tails are hidden (tatting over tails) in four different elements. The extra ends are trimmed later.

3. False CTM - Knotless Variation of Endrucks' Method

Knotting the tails can be completely avoided. Above the new ball or 2nd shuttle thread is being folded around the old tail and will be tatted over in the chain element. 

Similarly, the core thread can be added and worked over.

The other tail in each case can be sewn/whip stitched later, or pulled through stitches using a magic loop, etc.

The choice of the three methods would depend on the specific situation - how long are the old tails, etc.  The above is merely a small glimpse of the numerous ways in which we can apply false ctm. Some related posts/pictorials/PDFs -

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2019/10/false-ctm-part-1.html

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2019/10/false-ctm-part-2.html

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/search?q=false+ctm 

Tatting Over Tails (PDF updated from 2017) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kwszAseuEZqkMdXosfTHtXdw0diCwmKz/view

Starter Picot or Starting with a Chain (PDF) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vzSHMxas51Yn5iujdmror1obx27AuIhw/view

Hiding Ends and Adding Thread - vast compilation of options and tutorials - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2016/11/beginning-or-ending.html

Hope you find this helpful in some future situation.