calling them done

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 Several pieces of my tatted lace over the past months are 'incomplete' if one considers the respective pattern. Yet, I am calling them done. And interestingly, most patterns here were gifted to me by kind and friendly tatters. In no particular order .....

Dora Young's Round Pinwheel doily - from All New Knotless Tatting Designs (1974).

Back in April I had wondered how to continue since I had run out of thread. And Jane McLellan commented 'to leave it as it is'. Sound advice 'coz I really like these arches better than the final circle it turns into. 

Against a different background where the grey shows up. 

In Anchor perle size 8. the diameter is 17.5cm. 

There is a slight overlap at the dips in the arches but that's fine - hardly even visible. And hubby is quite happy with this on his table!

Related Posts - 

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2025/09/flower-in-flesh-in-thread.html

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2026/04/2d-solid-tatting.html

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Centri Rotondo - from Il Lavaro Chiacchierino 7, Mani di Fata (1994)

A while back there was a post in a FB group which mentioned Cyprus tatting where continuous tatting involved simply leaving bare thread right up to the point in the next round where the next element starts. This is visible unlike Mlle Riego who kept the bare thread at the back of work. 

I used this doily pattern, leaving off all decorative picots, to show this spiralling climbing out.

Only 5 rounds tatted in Anchor size 40 measuring 10cm in diameter. Yet I had to snip off two rounds because there was cupping, but I re-tatted only one adding 2ds to the chains. I have come to the conclusion that my chains are more snug than normal.

The pattern was gifted to me, along with her hand-drawn sketch, by Anna Bertini.

Related Posts -

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2025/01/last-and-first.html (slip stitch)

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2020/02/not-one-ring.html

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April Fool's Rose Circle (2016) -

This is merely the center motif which gets repeated in a later round of the doily pattern. This single round in Red Rose perle size 8. measures 9cm in diameter. The full pattern was gifted to me by Erika Tashiro. Hopefully I will complete it some day, but with different threads. Not happy with this perle cotton as seen in the stitches and imagine my surprise when the dye ran!!!

This angle highlights the raised/3D effect where the rings of a running scroll are interlaced one over the other and joined to create Celtic Interlacing and a realistic-looking rose motif. The pattern has very clear colour-coded diagrams, yet I found it easier to refer to my own sketches to confirm how the rings were inserted into each other. 

Related Posts - 

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2018/02/beautiful-hearts.html

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2021/05/rosebud-heart.html

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2022/04/honoured-and-humbled.html

And remember Lauretta Tondelli's Interlaced Onion Rings earring (2024)?

Notice how it uses the same technique to interlace the three rings in an onion ring. In this case, however, the rings get kind of squished resulting in different shapes. This is the only piece I tatted, but single earring is not a new phenomenon for me ;-P

Related Posts - 

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2026/06/multiple-celebrations.html

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Its been a while since I crossed out another box in Natalie's PICOT Bingo 2026 Level 2. This time I am offering the above two models for Celtic Tatting box. (Details: https://www.patreon.com/posts/happy-new-year-147124370 )

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My heartiest thanks to all named in this post (and some who wish to remain anonymous)

vanity takes a fall

Pin It now! I am not happy with my work on many counts.

This is the completed Gooseberry Tree pattern from Erika Tashiro's 'Tatting Lace, Marmelo'.

The last time I showed you, 3 rounds had been completed - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2022/05/indulging-my-vanity.html

This is after 6 rounds. The 6th round was a doozy to control! the little rings and chains kept twisting. The black colour didn't help. I had to block it before continuing to the last round.

Adding a 4th colour - brown - was an afterthought otherwise I might've used it for the center round instead of black. I noticed how beautiful the combo of light and dark green in Erika's coloured version looked. The clovers could be distinguished yet the apposite clovers and chains created an elegant dense curvaceous circle, which I sought to replicate with the brown. However, I should've used a much darker shade to blend with the black clovers.

In the final round I substituted thrown rings with regular picots since I intend to use this as a hair bun net. I don't think it has altered the appearance much.

All those tiny rings are not Josephine Rings. They are small rings or dots.

The doily uses simple techniques - rings, chains, thrown rings, and dots. And several rounds can be worked with a ball and shuttle.

Erika works the 4th round in 3 colours. However, I stuck with black and yellow.

In Anchor Pearl Cotton size 8, the diameter is 8 inches, a tad larger than what I need. Hence I will string it through the rings. I wish I'd worked it in size 40 for a more delicate lace.

Lesson learned - never be vain! And try not to indulge too much in anything, LOL.

Friends have asked me to show the net in action. I am a bit tied up at present to undertake posing and modeling, but will try to definitely post all my 4 current nets. 😁

indulging my vanity

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 I've taken a mini break from Endrucks' tatting to work on another hair net bun for myself. This time I've chosen warm colours and Erika Tashiro's Gooseberry tree doily. The pattern is from her book "Tatting Lace, Marmelo".

These are the first 3 rounds, in Anchor Pearl Cotton size 8. I am following Erika's colour placement, however instead of green I chose black to match my dress. 

The diameter so far is 9.5cms. I have already started round 4.

I truly wish my stitches and overall look were as perfect as the designer's. Nevertheless, my enjoyment and the usefulness of this piece far outweigh any small regrets, LOL.

honoured and humbled

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I wanted to share this post on 1st April but got delayed. My bag of expected and unexpected gifts had arrived just 36 hours prior!!! But let's start from the beginning ....

Last November I was approached by an awesome designer whose blog I have been following for some years now - Erika Tashiro, better known as Tat-Marmelo (or tass_tat on Instagram). She was going to publish her 1st book of doily patterns in English (the Japanese version had been published in September) and needed some help with the Techniques. How could I refuse - it was such an honour.

This is her fabulous Lotus Flower motif she sent. Each stitch is perfect, each chain arched evenly, the thread has a stiffness that I haven't normally encountered in Anchor, Red Heart or Lizbeth. The tatting is so seamless, that one cannot locate the start/finish. Such a joy to hold in my hand.

She offered me a generous fee and free books (up to 30!) I immediately declined the former but asked for 4 copies. When they did  not arrive after a month and she couldn't get any clear response from the postal service, she kindly sent me 4 copies by air, along with the motif. So now I have 8 copies, 2 messages in her neat hand, and all these goodies! I am truly humbled.

I have always admired her artistic patterns and had printed out a couple of her free patterns years back. To have them all compiled in this spectacular book is bliss. Colour-coded diagrams accompanied with textual patterns, tips, and techniques. Clear pics of tatted lace. Very high quality throughout. Impressive and inspiring!

In the foreground is a cute cherry blossoms pop-up card with birds. 

These small Clover shuttles are ideal for tatting with size 80, and am so happy these are bobbin shuttles since post shuttles refuse to move in my hand.

See that reddish circle? It is April Fool's (Reiko Akimoto) 2016 Rose Circle Doily. Erika remembered my attempt to decipher the inserted rings and sent me the diagrammed pattern and technique! One more doily coming up, besides all the lovelies in Erika's own book! 

5 balls of size 40 thread - yummy!!!

Erika's book provides plenty of minute engineering and visual tips for impeccable tatting using Jan's method. Normally we have a few simple 'rules' for directional or fs/bs tatting. Her minute observations have revealed aspects I never even considered. She has micro-managed Jan's method and the above motif bears witness. 

For years now, I do fs/bs tatting and often choose to start a ring or round backside. Erika has done the same and lays out her philosophy in a prioritized list of which elements/rounds to start frontside or backside.

Clover polar grids that double up as design guides and blocking sheets. The last pages in her book have these grids, too! These, however are made of non-woven fabric and I'm sure they are washable, too.

This cloth fabric from Atelier Shishicass, has 2 halves of large polar grid printed on it. Very functional and practical. Now I have no excuse (except laziness ;-P) to not pin out my lace instead of using the rolling pin.

'Tatting Lace, Marmelo. Pattern Book 1' has so many gorgeous doilies, motifs, and jewellery to tat. I haven't been able to start on any, but treat my eyes on them frequently. And of course, she made my ITD memorable!

I mainly helped with the techniques section, that too at the final stages, and did not deserve the Supervisor tag, but she insisted. It was such a pleasure to communicate and work with her. She has been very receptive to all my suggestions and made respective edits, including some on one of her patterns. Her graphic depiction of beading and some other schema and legends are so clear and I hope to learn and apply the same to my patterns.    

Erika has already started to design and tat in preparation for her next book! Yet for close to 2 years she worked on her book, leaving little time to create new designs. Her 'inside story' of the entire process with lots of relevant information is something any designer wishing to publish a book would find useful. She uploaded 3 consecutive posts, the last of which is for her English version - https://tat-marmelo.blogspot.com/2022/03/3.html. 

Many many thanks for the opportunity to work with you, Erika, and for all your generous gifts! I wish you success and creative satisfaction in all you do.