rosettes

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 In tatting, we often come across different names for the same technique/effect and the same name for different techniques! (jot it down to various reasons - historical, linguistic, ignorance, non-standardization, ....).  One example of the latter is Rosette. This historical term refers to at least three different styles as evident in the collage below!

Our newest game in the Endrucks 1920 Project FB group involves the third motif and it seemed a good opportunity to address this situation and refresh my knowledge.

They are arranged along evolutionary lines -

1. Single ring with picots aka central ring. Tatted with a single thread. This was a common starting medallion in numerous antique patterns, and the thread was tied and cut after each! Now, we climb out with a mock picot or if possible, we work it as a thrown ring for continuous tatting.

2. Outward facing rings, often called a daisy or flower. Again, tatted with a single thread and the rings are joined to each other to create beautiful medallions. It helps that joining on the go was discovered. The number of rings can determine the shape and size.

Rosace is a term used by several non-English speaking tatters, to address this formation. eg. Maria Papia's earrings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbqLn8xTaGU) and Lilas Lace's pictorial of Edwige Renaudin's Double Rosace (https://lilas-lace.fr/blog/2014/02/28/diy-a-double-rosace-diy-une-rosade-a-double-rangee-danneaux/)

3. Concentric chains around a central ring. Each chain segment is joined to the picot below from the previous round. The entire medallion is worked continuously, but requires two threads. Obviously this came into existence after the discovery of tatted chains.

In the sample above, the consecutive chain rounds are niched closely into a compact circle - like a dartboard. However, if the chains are made slightly longer, with more of an arch on each chain, it gives the appearance of a flower - a Rose or wild rose as Sharon Briggs calls it (https://sharonstattedlace.blogspot.com/2008/05/tatting-wild-rose.html).

This is all I have. Have you encountered the term for another formation? Please do share.

My main references for the above, besides online resources already listed (including Craftree), are - Elgiva Nicholls' 'Tatting: Technique & History' 1984, and Judith Connors' 'An Illustrated Dictionary of Tatting'. And all three tatted samples above are from derivatives of Endrucks' (1920) patterns 42, 20, and 37.

UPDATE: (9th Oct 2023) - Perhaps I should've spoken about the origin of the word rosette, etc. But here's a comment by Stéphanie Mc (Tattimic) on my FB post and quoted here ---

I'm pretty sure it comes from French.
In French, the word "rosette" can take about 10 different meanings. It usually refers to something circular with a circle in the middle, but not necessarily.
Also, when the suffix "-ette" is added to a noun - let's say "rose", haha-, it refers to a smaller version of that noun. So a "rosette" is supposed to mean "a small rose", at least in some interpretation of the word, of course.

 Well, she is absolutely right! 

My sincerest thanks to all mentioned!

lace to fabric QnA

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For several years, tatters have been emailing for some help or other on their current tatting project, term, technique, pattern, etc. It is usually an eye-opener for me, when I have to delve deeper into a method, or come up with a solution. Some of these have been posted as tutorials/pictorials already, several are in the works with pics taken, but not yet presented.

I put in a lot of thought, research, and detail into my response, and have decided to share some Q&A for anybody facing a similar situation. In any case, it makes my life easier when I have a simple link to share instead of re-typing. I may edit/paraphrase/add/organise.

Here’s one such, from one of my dear followers, Emily H, who often comments with a unique perspective. I was pleasantly surprised, and grateful, when she gave me her feedback, along with pics of her final project. Read on ....

  

Question : I want to edge a handkerchief for a friend, but I want it to be usable and washable. I know cotton shrinks, so what would be the best prep for that? I had the thought to tat my lace and then wash it so it would shrink and then cut the handkerchief to the size it ends up.  Attaching together after everything is preshrunk. I am thinking like a seamstress though and don't know how these same principles apply to cotton thread. 

Answer :

Sharon Briggs has some sound advice – scroll down to Washing. Personally, I am a bit scared of her boiling water part.  

Suggestions based on my experience - 

1. Thread size and brand. 

Anchor size 20 definitely shrinks. Not sure about Lizbeth 20, though MIL says her Blossoms remained fine.

But size 40 and 80 should not shrink.

This is evident in the stretch of a thread (my observation).

Hence decide according to thread size you are using. 

2. Definitely wash and shrink the cotton fabric. It will also remove sizing, if any.

3. Is it possible to give washing/care instructions to your friend, and will she follow them? If yes, then despite which size you use, ask her to block the lace (simple rolling pin method works fine, without hassle) after wash, while still damp. Or iron on wrong side while still damp.

4. Try to avoid too many decorative picots. Fewer the picots, easier to care and maintain.

5. If there is a corner in tatted lace - In such cases, I sew on each side (to pre-shrunk fabric) as I finish tatting it, so that placement is precise. 

6. In case of a simple braid, I tat a shorter length than that required, and start sewing it to fabric. The short span can then be tatted and sewn to precision without fear of overlap of any extra bit.

Some links on how to attach lace to fabric : Tatters frequently post their tips and favourite methods but I haven’t collated them all. Here are a mere handful -

• Frivole’s crochet method of Attaching Tatting to a Handkerchief.
• Liisa Maarit edges her fabric with twisted buttonhole stitch to which lace is sewn.
• Faggoting. (this BellaOnline link doesn't seem to be working!)
• Some resources are pinned in my Stitches & How-tos board.   

Feedback : Thank you! That was all so helpful. I found in my stash a ball of DMC size 30. This was my first time using anything other than ordinary crochet thread (20?) at first I had several breakages, but they got less and less as I went on. I forgot your 5. tip and tatted the lace in a complete square, then measured it for fabric size. 

I did brave the boiling water trick from the link and pressed with a hot iron after wards and it shrunk in 1/2 inch. I also forgot to look at the video on how to attach lace and managed as best I could. I finished it just in time to mail to my friend before her wedding. 

Isn't it a beautiful piece of tatting and a wonderful gift to a friend?!

So what is Your favourite method? Please do share any tips or links and I will add it to my post or the tatting Resources page. 

UPDATE : Kathleen Minniti and Ninetta Caruso have graciously shared their expertise and tutorials/tips on this topic ! Don't miss their pdfs and post detailed here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2020/06/why-tatting-is-thriving.html 

piece my heart together

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Snowflake #20 in Land of Laces’ 25 Snowflake Project

This snowflake Can be worked in one pass. But I chose not to. I enjoyed creating it in patchwork style, since it was easier to guesstimate during designing trials. And I had this idea of using rainbow colours in the outer hearts. With no ends to sew in, it was fun!

I made 2 joins between adjacent hearts in this round. When it started cupping, I snipped off the outer picot and everything fell flat ;-P

After the inner round, I made 1 heart & ring motif. On top left you can see my chain trial around that motif. Seemed workable, and I went ahead with the 6 hearts. I used a circular polar grid to keep everything in place, and also to figure out the lengths.

On the outer round, my idea was to have 2 rings joined in a pointed fashion to create a kind of star round visually. In the first 2 repeats (clockwise from 7 o'clock position) itself it became clear that the diameter was increasing. Hence tried without any rings. Then in the last repeat I tried a single ring. With blocking, and stacking the double rings, the flake laid flat and I chose single ring for that bit of snowflakiness!

The center is not anything unusual. I’ve seen something similar. But just so I wasn’t creating something from the recesses of my memory, I checked Sharon Briggs’ blog for her designs last year. Phew, her’s are a bit different. However, she did use the outer heart & ring combo in this heart pattern. So, while not deliberate, I can surely see my inspiration derived from her designs.

Both Anita Barry and her husband (thanks, P! 💖) felt the outer heart should have one stitch less. Tried it, and Loved the shape. So, the red one in size 40, has that tweaked count. My feat of messing up he chain arches was unfounded,  I think? And I added picots in the center - a bit denser now, although the rainbow one is again without picots, since I cannot decide. 

I’ll share the pattern for Heartland Snowflake tomorrow when I finish my rainbow model. Hope you like this 20^th flake; 5 more to go. Technically I count 20, but if I include all the versions/variations, the count is already at about 40! Not bad for a tentative start in June!

a heart in spring

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I do love a challenge! And this time it was kind of a double challenge with Jane McLellan suggesting the use of more colours. It is Sharon Briggs’ 1-31-2019b Heart and read the comments there. I certainly wish the heart had a better name ;-D

In order to get a feel, I worked the first one in single colour (except for the dimpled heart motif). 

TIP : Leave some space between the dimpled heart and ring at it's base in order to accomodate 2 lock joins later. 

 Also took a few in-process pics in case someone would like to reference later. 

Wondered whether a smooth outline would look good; so I decreased the count in the outermost chain and used Catherine Wheel join (cwj). Nope, I don't think it works!

Having tatted many of Sharon’s patterns, I’ve come to realise that my chains (and tatting in general) are more taut than Sharon’s and I need to factor that in to avoid cupping.

Now for the coloured spring impression.

I started the yellow flower on the right, climbed out to the left, then added a short 10ds chain between the yellow flowers in order to get back to the right side and follow as per diagram. (indicated as 1 in pic below)

BUT I realised after completion that this short chain is not required IF one starts with the flower on the left!!! Work left flower, climb out to right flower, and then add green to continue working as per diagram.

Work counterclockwise to complete the left foliage (2). Notice where the split chains and rings are. The lower SR that links to the heart is worked last, so as to continue along to the next round (3).

Interestingly, I got to work split chains in both directions - left to right & right to left! Check out the tutorials here.

Another change – omitted the little ring in the dimpled heart motif. I think this stands out much more as a tiny heart framed by the large one.

In order to frame & highlight this spring-y impression, I added the beige for final outline.

Can’t say how much is evident, but a couple of my split chains are incongruent making the overall heart a bit lopsided.

So, Sharon & Jane – your thoughts ?

Both are worked with size 40 threads and measure around 5cms X 6cms.

Anchor 4054-40.

blue – 00130 ; teal – 00528.

red – 00046 ; yellow – 00293 ; green – 00229 ; beige – 00368.  

With these hearts, I have now officially used every size 40 colour bought recently ;-D

celestial razzle dazzle

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an adaptation of Sharon's Dec 28 snowflake. Although “undecided”, I am so glad she decided to share the pattern.

In the pics the sparkle seems spotted. Part of the reason is that a single metallic wire is twisted with cotton thread. In real this wire creates a stronger and nicely cohesive shine. 

I loved how the elements in this flake seemed to fan out! Which is why I waited to tat it in metallic threads thus magnifying the radiation and radiance! So this time I have a sunflake with a few differences, if you can spot them?

What I did differently :

• Increased motifs to 7 instead of 6 because there was cupping.
• Worked the 2^nd round with thrown rings, instead of chains-only.

There was ruffling as the rounds were added, but roll blocking flattened it okay. Made me think I could've retained 6 dendrites! The cupping is NOT a reflection on the design; it is my own shortcoming with such medallions.

What I could’ve done differently :

• Make longer joining picots in inside facing gold rings, thus keeping the motif count to 6.
• Reduce the gold & increase the silver.
• anything you would like to suggest ???

In Red Rose size 20, it measures 11cms. Now to attach it within a large enough frame to hang in the window, letting it razzle and dazzle as it catches the sun’s rays.

Related posts

one more sunflake (Lene Bjorn)

unintended 7-armed Ice Snowflake (Nancy Tracy) mistake discovered over a year later!

intentional 7-armed superbowl snowflake (Georgia Seitz) for the blocking pictorial.

more flower flakes

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Still chugging away at small projects … 2 more of Sharon’s flakes visualized as flower flakes, taking my count to 10. Sharon has numbered all 26 flakes with respective patterns here.

This time I've used strands of Anchor embroidery threads.

Baby Flake as night jasmine flower flake !

Nycanthus, commonly called parijat or harsingar in India. A beautiful flower with white petals and orange stem! Among my favourite with fond memories - watering and picking up the flowers strewn under the tree at my granny's place.

3 strands (Ξ Lizbeth size 40). 5½cms as flake ; >4½cms as motif. 

12-25 2018 Snowflake as Chrysanthemum flower flake !

SLTs helped bring out a flower amid foliage. I worked the coloured rounds continuously.

For some reason lots of un-tatting was involved here, including a thread-break, but I persevered. Wish I’d chosen a lighter/darker shade of green.

2 strands (Ξ size 40). 6½cms as flake ; 6cms as motif

Please note that the inside rings in 2^nd round are linked together. There is a bit of crowding in the diagram and I missed it.

Thought: Split chains are excellent to climb out to next round. At times, though, it is good to have separate rounds, especially in case of retro-tatting. The thread broke so close to start of outer round that I would’ve snipped and started it afresh. Now I had to retro-tat.

Against a black background.

I’ve chosen colour schemes for some more of Sharon’s flakes but am waiting excitedly for more threads to arrive soon to tackle them. Meanwhile I’m working on a 2016 UFO! 

flower flakes

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along with hearts and angels!

You know how I enjoy extracting motifs and smaller designs from a larger pattern and highlighting them through colour. Don’t get me wrong – I love all-white snowflakes (such as this one), but the need to play around gets the better of me ;-P Perhaps I use colours as a Freudian cover-up to hide my tatting flaws ?! Also, the stiffness of some of the white threads is off-putting.

Sharon Briggs has been on a snowflake-designing spree for the past several weeks. And I jumped in with a few flowery expressions – flower flakes! These were made a few weeks back during my convalescence, with scarcely any notes. I don’t even remember my tatting order. A couple of them cupped a bit, but in the end they blocked out fine. Some of these could look good tessellated, hence I have included dimensions for both point-to-point and the length as a tiled motif.

TIP : All her snowflakes can be worked continuously. Due to use of colours, I worked some of the rounds separately, while in some one thread continued for some rounds. Working in one pass is optional – for those not comfortable with split rings and split chains, cut and tie after a round and start next round afresh.

Techniques I used : 2-shuttle, one-pass, ctm, rosette/rose medallion, daisy medallion, lock join, thrown/floating rings, dimpled rings, split ring &/or split chain to climb out/climb in, 3 threads (double shuttle).

TõT

Flower Flakes – stylised

1. Poinsettia

Nov 21, 2018 flake

Anchor size 40 : 6½ cms as flake ; 5½ cms as motif

She called it "unimaginative". Hardly ! I could see a poinsettia there, though my model seems to be squatter than her's. I wouldn’t mind adding one more round to bring in a more petal-y poinsettia look.

2. Blue Bonnet (top view)

Little Flake

Anchor size 40 : >4 cms as flake ; <4 cms as motif

I came across blue bonnets in a story I was reading and loved them.... which is how I had visualized this in shades of blue. I wanted to make the outer round in a darker shade, except I'd have to use embroidery threads & didn't want to hamper my tatting flow.

3. Cattleya Orchid

December 3, 2018 snowflake

Anchor white & Lizbeth purple splendour size 40 - 4½ cms as flake ; 4 cms as motif

I like how this turned out !!!

4. Madonna Lily

November27, 2018 snowflake

Anchor size 40 : 7 cms as flake ; >6 cms as motif

I simply love the ‘filigree’ and colours would probably take away from that look. Hence, a white lily ; the central ring could’ve been yellow, though. 
I'm hoping to give this another go in colours though - it's such a pretty pattern!

I’m pretty certain I mixed up 2 whites while making it – one was a tad finer, vintage.

TõT

Hearts and Angels

Sharon also has quite a few flakes with dimpled heart motifs.

I test-tatted this Daisy Ring Heart pattern.

Anchor size 40 : 7½  cms as flake ; <7 cms as motif

Despite using very small picots in the penultimate round, 

the outermost round required 7 ds chain segments throughout – just as Sharon had predicted.

But do you see the angels between the hearts?! 
Or perhaps bats if you want to mix in Halloween ;-P

Y

Ever since her first heart snowflake, I wanted to make only the heart in red. I’ll get to that, but for this December 22, 2018 pattern I used pink hearts against a cream thread.

Anchor size 40 : 8  cms as flake ; 7 cms as motif

I started with one shuttle and ball, ctm for the central ring.

Then I included a pink shuttle for the hearts. Since I couldn’t work the connecting chains with direct tatting (unflipped or reverse stitch), they were tatted with double shuttles – the 2 shuttles stuck together temporarily.

The 2 outer rounds were worked with single shuttle and ball again.

Y

The above pic was taken before I worked the pink hearts flake.

I now have 8 of her 2018 flakes tatted (2 more flower flakes here). 

There are still a few more of her flakes I’d like to tat in the coming days. 

Except she’s belting them out faster than I can tat ;-P What a bonanza for tatters !!!

TõT

Related Posts

sunflake

flower flakes (the flower within)

heart flakes (the heart within)

Thank you, Sharon, for a fun-filled winter, and the promise of more to come!

Sharon's flakes

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Just too tempting to forego! Sharon shared 2 new snowflake patterns recently and I got to work immediately. Now, they look pristine in white, and snowflakes should be white. But you know me – I want to spice up the challenge and took to colours to see how they’d look. Also, to bring out the flower within.

This is the first snowflake (pattern here) originally worked continuously with one shuttle and ball, climbing out with a split chain. 

My coloured  rendition is done with 3 strands of Anchor embroidery thread 

which is equivalent to a Lizbeth 20. And no split chains.

Black shuttle for central ring & orange 0333 'ball' for rosette chains : <1¼" or <3cms

Mustard 0306, ctm : <2¼" or 5½ cms

Green 0204, ctm : 3" or 7½ cms

T{|{T

This is the 2^nd snowflake she posted here.

I used Anchor 40 this time, but worked continuously. 

Measurements after each round : 1”  ;  1½”  ; 2½" or 6 cms. 

Started with maroon, ctm for the central ring and 1^st round, then switched the core thread to cream. I kept the maroon shuttle, but snipped off the ball. 

In order to get the desired colour placement and eliminate colour blips, I used 

the Slope & Roll join instead of lock join in the 2 outer rounds; 

SLT to make the split chain in maroon, 

and the Reverse Join to switch positions after the split chain.

I remembered how to do the split chain, but unfortunately the colour is hard on the eyes and somehow that segment twisted while linking. The camera shows it all, sigh !

Future Ideas:  
This snowflake could work beautifully as repeatable motifs linked for a larger lace. 
But as I worked the outer round, it struck me how beautiful it would look as a continuous doily – the ‘formula’ for the last round can be repeated (with additional side rings) ad infinitum without having to change the stitchcount at all! 
Perhaps one of the middle or last round can have the central floral motif all around ?!

T{|{T

Wish I'd taken pics after each round for both snowflakes, 

because each round is beautiful and elegant!!!

In fact the rosette reminded me of a poppy despite the orange shade.  

T{|{T

And playing around, notice how cozily the 2 designs can fit together ....

 

T{|{T

I absolutely love Sharon's diagrams – simple and clear. 

And you can find the legend to those cute symbols here. 

Many many thanks, Sharon!