DRR long time

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 Can't believe its been six years since we worked the Design Round Robin (DRR) doilies in Craftree and I find that I have posted round-wise pics of only one doily! Time to rectify the situation. However, I will have to limit myself to pics, 'coz it is too much work to hunt down my notes for each round I either designed or tatted. Good for you, huh, less to read ... but plenty of pics! ;-D 

Dancing Peacocks

Design Round Robin 2018 (DRR 2018), Craftree

Muskaan, Coretta, Kathleen, Tim, Coretta.

pattern link

Worked in Anchor embroidery threads, 3 strands equivalent to Lizbeth size 20.

Round 1 - Muskaan. I designed the center for this doily. 

The green/blue one was made first but not being happy with my tatting, I started over with the bottom one. This pattern is originally from my enclosed space medallion phase with only minor tweaks to add picots for joining subsequent rounds. It has triple onion rings where the innermost Josephine ring is made using the floating beads method so that it stands a bit apart. 
Dancing Peacocks Medallion design process - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2018/01/mad-or-maddening.html
Dancing Peacock Earrings derived from the medallion -https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2018/01/floating-with-tatting.html  Later that year Anita Barry taught this pattern at the Palmetto Tat Days.

Round 2 - CORETTA L.  

I like how she opened up the design!

Round 3 - KATHLEEN M.  

So much to learn in this round. However it started with me having to snip off quite a length and restart because of some mistakes - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2018/06/rotten-core.html

She used her tweak on the Captured onion ring technique, which I have been using since. 

Round 4 - TIM K.  

He designed the round in such a way as to fit any tension.

He used Split SCMR and also shared a video on how to make it in his blog - http://timtatstoo.blogspot.com/p/the-split-self-closing-mock-ring.html

However I remember discovering that the split scmr was not really needed in this case and explaining how to go about it. 

This completed our round robin of four designers. Started in Feb 2018 and finished within the same year. Design round robin entails we each tat all the rounds of each doily sequentially designing and tatting by turns. No need to mail off the doily ....

I felt we could do with another round or two, but was not sure how to go about it. In March 2023, Coretta worked out a 5th round and shared it!!! I tatted it early this month.

Round 5 - CORETTA L.  

After mulling over the colour scheme since I wanted the round to reflect the earlier colours, yet not be too overwhelming or bright, I came up with the following solution... 

The onion rings are tatted in three peacock colours but as separate motifs. Carrying 3 extra threads encapsulated within the chains would add too much bulk and skew the arches.

The tails are hidden or sewn, but left untrimmed. Couldn't risk any tail being pulled out when the outer chain round was tatted and joined! 

Green for border would make the entire composition too greenish which is why I chose to repeat the inner round blue; it also carries forward the peacock impression.

All trimmed and done. However, I used 4 strands of blue after realising that 3 might not allow the doily to lie flat since my chains are usually tight.

Anchor embroidery 3 strands equivalent to Lizbeth size 20.
Orange - 0333 ; Yellow - 0306 ; Green - 0258 ; Purple - 097 ; Blue - 0170 (4 strands in last round).

Final diameter - 17 cms or just under 7 inches.

This additional round has really brought the entire design together and I love how it looks. What do you think? Too many colours or ....

You can find the Dancing Peacocks doily pattern here - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LBml-8Q0WYbCQyBrSLVKg713T9D3HE9YAPlKmg3wxTo/view

Many many thanks to Coretta, Kathleen, and Tim and a very special thanks to Grace Tan for her forethought in creating the Google docs for each doily!  

I am also entering this doily for both the 2024 games ....

Small Decorations hosted by splocik - This doily is my submission for September.

The August gallery of submissions is posted here - https://splocik2.blogspot.com/2024/09/male-dekoracje-2024-galeria-sierpniowa.html  with such a diverse range of projects!

And this doily also crosses off several blocks in Natalie's PICOT Bingo!

- Tat a Doily

- Josephine Ring

- Onion Ring

which means I have a 2nd BINGO - the 4th column is done!!! My first bingo was posted here - https://www.patreon.com/posts/picot-tatting-we-110762797

Actually I've finished tatting some more but blogging is taking a backseat ....

Thanks for the fun Natalie and splocik!

accidentally

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a happy design accident

Remember the butterfly that wished to become pretty and my dear tatter friends obliged? And the subsequent Butterfly edging? The origins of that pattern accidentally emerged from this 2018 Design Round Robin (DRR) doily …. Read on.

HEXAFLOWER 

Design Round Robin 2018 , Craftree

Coretta,  muskaan, Tim, Kathleen
Pattern (unedited) link

Coretta Loughmiller designed the center or Round 1 of the Hexaflower doily. Notice how the small rings are left unattached! I love the shape of the inner rings despite the fact that mine didn’t turn out as neatly as hers. They are mock rings made with a shuttle & ball. 
TIP: Working with 2 shuttles, ctm, I threw the central ring from 1st mock ring, making a mock picot. 
Worked in Anchor size 40.

I was next in line. These are my various trials (with numerous elemental tweaks) trying to get a design going. I had intended to work an all-white doily. But the thread didn’t agree with me and I switched to the yellow above.

I got valuable feedback & suggestions/insight from Craftreans which finally led to this. Notice that I did Not set out to incorporate butterflies. But as I tweaked the count during trials, the butterfly emerged. I’ve already shared my tips here on how the colours were switched to highlight shape. 

The orange chains (worked in 2 strands of embroidery thread, but yellow size 40 core) were added to anchor the free rings. 
TIP : Kathleen made a lovely variation by joining directly on the central ring to look like stamens.

This beautiful 3^rd round was designed by Tim Kaylor. Clever use of split rings!

Considering it’s shape, I chose to continue with yellow so that the piece looks like a large flower.

Kathleen Minniti designed the final round. A bit of denseness to hold down the openness of the previous round. Well, in my version, it is perfect as foliage. A sober shade of green keeps the focus on the flower.

Final measurement in size 40 - 4½”.
Techniques used : mock rings, lock join, split rings, colour placement.

I snipped off the orange from below, shifted it above, and added a new calyx at the back.

As seen from the back. Inward facing chains topped with a ring for calyx.
All except Tim's round can be tatted with single shuttle and ball.

I’m very happy with the way this floral story in tatted lace developed, doing justice to it’s name.

In size 20, the doily measures 5½”. Considering it is small, Coretta has designed another round. I am waiting to see how it develops and will participate only if I think the flower story can continue.

The pattern is free to share. However, since it is not ‘cleaned up’, for now it is accessible only within Craftree. Hopefully Coretta will convert it into a pdf soon.

UPDATE (July 2019) : The pattern link is shared, though still unedited, and you are invited to continue the design round robin. You can contact Coretta on facebook, Craftree, or her blog. 

Related Posts

pretty butterflies I

pretty butterflies II

butterflies and edging on card

listing of patterns 

Cluny looms

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My 2015 Cluny tatting series had links to many different types of Cluny looms. I have since come across a couple more that are listed here. ( I'm too scared of updating my post for fear it may jump from 2015 to 2018! Blogger as already messed up the September postings!) But this post is the result of what Jean Gordon sent me recently.

Shoebox Lid cut into a Cluny loom by Jean Gordon

Based on my Cluny tatting pictorials, Jean started learning on a card loom. However the card loom didn’t work for her when it came time to close the tally. Weaving went fine, but she had difficulty with the shed and removing the top loop from the loom. So she came up with the idea of a shoe box lid. Box looms are common and many have made them at home. What I like particularly about Jean’s loom is that

1. it is shallow, not deep and bulky like the shoe box, making storage a non-issue; and
2. she cut slits into the lid which acts as a built-in shed – no knobs or pins, and so on! 

Jean's Cluny tatting on a card loom

Notice how the slits are in the same place in both the flat card loom & the lid loom?

Handy Hands' Ultimate Cluny Loom
(image from pinterest)

I also came across the Ultimate Cluny Loom from Handy Hands. The name is justified because the loom can be worked by right and left handers by simply flipping it. Markings on both surfaces are easy to follow. Tamie has uploaded a video here about this product for Georgia’s Advanced Online Tatting Class.

Last but not least is Tim Kaylor’s 3D printed loom – his own original design! He was kind enough to offer to send me one when he first made them.

Meanwhile I’m getting ready to post the next pictorial showing 3-coloured Cluny leaves. And I need to start on that butterfly pattern – converting it into Cluny wings! Tons of tatting and blogging looming ahead :-D

scrappy doily and scmr

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For the last few days I hadn’t picked up a shuttle. Housework was partly to blame, leaving me too tired to continue with my Blossoms motifs (I was on a whirlwind spree and the count is now up to 20 - halfway mark reached!!!). So, I took up sewing the edging on the saree – somebody (meaning me) has to do it!

Last evening, I didn’t even have the concentration to sew. But Madhur Dadlani's Unending Doily had been at the back of my mind as a wonderful way to empty shuttles and use up all the scraps! Picked up a shuttle and started.

My rings are ( 4-3-3-4 ). I started with 3 normal rings (white), then switched to SCMR.

Why? With scmr, I can use up almost every last bit of scrap thread, since they will only form the stitches. Can you see where I have a part purple part blue ring? Easily possible with scmr.

And I can have a continuous core thread throughout, not having to refill the shuttle every time.

To secure the scmr, I made an unflipped half stitch at the base.

I had first thought of making it rectangular, but I think with random colours, it is best to go circular. Although, here I am aiming for an oval and will decide on how to fill the center later. Hope the shape will hold.

It’s still scappy, fresh off my shuttle, with no blocking.

So far these are Anchor size 20 scraps, and the 2 rounds measure 2”x1½”.

Do you see this turning into an Ice Drop?! A future project :-D

SCMR - self closing mock ring -

And on the topic of SCMRs, a Japanese tatter (kukka tatting) has been applying the scmr to small medallions and so far she has reached a count of 91 lovely medallions/motifs using scmr!!! I've been following her journey from the start, but it's a pity that I can't leave any comment on her blog. Do check it out. 91 scmr motifs !

Split SCMR
And Tim Kaylor has worked out a way to split the scmr in regular tatting (ie. when working with only 2 threads!). Randy Houtz’ split/scmr uses 3 threads. Tim has put up a video too. Now to try it out…

(added later in the day...) 

After some thought, this is the realisation I’ve come to –

Tim pulls open the scmr, exposing the core thread, then uses a split chain to cover and bridge the core thread.

Which is similar to what Dora Young did in her KM Ring (Knotless Method Ring). And Rachael Mohler did a slight modification by not closing the ring completely, then covering the open core thread with the knotless method (i.e., a split chain in modern terms).  

So it is basically the modified Dora Young’s Knotless Method Ring (a mock ring worked in 2 parts by anchoring with a lock join & doable with a single shuttle) on a SCMR! 

Clever, nevertheless, and opens up vast possibilities.