tricks without the trick

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Colour play without the shoe lace trick (SLT)!

Last week when I went digitally AWOL, I was compiling a pdf package for the IOLI Chapter Pattern/Gift CD, 2020. Instead of sending a single pattern, my recent crosses from the magic square spurred the idea of an entire project based off those sketches. It would make a wonderful design exploration for groups. I need to convert some pdfs into shareable links - will post later.

After sending them off, I couldn’t resist trying out the pinwheel sketch. So, here is the ‘simpler version’.

Pinwheel Coaster (or Tatted Quilt Block)

Adapted from the vintage Magic Square

To make it easier, I started with a black medallion of 4 rings. It should’ve been smaller (my mistake!) – you can see how the adjoining chains have a shallow dip.

The correct stitch count for each ring is : (3-3-3-3), joining to previous ring and to the first one at the end. 

Notice the numerous tails? Lots of scraps used in first 2 motifs. All knotless addition of thread, tatting over tails in separate elements, and lots of False CTMs (and more here) in order to start the chain as if the thread is continuous and later add in new thread/colour. Remember to cross the new thread around the old one. 
These (and more below) ‘tricks’ kept the SLT away!!! 

All rings are 6-6, the first of each 4-ring cluster has a large central picot.

All chains are 6 or 6-6-6.

Each triangular motif is worked with one shuttle and ball.

I wound 2 Pony shuttles separately one with yellow and other with orange and these lasted for the entire coaster. Respective ball when needed. 

Core thread under 2-coloured outer chain and when joining to inner black ring, have the core of same colour as start of chain.

The corner chains show 2 colours. For this, the core thread remains the same as the first half eg. yellow chain with yellow core. Midways, orange chain thread is added over the yellow core. The yellow chain thread is snipped off and whip stitched back (since I like to hide under different elements). 

Similarly, the inner chains that join to the black ring have the same core thread, but different stitch colours. While making the join, I pulled up a loop of the new colour ball, passed the shuttle through and worked the chain, hiding one tail. The other tail was whip-stitched back.

Work moves counter-clockwise and can be tatted all from the front using direct tatted chains.
For the adventurous, this square can work as one block in a larger tatted quilt! Imagine the riot of designs and colours and shapes.

Each side of this quilt block square is 9½ cms and 12½ cms diagonally in Anchor Pearl Cotton size 8.

A separate medallion in the center is the easier version. If one wants to tat exactly like the sketch above, the inner 2-coloured ring can be worked as a SCMR, adding the 2nd colour midways using this method of adding thread WITHIN a ring.  

I debated whether to add an edging. My sketched ideas looked good on paper, not in tatting - overkill! Ended up with a simple outline which hubby approved!

All chains are 6-6, lock join.

Corner chains are 2-2—2---2—2-2. (graduated picots)

Avoid shoe lace trick: Keeping the SLT away is a personal preference. In needle tatting, this knot is made after every ring and chain, yet the lace looks beautiful. So for those who do not mind the SLT, wind 2 shuttles, one with each colour, and make a SLT after each element to shoe the colour you want. There won't be so many ends to add and hide then.

The same holds true for tatting this coaster. My notes pertain to how I approached it. Every tatter is free to choose their comfort tactics.

I will also share how to keep the colour blip on the backside when working and joining a chain backside. I've used this before, but not in this situation and I truly love the trick!

beady-eyed

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Some patterns are meant to enjoy! That is precisely how this vintage butterfly felt when Georgia announced it for this week’s class.

The Deaconess Butterfly 1916, re-written by Carolyn Groves in 2002. When I went hunting for a Deaconess butterfly, I found her old site!

It is a well-written pattern, with clear instructions. But I also kept referring back to the model image(s) frequently, to stay on track. It is worked in one pass. A very clever presentation by Carolyn Groves.

UPDATE April 2022 - Diagram shared - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2022/04/deaconess-butterfly-1916.html 

Click to download pdf of diagram - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gDRWAwqyN7f6kdsu9yybtQj9-l_QpsFn/view

I decided to play with beads. Small projects are ideal to try out ‘new’ stuff. And not everything was planned ahead. I unwound the shuttle to load seed beads, etc.

The ‘stuff’ that went on here –

1. Black and orange beads pre-strung on yellow thread and the green seed beads on blue thread.
2. Twisted (floating) picots for antennae. 
3. Eyes and orange beads are ‘up’ beads- they need to go in the ring loop before starting the ring.
4. Long beaded picot –On the tail ring I made a very long picot. After completing the butterfly, I put 4 black beads over it with a hook, then snipped the picot in the center and tied a knot to keep beads in place. Snip off excess ends.
5. Rhoda Auld’s method for bead in center of ring. This was new to me. I Love it for various reasons and am eager to try out a few more ideas with it. I used it for all 4 wing rings.

The collage shows how the bead is hooked over blue thread and the loop is held with a holder pin/paperclip. This pin passes through both the loop And the picot. When it is time, a loop is pulled through both simultaneously to make the join. The bottom left is a back view to show join.

6. Frontside/backside tatting meant I used down and up picot joins respectively. 
7. Avoiding colour blip in Lock join – I did try my own method, but the thread is just too thick to hide it completely. And I was colour-blinded ;-P I thought the yellow blips could camouflage as tiny beads! 
8. Ninetta’s blipfree join was used in a couple of picot joins, and as usual I counted the join as 1ds. 
9. Elaine Gan’s Reverse join came in handy thrice, to switch threads/colours. 
10. Green seed beads in place of all the picots on wings.
    
11. In Anchor size 20,  the  butterfly is 2½” wide and 1¾” tall. A good size for brooch, pendant, or hair ornament

Phew, that’s it. I'm happy, though - getting more confident with beads! If you like this butterfly, fine, otherwise think of me being beady-eyed at the time ;-P

Oh, and I added a center to the Wreath snowflake prototype. It looks more like a flower now! This stitch count won’t work for an ice drop version. I added a faceted glass bead and wound the threads to make a suspension loop for ornament.

Links to all and more tutorials can be found here.   

Many thanks to all for bringing joy fluttering into our TatLand!

3 colour Cluny tatting

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In the 2-Colour Cluny we worked with 3 threads – one on the loom and 2 for weaving. I showed how to add & hide the 3^rd thread, how to alternate the 2-colour weave, and how to avoid colour blips when closing. We now move to 4 threads where 3 will be used for weaving. Since they are all different colours, we get 3-coloured stripes or bands on the Cluny leaf.

These pics were also taken last December. I discarded an entire set of pics for the 3-colour Cluny (3-CC), and re-photographed with more comprehensive steps, but have included 2 from that batch here. That first 3-CC is the one just before the split ring in some of the pics.

If I were to tat a 3-CC now, I would definitely follow Edwige’s first step which I called ‘hitch the loom’ to remove the blip at the bottom of my tallies. 

Three-Colour Cluny Leaf

(4 threads and 3-coloured striped Cluny leaf)

Try different number of passes or wraps for a banded or graduated effect. eg. in the collage above, the pendant is a hanging Cluny where I started with 2 wraps of each colour twice, then narrowed the stripes to 1 wrap each. A crystal bead had been strung on the loom earlier, between Warp1 & Warp3 (ie. the top loop).

Choose any order of weaving, place 2 colours on the left and 1 on right, and so on. Lots of possibilities!

I have used a card loom. But choose a loom of your choice - the principle & concept remains the same. 

Refer to basic Cluny colour variation pictorial for any missing details.

Loom/Warp thread : mustard 

Weaving threads   : Colour 1 on the right – green;

                  Colour 2 on the left – pink ;

                  Colour 3 on the right – yellow.

Sequence of weaving : green, pink, yellow.

1 wrap/weave = 2 passes (across Warps and back to starting side)

 1. Wind the loom as usual, with 3 Warps, using mustard thread.

One 3-CC has already been made, followed by a split ring. 

Pink is hidden within the left side & yellow on the right side of the split ring.

I have threaded the weaving threads. Tapestry needle works well, but shuttles are fine, too.

TIP : Place the needle(s) on a flat surface when not in use, to avoid tangling.

 

2. Move green and yellow to the right – Under, Over.

NOTE : In order to avoid any colour blip, hitch the loom with the colour of your choice. 

(not done here, unfortunately)

3. All positioned, we are now ready to weave.

 

4. Move green to the left for 1^st pass (Under, Over, Under) …

 

To add new thread: This is the stage where new thread can be added. In case of my first tally, I had to add yellow colour. The collage shows how I trapped the new thread within the first green pass. The tail can then be lined along/parallel to Warp2 or Warp3 to hide, and snipped after a bit of weaving. See adding new thread options here -

5. and back to the right for 2^nd pass (Over, Under, Over).

1 wrap/weave complete.

 

6. With pink thread -

1^st pass to the right (Under, Over, Under) …

 7. and back to the left (Over, Under, Over).

1 pink wrap made.

Keep packing down the weaves.

 

8. With yellow thread, keeping it above the green –

1^st pass to the left (Under, Over, Under) …

 

9. and back to the right (Over, Under, Over).

1 yellow wrap made.

3 wraps made so far, one in each colour.

 

10. Start with green again, keeping it ABOVE the yellow.

TIP : Leave some slack along the edge, enough to span the 2 coloured wraps before it comes into play again. Pulling it too close will distort the tally edge.

 

11. Repeat steps 4 to 9 to desired size, shaping the Cluny leaf along the way.

 

12. To hide colour blip :

Insert all 3 needles through the top loop from below….

 

13. … threads are emerging out through the top loop now

 

14. To close tally - 

Remove top loop and start pulling Warp2 downwards till the loop disappears completely.

Notice how all 3 colours are emerging from the top, covering/hiding the mustard loom thread. 

For the next element, we can easily pick the colour we want to show.

 

If we skip step #12, this is what happens (tally on right in pic) – In my first 3-colour tally I forgot to pass the green thread through top loop before closing. That thread emerges from the right side, making it untidy and leaving some mustard blip.

 

15. Slip the bottom loop off the loom and pull Warp2 upwards to close it.

 

16. One 3-Colour Cluny leaf complete!

See the tiny mustard blip on the right side of tally base? 

This is the blip that hitching the loom prevents! 

My pictorials show only the basic Cluny leaf being worked in colours. But as I pointed out at the start, this colouring of a Cluny leaf works just as well for a hanging Cluny leaf, a Split Cluny or a broad Cluny (which will be the next in this 2018 Cluny tatting series). 

As a reminder, here’s a throwback pic of my trials shared here. Most of these are hanging Cluny leaves. I was trying to get the 'hang' of coloured Cluny tatting!

All my Cluny Tatting pictorials are listed here.

...series to be continued

colouring the Cluny

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The current Cluny tatting series has covered how to wind the loom and weave tallies where the loom and weaving threads are either the same colour or different colours. For many more tips, ideas, and possibilities, refer to my earlier series and posts.

We now come to the original purpose of this series – multicolour Cluny leaves or tallies – a glimpse of which you saw here last year.

As usual, let’s go progressively… 2-coloured Cluny tatting. For 2 colours to show on a tally, we will actually need 3 threads – 1 for the loom which is hidden, and 2 for the stripes that are visible.

Adding more threads allows us opportunity to play with colours for the next Cluny leaf or element(s) in a pattern.

I chose to work on a cardboard loom, weaving with a tapestry needle especially when using multiple colours. The process itself is simple, but some management of threads is required as we increase colours (threads). If we choose a flat surface to place our loom while weaving, and lay the unwanted thread on the side, it avoids tangling and weaving can be done comfortably.

To repeat – this same method works on a box loom ; and in any pattern a split ring can be substituted with a regular tally/petal/leaf, and a normal ring with a hanging Cluny leaf.

• How to add new thread (knotless method)
• How to hide tail of new thread
• How to avoid the colour blip from loom thread

  

Two-Colour Cluny Tatting

(3 threads and 2-coloured striped Cluny leaf)

Loom/Warp thread - mustard ;

Weaving threads – Colour 1 on the right – green; Colour 2 on the left – pink

Sequence of weaving : green, pink. Colours alternate after each wrap/weave, giving a striped appearance.

You can try different visual effects: from regular stripes to broader bands to random, and from broad to hanging Cluny leaves.

Refer to basic Cluny colour variation pictorial for any missing details.

1. The previous element (split ring) already has 2 colours – mustard and green. 

We will add a 3^rd thread (pink) while weaving the tally.

Wind the loom as usual, with 3 Warps.

Bring green to the right (Under, Over) and leave pink on the left side.

2. Make 1 pass to the left with green (Under, Over, Under),

place pink over the green ….

(as mentioned in previous post, you can choose your own style of weaving)

 3. … and make the return pass to the right (Over, Under, Over), trapping the pink within. 

Leave a pink tail to be hidden later. 

 4. Snug and tamp down the weaves before proceeding.

Notice the new thread is captured within on the left side.

5. With pink thread, move to the right (Under, Over, Under) …

Scroll to end for 2 ways to hide this new tail. 

 6. … and back to the left (Over, Under, Over)

7. Pick up green and move to left (Under, Over, Under), and return to the right.

8. Similarly, make another weave with pink moving to the right and back to left.

9. Continue, alternating the colours as desired, and shaping the tally as you go.

This tally has 15 wraps and threads are back in their original position.

10. Pass both needles through the top loop, back to front.

 11. Both threads are through the top loop. This will hide the loom thread colour.

12. Top loop pulled off the loom and start closing the tally.

13. Top and bottom loops of the loom are closed.

14. One 2-Colour tally made.

To hide tail of new thread :

Needle the tail and weave it through the back of the tally. 

If we weave under the green thread, then the tail will not be visible at all. 

Snip off excess.

See also tip #12 for hiding tails here and Dagmar’s video here. : In pic #5 above, fold the tail behind to align with Warp1. Then, weave as normal, incorporating/encapsulating this tail within. After a few wraps, the excess tail can be snipped off. 

Next in this series is a 3-coloured broad Cluny leaf (4 Warps), and hopefully a practice pattern for these 2-coloured tallies.

The only 2- or 3-coloured Cluny tatting I have come across is by the talented and prolific Dagmar Pezzuto. In both cases, she has worked hanging Cluny petals or leaves. The principle remains the same. You can find all her Cluny patterns through Georgia’s site here.

All my Cluny Tatting pictorials are listed here.

… to be continued