Merry Christmas 2016

Things have been a bit quiet on the blog for a few weeks as I have been busy finishing Christmas presents and studying too. The two gifts have now been given to their new owners so I can show you them now.

The first one was quite quick to make. I used Bendigo Wool Mills Cotton 10ply to make this in threes cardigan for my niece. 

The second one took a little longer as I hadn’t made a collar like this before. The vintage pattern is from a Coats learn tatting book no 660, and made is in Milford Mercerised cotton size 40, purple. I experimented with using crochet to attach the tatted collar as I went, and this required a little bit of retro-crocheting to make it sit properly and not pucker. The recipient loved it, and I hope she enjoys wearing it. I hope to blog soon about the process I used to make this collar.

Wishing all of you a wonderful holiday season. 

Until next time happy tatting, 

Fiona T  

Revisiting the Tatted Tardis pattern

Last week I decided to tat another Tardis, and I dug out the pattern and threads to begin. I decided to try and get an idea of the amount of thread needed on each shuttle to make one, and measured out 4.5m of thread for each shuttle. As I had some thread left on each shuttle I will try again this week with 3 meters of thread – hopefully not too much left over.

This is a great pattern to practice split rings on, and there is one split chain too. Once mastered, these two techniques open up a lot of opportunities in tatting, including being able to reduce the number of ends to sew in on older patterns.

The Tardis pattern is one I adapted and shared a long time ago, that Anne Bruvold kindly added to her original version of the pattern as an adaptation Anne B’s Tatted Tardis, available for download from here: http://nuperelle.net/EngPatterns.htm . I have tweaked it again to add a white ring to act as the ‘notice’ on the window of the Tardis.

Don’t forget to enter the 1,500 liker giveaway by commenting on the blog from Sunday: 1,500 likers giveaway or over on the Facebook page under the post for the 1,500 likers blog link.

Until next time, happy tatting

Fiona T

Retro-tatting to fix mistakes

I’ve been a tatting enthusiast for over twenty years, and actually tatting regularly for over fifteen years. For a long time in the early days I believed the myth that you could’t un-tat (retro-tat) a ring. It’s quite lucky I found the online tatting world, and was able to learn this invaluable skill. I often get distracted while tatting, and will make the ring the wrong size, like I did tonight, realising as I close the ring that I have repeated the peak ring. 

Retro-tatting does take time, but I think it’s better to fix the mistake than ruin the item I am making- it is always quicker than starting the item again. 

I also wanted to show any new tatters that mistakes are part of learning, and knowing/learning how to fix mistakes is a step towards mastery. I wonder if you have triumphed over something you believed was too difficult in your crafting? 
Until next time, happy retro-tatting. 

Fiona T 

Happy Easter, and some ebay ‘wins’

Happy Easter to all my followers and readers at onemadtatter!  I have been trying to balance my crafting time with work and study.
Spending time on the craftsy online class yesterday saw the production of 2 daisy picot pendants. I am much happier with the green one,  possibly because the beads are smaller and sit better.  Both are made in size 40 threads,  emptying other shuttles. 

I also had some shuttles arrive from an ebay ‘win’- the highly sought Milward shuttle, and a white plastic shuttle (advertised as bone… but definitely plastic), and a Judith Conor book that I had only seen at my library years ago.  Lots of great info in this one! 

Best wishes for the Easter season, until next time,  happy tatting!
Fiona T

Online class

A while ago,  during a craftsy sale, I bought access to Marilee’s “Next steps in shuttle tatting” online class.  I have watched through a couple of classes during January and printed the class materials. Finally on Thursday evening I decided to load up my shuttles and beads and get started.  I learned how to do Catherine Wheel joins – a technique I had always converted to lock joins in the past. After watching Marilee and a couple of tries I now realize the difference in the joins and am very pleased with the effect. 

I also like the convenience of this format of classes- the sequence and included materials are a new approach for me.  In the past I have worked somewhat randomly with YouTube and the online tatting classes Georgia Seitz runs, as a just in time learning tool for a specific technique.  All are fabulous resources too, with great flexibility.

I wonder which formats you like to learn through, and if you have been surprised with a particular product?
Until next time, happy tatting.
Fiona T

Some more Angelinas

This week I was able to make 2 and a half more of these little angels.  They are so cute,  I am making a few for close family this year.  They stand at just under 4cm high. The pattern is from Lea at AlenAlea Designs: https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/255804643/tatted-mini-3d-angel-pattern-and

I am using size 40 milford mercerized white,  the purple and gold size 50 Altin Basak metallic thread.  When I have used the metallic thread for jewelry in the past,  the metallic thread often broke when I closed rings,  but using them now in the chain only part of the pattern is really easy, and the thread has not frayed.

I have also been busy getting another creative idea of the ground: WISE Dolls- Working In STEAM Enterprises Dolls (Science Technology Engineering Art Math) and have just launched the blog today.  This idea encourages young people to make (upcycle) their own dolls to reflect their interests and possible future careers.  If you are interested in following the adventures there the blog is: https://Wisedolls.wordpress.com

Until next time- happy creating
Fiona T

Holiday Tatting

A couple of weeks ago we were on holiday in Queensland, enjoying the beautiful weather and tourist trail. I took the opportunity to work more on the Mystery Doily, and progressed from round 2 to 6 in the time we were away. Here are some photos of my progress, on the plane and at our accommodation.    I have been challenging myself by using split chains and split rings to climb out of rows, and reduce the need to cut and tie each round. This was fine, until I ran out of thread on my shuttle with one final ring to complete in round 5. Some quick thinking, and I was able to use the ball thread to make my rings, the Shoe Lace Trick (SLT) to swap between the threads, and the small amount of shuttle thread as the core of the chain. Phew- I made it 🙂

I am still chipping away at round 6. More progress reports as it is made 🙂

Until next time, Happy Tatting

Fiona T

Tatted letters- Part 2

A short time ago I came across my split ring tatted letter designs and samples, and have shared the first 6 letters with you. Here is a picture of the next 4, based on the same dimensions and again using two colours to show where the splits are- if you do them in one colour of thread on both shuttles your letters will appear to be a single colour. Not all of them have been made into samples- though the guide diagram is there for G & J. H was quite straight forward to make, as were I & L, but K was trickier- I wonder if you will have more luck- Please let me know what you come up with if you try with this particular stitch count.    

Until next time,

Happy Tatting

Fiona T

Playing with an idea- One mad tatter’s split ring alphabet

 

A good thing about being on holidays is that I finally have the time to ‘clean out’ my stash cupboard- and in the process have come across a project idea I started long ago (I think 2010). Many of the alphabet letters I had found online or in my existing library to tat seemed to me to be very ‘frilly’. I really wanted to have some letters that were a bit more bold and plain. I began to draw out my idea in my scrapbook – then when I needed to empty a shuttle, I made these samples and adjusted the ideas and patterns as I went. The way I have used the split ring to turn corners was inspired by Anne Bruvold’s ‘Tatted Tardis” and how she manipulated the stitch count to make a ‘square’ corner. I further manipulated the stitch counts to make (or try to make) different angles.  The photos below show a bit of the thinking and ‘playing’ journey that takes place in my creative process.  I have included images of some of the letters I have ‘worked out’ so far. Some letters- like ‘Y’ are a bit more difficult, but now I have located this project again, I hope to work the rest out. The letters would look much better if they are in a single colour, but to help me (and you) visualise the split rings (and as I was testing these when emptying shuttles) the two colours give a better idea of how the ‘split ring’ works to turn/move around a corner.        I have had another idea for a different way of using the split rings too- but think I should finish this set first before starting the next idea. Trying new ideas, and ‘designing’ a pattern for others to follow is a whole different skill set, and one that I was glad to have begun developing through the online tatting design class a few years ago. Of course now with family, work and study – it’s only on the holidays when I can indulge in this extension of my crafting passion.

In other tatting news, Jane has started the TIAS, and day 2’s pattern is set for release today sometime. I realised (thanks Muskaan) that I made a bit of a mistake in my execution of the pattern- so have started again 🙂 I love this game each year, and can’t wait to see who is first to figure out what we are making 🙂 Thanks Jane, we do enjoy this each year.

Until next time,

Happy tatting

Fiona T

Jan Stawasz book- a first for my collection

I have been looking for these books for a while, and found them from a Polish supplier on Ebay. As I didn’t have any books/patterns by Jan, I decided to splurge on this book and it arrived just before Christmas.  Jan’s work is amazing- using simple elements to make eye catching designs. Each pattern seems to be very bold- and I have realised that he used size 10 thread for most items. The majority of my thread stash is size 40- so my work of his designs will be smaller. I think these would look lovely made from some of my Altin Basak solid coloured size 40 threads. I might just start one after the new year – it would be nice to have a big project that will span 2015 I think.

Happy New Year to all of you, and best wishes for a great crafting year for 2015.

Happy Crafting

Fiona T