Last night on the Online Tatting class the discussion was about if it was possible to make a ric rac ribbon tatted.  It was a very interesting challenge.  Ruth Perry came with an ideaand was explaining it on the classroom.  I was at the same time tatting and didn't understood really well Ruth's explanations and after the class finished I sent the piece I tatted to her; thinking that it was what she was explaining.  Well, it was something totally different!  Here Ruth's Ric Rac method:


It looks like a real Ric Rac ribbon.  She got the inspiration from the crocheted ripples patterns.  It's made in 3 rounds.  Now here is mine:

My version are small blocks with a tiny chain between them.  I used 2 colors because that was the 1st thing I had near the computer. I think that the use of 2 colors gives a very interesting effect to the braid.

Then someone (I think it was Ruth) mentioned about adding beads.  Oh!!!  Another rush....  I had to try my Ric Rac with beads!  It looks amazing!!!  I made it short because the thread was finishing on the shuttle and was too lazy to get up and find the thread I was using.












But the thread was enough to finish a quick bookmark:
















It's a little stumpy-chubby bookmark.  But the idea is there...  So, this morning, after sleeping like 6 hours I woke up and had to work with the idea again.  I tried to make the Ric Rac bookmark I made several years ago but using the tatted ric rac instead of the fabric.  Anyway, I don't have ric rac here in Egypt.  It worked again so beautiful! 


I think I'm in love with this technique!!!

Now I'll try the same but with Ruth's version. 

I was thinking now...  This kind of block can substitute clunny leaves. 

I have to write the instructions for what I did, but you can find Ruth's version here and on her blog.  For my original Ric Rac bookmark you can go to my site.

Not bad, eh?  Only 2 hours to whip this one.  I guess I haven't forget how to make crochet Bruges.  The original Bruges lace is made in bobbin lace but this crochet imitation is famous and pretty none the less.  I still have thread for a second one.  Geesh!  These threads don't want to finish!  lol

Now I'll take a rest and cook something to eat.  I'm famish! 

Today I was looking for some links about how to make split rings for a person that wants to learn and I came across this pattern at Bella Online. 

It's pretty simple and a great exercice for those that are learning split rings. 

I made several changes.  First the central flower is suppose to have 8 petals, but the thread on the shuttle was finishing and I made 7.  I didn't want to add thread for just one ring.    Also I added beads to the picots on the flower and the picots on the split rings. 

I think this pattern will be now in my "Favorites" list.  So easy and quick to make.  Lovely!

Monday I couldn't enter to the chatroom of the Tatting Class but I went to the side and made my home work.  This heart was designed by Sue Hanson and she kindly shared the pattern with the class.  It's a heart with 3 blocks.  You can find the pattern here.

I made some mistakes but nothing big that affect the design.  Just that I got a little confuse with the directions of the chains (what looks like stems under the 2 white rings).  The curve of them should be to the other side of what I did.


I used "El Beida"  (Egyptian perle #8) in burgandy and Miquita (Peruvian mercericed #20) in white.  I love the color combination and the pattern is so cool.

I don't share too often because I really don't have a lot of material.  I lost everything a couple of years ago.  But when I get something, I like to share. 

This is an antique Finnish book of Tatting and Macrame.  It was on the Antique Pattern Library or the Arizona Univ Textile soruces but now it's not listed.  Anyway, I uploaded it to Esnips and you can download it if you like.  It's almost 20 Mb, so will take a while to download.

http://www.esnips.com/doc/2b6be616-1878-4ed1-a180-8f17e91744ee/fin_tatt

The book has text in Finnish but at the end of the book most of the patterns are diagramed and anyway the notation the book uses is pretty easy to decifer so you can work the patterns even if you don't speak Finnish.  In the personal this is one of my favorite books.  It has a lot of designs very pretty and covers several techniques.  I think it's a must for any tatter.

This lovely heart is a design by Teresa Wood and she kindly shared it with the Online Tatting Class on Monday.  This semester the main topic will be Block Tatting.  You can find the information about how to make this technique here.  The pattern of the heart can be found at the Class site and on Teresa's blog.  The long threads I left them so mom can sew it to a bag or shirt.



In combination with the heart I made mom's name using Teri Dusenbury's pattern of the alphabet with a butterfly.  I also left long ends so it's easier to sew but I did a little of PSP and erased the ends.    Just for fun.  lol  They're n ot very big, under 2 inches each one.


The thread is El Beida #12 is a very bright pink, almost fushia.

Como anadir hilo en un anillo.

Digital Archive of Tatting Articles

I was talking with Barbara about Teri Dusenbury.  She's a tatter designer that have been around for a long time with wonderful tatting designs with beads and regular tatting, if such thing exist!  Her blog can be found at The Lover's Knot and most of her patterns on Esnips.  If ound today a video she made and posted on Esnips.  Check her way of tatting.  It's called the Riego way and was how tatting was done at the old times.  There's more than one way to tat.  It's just a matter of how comfortable the shuttles feel in the hands.  Also in the video you'll notice that she's using a netting needle instead of a shuttle.  A shuttle is used only to hold the thread that we use to work, nothing else; so you can use almost anything to work as a shuttle.

Linda Davies' Blog

Tatting Demo 1/3

Tatting Demo 2/3

Tatting Demo 3/3

I just finished this snowflake.  The pattern is from Jane Eborall and you can find it here.  It uses Split Rings and Lock Chains (Ric Rac chains).  I used white and purple threads (I think both are El Beida) and purple seed beads.  This is really a lovely snowflake!  Took me around 3 hours to finish, having some mistakes to correct.  It has a little "oops" but it's not too noticeable and didn't affect the design. 

Thanks Jane for such a pretty design!

I wanted to do something special for the last one but when I was checking the techniques I noticed that I forgot this one. This technique is called Josephine Chains or Spiral chains. Its like the Josephine Knots. To make the spirals you just need to repeat the same 1/2 stitch over and over, dropping the shuttle every 5-10 hds and it will spiral alone. If you repeat the first half stitch it will spiral clockwise and if you repeat the second half stitch it will spiral counter-clockwise.

I hope you enjoyed this presentation. It was really a challenge to come with 25 motifs using 25 different techniques. I'll do this challenge again but will change the theme. I'm not sure yet what will be, but I know it will be original and fun to do! Thanks for reading.

I'm cheating a little and for this technique I'm using one of my old patterns. This is made with 3 shuttles. Padded tatting is a technique that involves the use of at least 2 different sizes of threads, one of them very thick and the other very thin. In the sample the ecru (light brown on the center) thread is a #5 and the white and red threads are #80. You can't notice very well on the photo but this makes the padded part very "puffy".

This is a little angel I made last time I was in Egypt. It shows the technique of multiple picots. The "halo" is a double picot while the wings are triple picots. Picots are the little loops that you see coming from the rings or chains. It's just bare thread and are made when you leave a space between the stitches. I think Picots deserve another whole chapter. Who knows if my next challenge will be about picots.

I think that Roll tatting is the less used technique. It's just wrapping the thread around the core thread. In this motif I did it around a regular ring, creating like an onion ring where one ring is normal and the other one is rolled.