Signature Thread

Someone left a comment somewhere on here that I can't find. Google told me there was an error when I approved it for publishing, so maybe it just ate the thing.
Anyway, if it was you asking about the size of the Signature thread -- this is my answer. It's a very fine thread, because it is a machine embroidery thread. It's about the same thickness as regular sewing thread. It's trilobal polyester. I have no idea what that means, but it seems to be less inclined to fuzz than polyester covered cotton sewing thread. It does tend to stretch when trying to close rings (well, it does if you tat as tightly as I do). I buy it at a local shop. I don't know if it is available somewhere on line; I've never looked. Here's a picture of the thread labels:

No Tatting for a While

Last Wednesday I had surgery on my left hand and wrist to take care of a carpal tunnel problem, a bone growth in my thumb and a cyst in my ring finger. Ick. All wrapped up for three days, it doesn't look too bad. Unwrapped, it's sorta ugly. The purple writing on my hand belongs to the doctor. He made notes so he'd know what to do when I was not awake to tell him. I had a red pen and wrote "yes" next to his notes. :) I guess it saves on errors!
Good thing I'm so right handed!
I'll be trying to get some things blocked and starched while it heals, so I can post pictures of those things. I also did a lot of work on my decorated jeans purse in anticipation of surgery. I only have a part of one quarter done, but it's really close to how I want it. I need to make some more butterflies and flowers. I'll be thinking of things I can post, anyway.

Neck or Nothing

T-shirts are so plain, aren't they? A bit of decoration and they look much better (of course my sister thinks they need dye, and some twisting, but, this works for me).

Both of these pieces were made with one strand of Signature machine embroidery thread and one strand of Gütermann cotton sewing thread wound together on the shuttles. The buttons are 5/8 inch four-hole buttons.

I combined one of the pieces of "baby lace" (see March 25th) with the decorated button (see May 28) I designed for the 25-Motif Challenge to create this neck decoration. After sewing some decorated buttons to a t-shirt for my sister and having them curl up after washing, I decided the entire piece had to be sewed to the shirt. Because of that, I didn't stitch through the buttons. These were gifts for my sister and my niece. I think they turned out pretty well.

Something a Bit Different

Nope, these aren't tatted -- they're crocheted. They were all done a number of years ago (more than 5 certainly) and stored in tins or plastic bags or bins. Not a nice thing to do! They didn't wash up well, but my sister fixed 'em up when she was tie-dying. This first one was actually done by my mom. Somebody spilled something on it, and I told her I'd wash it and restarch it for her. Uh-huh, like a thousand years ago. Fortunately, she likes the result! It was twisted by itself then dyed in shades of purple and blue.
This second one was placed inside a t-shirt then twisted and dyed with the shirt in shades of blue. It used to be ecru, but very dirty ecru. I also think it was supposed to have individual pineapple points at the outer round. As I recall, it meant lots of threads to hide and I was sick of the color, so I just put it away. I like it the way it is now!

The third one was also placed inside a t-shirt and twisted then dyed in shades of purple. The picture doesn't do it justice!

Finally, she prepared a shirt and a doily for dying (soda-ash bath) and stretched them over a styrofoam board. I pinned the doily out to shape on top of the t-shirt. She put the dye into spray bottles and sprayed both the doily and the shirt. After an overnight stay in a plastic bag, they were separated, rinsed and washed. Then I pinned out the dyed doily. This one is all in one color of blue, but the back against the t-shirt didn't get dye on it, so the reverse side is pretty interesting. The t-shirt is mine, mine, mine!

Jeans Purse

Made from DMC size 80 yellow thread and vari-colored yellow-range beads, this is my representation of the sun. It's all made of split rings, and every ray was added separately. This is the front right-hand side "theme" for my Jeans Purse for the Tatting Treasures from Trash challenge. With the sun, I intend to use some flowers and butterflies and a few other small bits.
The front left-hand side has a night theme. So far I have completed the moon and some "maybe" stars. I know I'm going to use stars, but they might not be these particular samples. Ruth has put a number of star patterns on the Tatting Pattern Calendar and I intend to try out some of those. I know I want to use beads (because I'm a crow), so I'll have to work those into some of the patterns. They are all going to be colored stars, too -- a little realism, you know (well, very little).

Treasures from Trash

These are the first two pieces I've made to decorate my denim purse for the "Treasures from Trash" challenge. The end threads are long enough to use to fasten them to the purse -- I hope. One is obviously just a bit of lace. I'm not saying what the other one is -- just in case it doesn't work out!

Square Bookmark with Buttons Pattern

After some requests for a pattern for these bookmarks, I managed to cobble this one together. The instructions are sketchy and the diagram is a bit off-balance, but it's there! Now that I've figured out how I can do the diagrams I need to practice to refine them. But -- here's the square one with buttons if anybody is interested. I think if you click on the little picture it will open a bigger one that you can print.

After reading the comments on the size of the image, I resized it and am reposting it. I think it should print out on one page now -- without having to copy and paste it somewhere else before reprinting.

Plus Two

The first bookmark that went out in exchange really grew out of the rainbow quilting thread one. I liked how it looked with three joins in each of the four buttonholes, but thought it needed more body. Using slightly larger buttons and one strand of Signature pink ombre machine embroidery thread with a dark purple Gütterman sewing thread, achieved the right weight. But -- it was a little too crowded around the button. Another modification seemed to be in order. I kept the three rings near the button, but only connected two of them to the buttonhole. Yes. That looked just right to me. But the picots were in the wrong places and looked uncentered. Solution -- leave out the picots! This final one that was sent out as my exchange is made on shiny white buttons using Signature pastel variegated machine embroidery thread and Gütterman purple ombre cotton sewing thread. It's this bookmark that inspired the individual buttons I made as t-shirt decorations.

The second exchange bookmark was actually based on the second of my "try using buttons" experiments. I started with black buttons and white DMC size 80 tatting cotton. to make these connected squares. That was okay, but the split rings between the squares made it too flexible. I don't even have a picture of the next incarnation, because I cut it off the buttons and threw it away. Essentially, I got rid of the separating split rings, but joined the end picots of the tops of the clovers. Can you say curled up? The next one worked just right -- but I forgot the magic threads. Rats. All the way to the end and -- oops -- where am I going to hide these threads? This lovely red, white and blue book mark has a knot and a nasty bit of glue to keep that polyester embroidery thread from slithering undone. Oh, well, it makes a good pattern piece. Finally, I got just the look I wanted and remembered to put in the magic threads. This one is made with Signature pastel machine embroidery thread and Coats pink ombre machine embroidery thread. I couldn't believe these two polyesters gave each other enough support so neither frayed, snagged or broke. Funny how things work sometimes. Besides, it's shiny. I like shiny.

Plus One

This has been so much fun, how can I give it up?

I've packed up my exchange bookmarks to send, so now I can post all the runners-up. The first one I made was supposed to be a repeat of what appears as my Ninth Motif, a bookmark made from "Design 39" in Christel Wiedmann's Tatting, 60 Original Lace Treasures. Must not have been paying the least bit of attention, because it came out looking completely different. Not just because it's done in green and white DMC size 30 Cébélia, either. It looked a little boring.

Moving on to something more interesting, I discovered buttons. Oh, I always knew buttons existed and that other people used them in tatting -- I'd just never bothered with them before. Yeah, before I discovered a package of about a zillion for 88 cents. (Okay, not a zillion, but a lot, anyway.) I looked over the buttons and decided my mom could use a bookmark. Her birthday's in July. Yeah, a nice red, white and blue bookmark. This time I just let the shuttle do something really simple while I got the feel of the buttons. (Signature red-white-blue variegated machine embroidery thread with DMC size 80 white tatting cotton).
That worked, but I wasn't too certain about the big gaps between the buttons. That seemed a little too flexible when I picked it up. Hmmm...how about making the chains between the buttons cross over each other? I tried that next (Signature green ombre machine embroidery thread and DMC size 80 white tatting cotton). Not what I intended to do, because I somehow crossed them all the same direction and it wanted to untwist instead of stay flat. The second round was to keep it in control, but had to end in the same place as the first so my "magic threads" weren't wasted. The crossovers needed to be connected somehow and they should have been longer, maybe. Or maybe not.

The next incarnation has cross-overs in opposite directions which are longer and are attached together in the center. But it's as flexible as the first red, white and blue one (using the same thread combination, too). One more change to give the same effect but not actually cross the threads resulted in this little bookmark. The buttons are smaller and it's made with just one strand of Coats rainbow variegated hand quilting thread. It's still too flexible, and the thread is just too fine to make a sturdy bookmark. Without the tail, it might have made a nice fake button placket for a pull-over shirt.

The exchange bookmarks were made next, so I'll save them for later.

Finally, I made this pink bookmark on tiny little two-hole buttons I found in the scrapbooking section at Roberts. I thought it was a really weird looking thing, but my sister picked it up, turned it over, and said "Oh, butterflies!" Really?
Okay, now I have to figure out how to work it upside down. That wasn't as hard as I expected, I just started at the other end with a little clover. Then I had to figure out how to make a tail and go back up the other side to get back to the top and my "magic threads." Somehow, the chains just didn't come out quite even on both sides. I know they've got the same number of stitches. It has to be something to do with the rings on one side and only joins on the other. Both of these were made with one strand of Signature variegated and one of Gütterman sewing thread in different colors, of course). The tiny purple buttons in the second version very nearly disappear into the work.
Finally, I made my pattern piece starting at the bottom of the tail with a simple butterfly then a split ring chain into a clover (for a place to put those magic threads, you see), up one side to a little butterfly at the top and back down to the clover. This one is made with one strand of DMC size 80 tatting coton in a bright magenta and tiny pink scrapbook buttons. The scrapbook buttons don't leave much room for the three joins in each hole. I had to use my size 16 crochet hook to ease (okay, pull, tug, wiggle and yank) the thread through those holes. I've bought some other very small buttons and am going to try this again with a strand of the Signature and a strand of DMC size 80 tatting cotton. That combination should make it just the right weight.

Twenty-fifth Motif

There. That makes twenty-five. This is an original design made with one strand of Signature pink ombre embroidery thread and one strand of dark pink Gütterman cotton sewing thread. I made sets of three to decorate t-shirts. This purple on white shirt is for a friend of mine whose last day of work is the 31st. Lucky woman! A set of green ones will go on the t-shirt I got my sister for her birthday. This pink set is for my great-aunt to say "thanks" for hosting our annual family party. She'll have to attach them to her own t-shirt, but they should match the one she was wearing yesterday.