A bunch of us at ETatters have been doing a tat-along -- working on this same pattern. My first one follows the pattern (except I had to add more ds in the chain rounds because I work too tightly -- relax, relax). This is worked in shades of green in size 70 thread. It was a very old ball of "Star" tatting thread I got somewhere or other -- and I had only the one ball. I used my one and only picot gauge (a tiny little dowel that was gifted to me). It was not best suited to this particular piece. I needed an even tinier little dowel. The beast turned out all hairy. I looked at and despaired of ever getting it blocked. I did block it, but certainly not properly. It's got bent picots everywhere.
I started over using the same thread, leaving out all the picots but the essential joining ones. I like this one much better myself. That chain row is still not to my liking, I think I put in too many ds this time. The last round has about eight joins. I ran out of thread and was having to scrounge from the bits I pulled off the shuttles and piled to discard. Sometimes being a pig is a Good Thing...the pile hadn't been removed from the arm of my chair when I found I needed it. If I do this again, it won't be in "Star" size 70!
A bunch of us at ETatters have been doing a tat-along -- working on this same pattern. My first one follows the pattern (except I had to add more ds in the chain rounds because I work too tightly -- relax, relax). This is worked in shades of green in size 70 thread. It was a very old ball of "Star" tatting thread I got somewhere or other -- and I had only the one ball. I used my one and only picot gauge (a tiny little dowel that was gifted to me). It was not best suited to this particular piece. I needed an even tinier little dowel. The beast turned out all hairy. I looked at and despaired of ever getting it blocked. I did block it, but certainly not properly. It's got bent picots everywhere.
I started over using the same thread, leaving out all the picots but the essential joining ones. I like this one much better myself. That chain row is still not to my liking, I think I put in too many ds this time. The last round has about eight joins. I ran out of thread and was having to scrounge from the bits I pulled off the shuttles and piled to discard. Sometimes being a pig is a Good Thing...the pile hadn't been removed from the arm of my chair when I found I needed it. If I do this again, it won't be in "Star" size 70!
10 comments:
Both of your doilies are quite lovely, Marty. You are so funny..."hairy" and "bald" what a funny name for a doily. ;)
Whoahhhhh! Slow down tatty tatterton...I can't keep up! I love that you did hairy and bald..I can't believe I'm saying this...but I much prefer bald. It's looks so clean.
Also your two color "Fantasia 2" patterns are to die for!
Very pretty! I like the one with fewer picots better too. You must tat very quickly! I can't believe you've finished two of these doilies. Good for you!
These are both very nice doilies. The 2nd one (your version) looks more modern. You really get a lot of tatting done! Hats off to you!
Twisted picots drive me crazy, too. That's why I prefer 6 cord threads - they're not immune to twisted picots, but they seem to be much less of a problem. I don't have any of the old "Star" thread - if you don't mind my asking, do you think it is a 6 cord, or 3 cord? Just curious.
It seems to me like you have really high expectations for your work. I'm probably not the expert here, but as far as I can tell they are beautiful!
Thanks for the nice words, people. As for the old "Star" thread I used, I think it was a three cord, but could easily be wrong. There's none of it left now to check for certain. I managed to un-pig the arm of the chair last night.
As for having high expectations for my work -- yeah, maybe so. I do want to do my best and make something I actually like as an end result. Isn't that the same for your photography? I think, generally, we are all harder on ourselves than other people are. After all, we KNOW where the little oops bits are!
You know what they say, bald can be beautiful, and I prefer the 'baldy' here. I like it for the clean lines and uncluttered look. And I admire you for doing both to see the effects of each.
Oh, so many opinions. I like hairy and bald. Maybe even the hairy one a little better. Odd "man" out, I am!
I like fewer picots myself. Thanks for showing both versions.
:-) Gina
I love the title of this post... and the doilies even more! In the last five minutes I have wavered between the two... and can't really decide which I like best.. they are definitely different! Possibly the 'bald' one... if I really had to choose! I think the choice of thread was great too! You have a good eye!
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