Saturday 17 December 2016

falling over

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tatted maple leaf

My very first balls of Lizbeth threads arrived after a 3 week wait !!! The first to tumble in was Falling Leaves in size 40. Well, a fall leaf just Had to be tatted. Here is the lovely ….

 Tammy Rodgers
a free pattern from Georgia Seitz's vast collection 


It was a pleasure to tat. But I did get confused about direction. I had started with ball & shuttle as mentioned in pattern. But I decided to tat the center trefoil in clockwise direction, and that resulted in the overall leaf being worked in counterclockwise direction, as seen in pic below !

Here's my working and notes....

1. Shoe lace trick or Two Shuttles ?
If working with single shuttle & ball, you need to do an overhand tie or SLT (shoe lace trick) for Ring D & also the last ring.
Rings D & U act like thrown rings, because of the change in chain direction to & from the ring, hence the need for a SLT or a second shuttle.
I try to avoid SLTs . Instead cut ample thread from ball & wound it CTM to Shuttle 2 at this stage.  

Please note that the SLT instruction is missing from an otherwise Excellent diagram.
There is also a bit of confusion about when not to reverse considering our more modern-day working. I would've explained just a bit differently, for tatters like me - I racked my brain trying to accomplish what was written. But it wouldn't work without a SLT or 2 shuttles.
This pattern was taught in the Beginner Class, but I haven't read the logs. This might have come up in the discussion. 

TIP : Brainwave ! Just struck me that I could've continued with ball & shuttle by working these 2 rings as Reverse Rings !!! Now that's a neat functional use for reverse rings. (more about RR in my next post. More synonyms & resources - scroll down to RINGS  - Thrown/floating rings).
ps : I tried it and it does work !  


2. Frontside/Backside Tatting :
If you prefer to tat rings frontside & chains backside (reverse order double stitch – RODS)), then make the first 3 rings RODS & adjacent chain frontside. From rings D through U, all can now be tatted frontside & chains RODS.
I forgot my own TWoT directions & ended up tatting All outer rings backside !


3. Stem
For a thicker stem I used padded double stitches or pds (2,2) for a decent length.

Should've blocked the leaf, coz I made a mistake in the first chain itself ! Only 15 stitches instead of 20 :-(

many thanks to Tammy and Georgia's Online Tatting Class 
for making this pattern available to us !

I have lots of fall leaf patterns in my collection to use this colorway. The thread works well. Took the plunge because Handy Hands is now listed in Amazon world & I can pay in Indian currency. But what a high price (with shipping & import duty) !!! For a total of 3 Lizbeth balls (not much choice in colours so far), I could’ve bought 43, yes forty three Anchor balls!!!

Ah well, what can you do if one has intentionally decided to fall :-D 

happy tatting always :-)

18 comments:

  1. Thank you for next advice:) I like the leaves of maple - they have beautiful colors.

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    1. So true, Anetta ! Easy to fall for fall colours :-)))

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  2. Love your approach to tatting and all the tutorials and discussions you have about it.

    Also, being in Australia, I know about the cost of shipping from the US. A third of the cost of my recent order was just shipping.

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    1. Thanks, Michelle :-)
      This is not a frequent buy for sure. Besides shipping charges, one also has to pay import duty here. But I was very happy with Handy Hands' service & I like the way the thread feels, too.

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  3. Wonderful leaf!!! :)
    And don't worry about that chain, no real leaf is totally symmetrical anyway! :)

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    1. Now that's the perspective I like, Sue :-))

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  4. Replies
    1. Dziękuję ci, Malgos :-) This combo of the design and thread colour can't go wrong

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  5. I tatted this years ago when my son went to Canada for a year. I do remember having to 'go around again' to get it right.

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    1. Jane, this leaf pattern is actually a good contender for my This Way of Tat? series ! It is patterns such as these that led to that set of diagrams.

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  6. I knew the cost was high, but that's ridiculous! I think sticking with Anchor thread would be an easy choice. Maybe you could dye your own! ;-)

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    1. Dyeing is out, Diane. But may be I can indulge in such a buy once in a while. It was whimsical, but I don't regret it - so tempting when one sees all those projects in gorgeous threads !

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  7. Thanks so much for sharing your notes on SLT, reverse rings, and padded stitches! I'm bookmarking your page for future reference! Your finished leaf looks very pretty. I agree with Diane, perhaps you could find dyeing supplies for less cost.

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    1. Rather than dye my own threads (one of my Indian tatting friend had tried it and was not happy with the result. She didn't pursue it, though), I'd much rather indulge myself in some of your Awesome colourways, Marilee - some day :-)
      So happy you found this useful - please stay tuned for my next post - I have compared SCMR & RR.

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  8. Beautiful leaf.
    What a high price for the thread, I get mine from rose ground.com here in the uk rather than pay the high price of the dollar. They do ship overseas don't know if they would work out cheaper.

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    1. Euro & Pound conversion to Indian Rupees is even steeper, Margaret :-) I'll stick to my Anchors for a while longer, till another wave of wishfulness strikes ;-P

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  9. I'm so far behind in my tatting! Your leaf turned out gorgeous!! I love the beautiful fall colors you used. I am hoping to get back into my tatting after Christmas. Its keeping me very busy right now. I just got your latest update and those little snowflakes are so pretty! You do such beautiful tatting!

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    1. You are spreading good cheer in many ways other than lace, Carrie :-) Thank you for your kind words

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