Sunday 24 July 2016

Making Progress but...

You ladies are wonderful!!  Your comments on the previous post were really helpful.  Of course, as soon as you explained it made sense.


BUT... and it's a big but, though the pattern now makes sense, I'm finding it's not fitting properly.  I reversed the linking chain (between repeats) because I found there was a lot of tension on that chain which was distorting it (and you can see that on some of the ice crystal doilies I've looked at on internet) as well as on the photo that accompanies the pattern.  But I'm finding that there is not enough space between repeats which means that after four repeats, I still do not have a semi-circle and therefore I won't be able to close the circle when I reach 8 repeats.  I don't know where I'm going wrong!  

It doesn't look too bad on the photo below after 5 repeats but it's not lying flat at all!  It's "cupping" badly.  And see where the linking chain is?  Imagine that chain curving the other way, it would end up being on top of or under the two chains either side.



I ended up cutting the connecting chains to see how it would naturally lie and this is the gap between repeats that I'm getting.  What should I do?  It must be me since I've seen many of those doilies and they seem to fit fine after 8 repeats.  Am I missing something?



Looks to me like I'd have space for an extra design element between the repeats.... but that can't be right.


The other thing I have found is that there are lots of discrepancies between the photo and the written pattern.  Many joins are not indicated on the pattern although they appear to be made on the photo and in the pattern, some rings have 6 picots and others have 5 although on the photo, all rings seem to have 5 picots.  Same problem with the chains!  

I have tried to look up the thread about this doily on Craftree that someone mentioned but have not located it so far.

Still... I won't be defeated!  Many people have successfully tatted this doily.  Surely I can do it too!

Best wishes
Frivole

18 comments:

  1. Here you go: http://www.craftree.com/forum/threadfs/10366?page=1#118808

    you probably will have to sign in to see it.

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  2. Here are some additional links/ideas - jmjtat (in Craftree) completed this doily relatively recently. You can PM her. Or, why not start a new thread on Craftree ?
    Here is John's dilemma & working : http://tattingjohn.blogspot.in/2011/01/wowhas-it-really-been-that-long-ago.html
    http://tattingjohn.blogspot.in/2011/01/you-were-righti-was-wrong.html
    Mary (tatsall) comments that she has tatted this several times....

    It is so distressing to see beautiful lace being snipped. Hope things work out .

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    1. Thanks Muskaan, I'll go check those out.

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  3. The last time I had the pattern and picture being different, I took the amount of picots off the picture rather than pattern.
    Hope you get it sorted, looks a lovely pattern

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    1. Yes, I agree, i'm working off the photo too. :-)

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  4. You are getting on more quickly than I am with my remake. If you follow the written instructions they say that all rings have 5 picots apart from the two nearest the centre which both have 9. I can't remember what I did 50 years ago but I guess I followed the written instructions without really lookin at the photo. That's what we did then. I'll let you know how mine goes, but I have rather busy week, so don't expect it anytime soon

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    1. Hi Jenny, I don't know if we have the same book but mine definitely has some rings with 5 and some rings with 6 picots in the written pattern and some chains with 7 and some chains with 6 pictures and the big rings, one states 9 and the other states 10 picots. So lots of discrepancies in my version! Still, my second go at it is looking better though I'm not sure yet if it will all work out in the end. I shall post again soon.

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  5. Hmmm...it looks like it would have worked (with a bit of ruffling) in the photo where you had 5 repeats finished. Once you snipped the tatting, it seems to form a six pointed motif rather than an eight pointed one.

    After I saw your last blog post I started on the Sunflower doily from the same book. One thing I noticed straight away is that Lizbeth thread appears to be much stiffer than what the authors of this book used. I wonder if a softer thread, such as DMC Cordonnet Special, would make a difference.

    Also, judging from the photographs in the book, I don't expect these patterns to lay flat without blocking. Lot's of spaghetti looking chains in the pictures.

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    1. I might "look" like it would have worked out but if you'd have handled the doily, you'd have seen that it would be way to tight around the outer edge to enable it to lie flat. I've started a second one and it's looking better so far, fingers crossed.

      Yes, there are many nice designs in this book and if I can get that one completed, there are others I'd like to tackle. Look forward to seeing your Sunflower doily. :-)

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    2. Ah, I see. I was looking at the wrong spot! I had been too distracted by the potential ruffling in the middle chains that I didn't even look to see what the outer chains were doing. Glad to hear that your second attempt is going better. Good luck and hope it works out!

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  6. The photo in my book shows the first connecting chain between the motifs facing inward(towards the center) and it is almost stright, presumably from tension. Then it shows a second chain facing out and connecting the motifs which has a slight arch to it. I have'nt tatted this and can only share what I see.

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    1. Yes, and most of those chains have funny shapes, not nice curves as they should which led me to my conclusion that there it too much tension in that area of the design.

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  7. I don't remember having any problems, and mine DID lay flat without cupping and without blocking. I decided to reverse the curve of the chains between the motifs because I preferred the way it looked that way. When I have time (years from now?) I'll re-tat this one just to refresh my memory.

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    1. I'm definitely going wrong somewhere then! :-)

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  8. Sorry to be a bother, and please disregard this comment if I have it wrong. I noticed your central rings and chains have an extra picot than what is displayed in the book.

    The instructions in the book are super confusing, and 3 x 9 actually means 8 picots (not 9 picots) because it's written as 3 stitches 9 times. So 3 x 10 means 9 picots and so on. I came across this as I was diagramming the Sunflower doily last night and it was very frustrating to translate the pattern correctly. Just something to take a second look at as it might be what is causing the issues with cupping.

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    1. No bother at all Robin, I'm very grateful for your comments! You are right, and as you explained it, I was reading the pattern wrong. In fact, with my second attempt, I've given up reading the pattern and am looking at the photo instead to get the right number of picots. I agree with you that it's rather confusing the way the pattern is written! But I will persevere! :-)

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    2. Glad to hear you've got it sorted out. I'm just now starting Round 3 of the Sunflower doily.

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