Wednesday 18 July 2012

Tatting in French - La Frivolité aux Navettes

Although French is my mother tongue, I have learned and have done all my tatting in English.  All my books so far were in English (apart from a couple of German ones).  I thought it was high time I learned to tat in French.  So with the help of Edwige Renaudin and her book called "La Frivolité aux Navettes", I am learning tatting terminology in French.

I have to say I am finding it difficult!  Just because I'm so used to all the English terms, I keep looking at noeud dessus, arceau festonné, anneau fendu et raccord double feston endroit and am forever having to refer to the lexicon!

The exercises and patterns in the book appear more complicated to me just because I can't read them really quickly like I can an English pattern.  Still, I'm learning new things and am finding her book very interesting.  For example, when making the last ring of a flower, if you flip your work under and up to make the last join, instead of over and up, your shuttles end up on a different side of your tatting which is something really useful to know if you are carrying on with the pattern.  This is probably not clear in words, perhaps I'll have to take pictures eventually.

Anyway, here are some earrings I made based on an exercise in the book.  They are tatted in "Macarons" by Jess! at Tat-ilicious.  I like the construction of these which enables you to make all three rows in one go.  I shall be playing with this some more.

Motif no. 13 of 25-motif challenge


The sun was shining for a rare moment
so I went outside to try to take a better photo.

I liked the shadow of the lace on the leaves behind...
but it was very windy and the earrings
wouldn't stay in place long enough for
me to take a good photo!


I don't think the photos do the earrings
or the thread justice.

They are very pretty and look good on.
I'm wearing them now.


Amitiés dentellières,

16 comments:

  1. I think they are so beautiful! You did a wonderful job. I would love to see it if you made a video of that join you were talking about. It sounds interesting.

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  2. Fun! This is one of the colorways that I haven't let myself have. lol I really like how it tats up though! It loos very yummy, I love how you have incorporated it into a French post. :o)

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  3. Well, my husband and I are tryiing to figure out the terms now. Anneau fendu = broken ring? I should try this book too! It would be good for my French although it's pretty specific vocab. : )

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  4. Very sweet earrings!!! :) And I love shadows cast by tatting!! :)

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  5. pretty earrings. and pretty thread.
    have fun with the new tatting terms.

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  6. Très belles boucles d'oreilles et le livre d'Edwige est très intéressant pour la technique j'en avais parlé dans mon blog mais nous apprenons très bien avec....

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  7. Lindos brincos!Beautiful earrings! They look perfect for me! Well I'll take French class next semester and I would like to learn faster to help you...Could you waiting for? LOL! (I think I should take English class too!)Hugs!

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  8. I have made 2-layer flowers so far and turned them into earrings too, but I added a bead in the centre of each.

    How interesting the you also wrote about the other method of joining the last ring of a flower. I found that I needed it when I was tatting Posy by Mary Konior, where I need to have the thread under the tatting where as my usual method will end up above the tatting.

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  9. Lovely thread and pretty earrings, well done on trying to tat from French,

    It is such a rare moment to have the sun shinning, makes a change from rain
    Margaret

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    1. You're absolutely right Margaret and in fact, I've just popped in from outside as I'm finally getting around to mowing the second half of the lawn! A bit of weeding is also desperately needed... All that rain has had everything growing like mad!

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  10. Your remark about the direction of the fold for the final join determining which side of the work the thread ends up was not only clear, but a total 'Eureka' moment for me. This is something that has perplexed and frustrated me for years! and has resulted in my becoming proficient at other methods than the folded join, so that I could continue with the thread where I wanted it. Thank you! I must go tat Posy, to fully exercise this new concept before I forget it.

    The macarons look good enough to eat!

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    1. Oh great! I'm so pleased! Like you, I kept struggling with this problem and ended up finding complicated ways of placing the tatting so that I could make the last join when it was easy all along! In this pattern, after you attach the last large ring, you still have to make the other two rings on top so you need your shuttles to end up on top after the join. Whereas, the way I was doing this join before, my shuttles always ended up under my work.

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  11. I have been trying Edwige Renaudan's book...it really challenges you to look at the techniques differently. I don't have a problem with the language, it's that she has a different twist on everything!
    The earrings are really pretty, well done. :)

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    1. Yes, you are right Snowy. Her approach does seem different but it's doing me good to re-examine some things I've been doing the same way forever. Some times there is a better way you didn't know!

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  12. I bought the ice queen pattern but I'm having trouble finding a hooked tool that will fit through the center of the bugle beads. Has anyone found a solution? Thanks! Marilyn

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  13. Hi Marilyn, bugle beads vary in size but you can find crochet hooks that go as small as 5mm and 4mm and these will go through bugle beads. And if you can't find a hook, you can always use the needle and thread method (maybe I should do a video on that?).

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