Medallion Collar Continued

It's taken me quite a lot of time and testing so far and I'm still not sure I've found a solution I'm completely happy with!  That corner area between the medallions is proving tricky!  The other complication is that you're working with just one shuttle on the last round where you are making all the rings which means you can only move from one place to the next by carrying the thread over (can't make chains).  I'm looking for a solution that looks as close as possible to the original, which looks good of course, and executable with one shuttle only!

I've still decided to go with the first two rounds with a small modification and eventually cut all my testing bits so I could film the next part.  Back to just the medallions:

If you're interested in tackling this collar, you can find the videos in this playlist.

And here's where I'm at now:

A bit more testing for the next round required but hopefully I'll come to a solution soon.

Best wishes,

Frivole

In the Meantime... Victorian Trellis Collar Ta-da!

I'm continuing to work on the "Medallion Collar" - shall I call it that? - anyone with a better name for the lovely collar from the previous post?  It's just called "collar" in the book but as there are several collars in the Priscilla Tatting Book No. 2, it would be nice to have names for the different collars so we know which one we're talking about.

Which brings me to the topic of this post, as it is about another collar from the same book.  Well, it's actually not a collar but if you remember a while back I decided to tat the Victorian Trellis Doily as a collar and I've finally finished it!  It's been finished for a while in fact but for some reason I'd never got around to sewing the last ends in and taking a photo.  

But here it is...

I'm not too sure yet with what and how to wear it but here is a photo just to give an idea of what it might look like when worn as a collar.  Are lace collars too old-fashioned?  Is there a modern way to wear them nowadays?  I hope so because I really like everything about this design, the victorian sets, the shape, the combination of elements, the balance of positive and negative spaces, etc.  You could just see it as an elaborate necklace, no?  In fact it's all in the name isn't it, showing what was valued before as jewellery... "neck-lace".

Best wishes,

Frivole

Many Problems!

Even before I've completed all the medallions, I decided to start testing the other rows to make sense of the pattern and see how everything fits together.  The piece you're seeing therefore is messy as it's all just testing:  there's knots and loose threads and different elements that I've tried out so it looks disorganised at the moment.  But once I've figured out what I'm doing, I will cut it all out and start again.

Yes, there are many problems with this pattern!  As can often be the case with vintage patterns, I just cannot make things fit as per the way the pattern is written.  If I try to follow just as is indicated, elements end up all crammed in in places but mostly, the collar just won't curve as it should.  If I make the neck edge as written, the curve is practically non existent, you'd end up with an edging rather than a collar.

I don't really know what's so different as I feel that my medallions look pretty much like the ones in the photo in the book... so why can't I get everything else to fit around them?

I'm determined to make this work though, even if it will mean adjusting the pattern so that I end up with the right shape and with all elements fitting well with each other.

The finished collar will therefore not be exactly like the one in the book - I feel the changes will be mostly around the neckline - but it will still look close to the original.

Examining it again, I think that my medallions are perhaps tighter/smaller than the ones in the book which would affect all the elements around... but still I don't see that it should cause that many problems.

I'll keep at it!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Minimal Progress

A while ago I showed you the start of a collar (more info on it in this blogpost).  I was making it in size 20 thread but the book calls for size 10 and I eventually decided to start again with the right size thread after all.  I don't often choose to work with the thicker thread as I find the movements don't flow quite as well for me as with finer thread.

As you can see I'd not got very far anyway so it wasn't too much of a heartbreak to start again and you can see how considerably larger the motifs are in size 10 compared to the size 20 ones.

I'm excited about this collar and continue to be frustrated that I can still only do a bit of tatting at a time (tendonitis how I dislike thee!) but like the tortoise, I'll get there eventually.  

I'm wondering about making some YouTube videos about this collar since I'll be working on it for a while, what do you think?

I'm adding the photo of the collar again so you can see what I'm working towards if you'd not seen it before.  It's from Priscilla Tatting No. 2 Book which can be found online here.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Little Cross

I have made this little cross by Elizabeth Zipay a few times already.  I needed a small gift for a family member and decided the cross would make a nice bookmark.  I purchased the pattern many years ago but somehow couldn't find it in my files so had to purchase it again - I didn't mind though as it's a small amount and I'm always happy to support other tatters.

I use to really enjoy Elizabeth's blog and her beautiful tatting.  Sadly she is busy with other things and not active on her blog or in her shop anymore (though her shop is still open wit a few patterns for sale).

I do like this cross pattern very much.  It's tatted in one pass.  The construction of the longer bottom part with rings made from one side means it doesn't look completely symmetrical but that's ok and I still like the overall look of it.

Best wishes,

Frivole

La Feuille Frivole

I keep having problems with people not being able to download my patterns over at Google Docs.  I have set permission to "everyone with the link can view" but I still regularly get people telling me they are not able to access some of my patterns and I don't know why.

So I'm trying something new.  I'll see if I can embed the patterns right here into my blogposts and use new links to re-direct people here if that works better.

If you click on the little arrow in the right-hand corner of the image,(it says "pop out" if you hover over it)

this should take you to the page from where you can download it.

I'm trying it with my very first pattern which is this little leaf called "La Feuille Frivole".

If a few people would be kind enough to tell me if they can see the pattern and are able to download it for printing, I'd be grateful.

Many thanks!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Start of 2022

It's already the 22nd of January!  Oh, 22nd of 2022... that's a lot of 2s!  It's about time I write something new since my previous blogpost was my Christmas one.

Tatting and other similar activities are still on the back-burner.  I do a little bit here and there but no larger projects that I can tackle at the moment.

Instead a holiday project was to have a go at felting wool.  You know I have those fleeces that I'm spinning and knitting... well, my son had seen a video of someone felting wool using cardboard so we decided to give it a try.

You first have to pull all the wool fibres apart into tiny wisps so that it's all very fine and airy.  Place it all in a cardboard box and make sure the thickness is even everywhere.  Ours was about 4 inches thick initially.

Then you turn the box over and you have a nice "square" of thick wool fibres.

The person in the video we'd seen rolled his fibres in cardboard but we used bubble wrap instead.

So you wet the fibres and then roll them up in the bubble wrap.

And then you have to keep rolling and rolling and then unwrapping and turning

your wool piece and keep rolling until the fibres start blending together.

As you can see we used brown and white wool.

It's not quite finished

but we're getting there!

Otherwise I've been making more newspaper baskets.  I used purple cabbage water to dye the paper for this one.  It gives it a subtle lilac colour.  I dye the rolls first, let dry, then varnish them with diluted varnish  and let dry again before I used the rolls for making the basket.

I've now run out of my dyed rolls so I need to make more!

I finished the rim (will have to show another photo in next blogpost)

but I still have to make the handle.

I made another smaller one that I gave to my daughter:

And there's another blue one of which I just realised I don't have a good photo

(so for next blogpost).

And to finish, a very little bit of tatting.  I really want to keep working on this collar but I just can't tat much at all so it will be a while before I can make much progress on it.  *Sigh*

I hope all is well with you all and that your new year is off to a good start.  I'd love to hear what projects you are currently working on after the holidays.

Best wishes,

Frivole