Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Quickie Snowflake Earrings


These use the techniques of beads dangling on picots, climbing out of a ring with a mock picot formed with a lockstitch, and zigzag chain.

For pattern in pdf format click here.


Materials:

Size 80 tatting thread or glacé quilting thread

48 size 11 seed beads

1 tatting shuttle

2 earring findings


For each earring, string 24 sb onto the thread. Have 6 sb on the shuttle, 18 on the ball thread.

Center r 1--1-1--1-1--1-1--1-1--1-1--1, cl. Lockstitch to make the 6th small p. *Ch (with a b in each p) 6-2-2-6. J to next small p on center R. Repeat from * for a total of 6 “branches”, and j at the beginning.


ZZ ch 4/4, 3 times. Slide 6 b up from the shuttle. R (with a b in each p) 2-2-2-2+ ( to earring finding) 2-2-2-2, cl.


Stiffen, if desired, with clear nail polish, extra-hold hairspray, or a commercial stiffening product. Or, try this tip from Ruth Perry:

"Try tatting them in Hand Quilting thread that has a glaze on the thread. Dip in hot water, and press between clean cloths. This will give them stiffness that will hold its shape and they will still be dainty."


Abbreviations:

b bead
Ch chain
ds double stitch
j join
+ join
p picot
- small picot
-- large picot
R ring
sb seed bead
/ separates stitches on each side of split ring, or sets of zigzag tatting ZZ zigzag, or rickrack tatting of set stitches (first half of ds repeated a number of times, followed by second half repeated a number of times, completing one set)

2 comments:

*♥* Heather *♥* said...

I really really love these, and I KNOW my daughter would too :) Another pretty one to try!!
THANK YOU!!
Heather

Marilee Rockley said...

I'm happy to know that you and your daughter like these! To make it easier to save and print I've just added a link for a pdf version of the pattern.