Pansy

A new batch of "Pansy" thread, hand dyed by me. In this photo I've started tatting the pansy motif from the Priscilla Tatting Book #2, a vintage book in public domain. If you go to http://www.georgiaseitz.com/public/publicindex.html and scroll down a bit, the link to the book is on the right hand side. There are a lot of vintage books listed there! Other online archives have vintage patterns for free, too.

I didn't have time to finish the pansy before getting the hand dyed thread listed on Etsy, but I hope to get it finished into some sort of hair ornament by Easter. Most likely I'll use a solid color around the outside edge. For now I'm just following the pattern as given, the best I can. It occurred to me that there could be some improvements by replacing the center ring with a self-closing mock ring and having the petals as floating rings from that, but I'm not sure. I need to finish this one first in order to understand how the basic pattern works.

Ripple Tatted Necklace Pattern

 Free pattern, folks! ☺
The Ripple tatted necklace pattern is finished. You can download the PDF file by clicking ~HERE~.

I made this one in a hand dyed thread combined with black, but of course many different color combinations are possible. It would probably look good in all one color too. I left beads out this time but it would be so easy to add some decorative picots with beads in them to this design.

New pattern store

My PDF patterns are now for sale on Craftsy. The advantage to buying patterns on Craftsy is that as soon as you pay it's an

instant download! 

No waiting for the email, as when buying a PDF pattern on Etsy.
I'll still keep my patterns available on Etsy, though, just adding Craftsy as another venue. I think you need to sign up with Craftsy before you can buy any patterns there, but it's free to sign up, and there is a TON of patterns on all sorts of crafts there.

Designers, this is a great place to sell your patterns - there are no fees to list patterns! Seriously!

Ripple necklace row 1

Row 1 of "Ripple" necklace (simple version)

Row 1 of the Ripple" necklace (simple version, without beads):

R 6-2. RW.
Ch 7-3. RW.

*R 2-4-2. RW.
Ch 3+5-5-3 (j to last p of prev Ch). RW.
Repeat from * 12 times.

R 2-4-2. RW.
Ch 3+7 (j to last p of prev Ch). RW.
Last R 2-6.

That completes row 1, which is floppy until Row 2 is added. Row 2 adds the color and structure, and I'll put up the directions for that in another post.

News flash - I'll be teaching tatting at Discovery World in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on two Saturdays, April 21 and 28, from 9am till noon. Fee for the class is $20. Pre-registration is required; Call the Discovery World gift shop at 414-765-8770 to sign up for the tatting class. Class size is limited.

So, I'm busy getting ready to teach that class and possibly another one. Also, working on more teaching ideas, including the vintage-inspired edging in the bottom photo, which I'm thinking of turning into a bracelet.

Finished "Ripple" necklace (beaded version)

Bracelet idea in progress

Starting to write up the Ripple necklace pattern

Finally I'm getting around to writing up the pattern for this necklace, which I've entitled "Ripple". I'm planning to make it a free pattern, and it should be a good one for teaching. So far, I've figured out that the first ring is 6-2. An accomplishment in itself, since I first tried 2-6 and that was wrong!!! Of course I tried to open the closed ring, which I usually can do, but this time it didn't work, so I had to start again :(
Anyway, it starts R 6-2. Ch 7-3. R 2-4-2. That's as far as I've gotten, with the next chain being 3 and then a join to the previous chain, which is what is happening in the photo at left. I'll finish the pattern as soon as possible.

The motivation for this is that Discovery World asked if I would teach tatting classes there again. I'll post the dates as soon as I find out where they've put me in their calendar, probably Saturday mornings but I don't know which ones yet.