Saturday, October 27, 2012

Tatted Flower Choker


 The story behind this design is that I got the inspiration from a vintage edging pattern. It had the bottom part of the flower "petals" with the big picot-ed ring in the middle, and so naturally I thought a bead would fit into that ring nicely.

So, I grabbed some hand dyed thread from my latest batch "Gold Crimson", and because I wanted to get done with the project quickly, used size 10 thread. Now, size 10 does tat up quickly - BUT - it's a lot harder to get Swarovski crystal pearls (one of my favorite beads) onto it. The holes in the beads need to be just slightly bigger, argh! Still, I managed to get them on, using a size 15 crochet hook. I could have done it with a wide eye beading needle and a piece of sewing thread, too.
 The idea of completing the flower shape on top didn't occur to me until after I had the first side done. At first I had planned on doing something different so I had a picot in the middle of the short chain between flowers. Later, after a bit of experimentation, it seemed that putting more petals on top would make a cute flower. Because there are only 2 petals on top, with 3 petals on the bottom, repeating the motif tends to form a nice curve. A solid "Lizbeth" thread coordinated well with the hand dyed. I used the extra picot to make a Catherine Wheel join there, but the extra join seemed unnecessary to add stability, so on my next attempt I'm not putting a picot there.

I already have another one started, this time in size 20 thread. The first choker I made using only one shuttle and the ball thread, but the turns are tidier by using 2 shuttles, so that's what I'm doing now. There will need to be about 24 repeats in the size 20 thread; the size 10 thread version used 17 repeats. The first side flops around a lot until the second side is added to stabilize it.

Maybe a hand dyed would look nice on the second half of the brown necklace, hmm.

23 comments:

Fox said...

Lovely design, Marilee. Really appealing.
Fox : )

And I LOVE that thread!

Mónica said...

Qué lindo, me imagino unas margaritas. Está hermoso de verdad, cada vez publicas algo más lindo que lo anterior.

Margaret said...

Another wonderful design!

slow design said...

Tatting autumn. I like this colours.

Craftdrawer said...

Really like the colors in this one!

Margarets designer cards said...

Beautiful colours and gorgeous necklace, lovely pattern.
Margaret

Suztats said...

Wonderful design! And i LOVE LOVE LOVE your crimson gold HDT!

Kathy Niklewicz said...

This is quite a saga and a wonderful explanation of all the trials and tribulations you went through to come up with something very unique and attractive! You simply amaze me! I was recently thinking that it's a good thing I learned to tat before so many new ideas and techniques came along! I think I would have been too overwhelmed!

Cindy said...

Marilee, you amaze me! Do you sleep with shuttles in your hands????? Another beautiful design.

Michelle said...

It's gorgeous, gorgeous!!!!

Valerie said...

This choker is beautiful! I really like the idea that it's a complete round, making each a flower as compared to the somewhat flimsy chain-joined half flower. :)

mariateresa e c. said...

Bellissimi i tuoi lavori

Jane McLellan said...

Love the design, and the thread colour. I do like the way you've completed the flowers, and I like to hear about projects evolving. Often we see a final product, but not the steps that led to it.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful work!

nuta said...

Lovely yours work!!!

God's Kid said...

Love the floral design!!! :)
And the colors are awesome!! :)

LittleBerry said...

The choker is lovely and your thought process was interesting to read. As for HDT contrast to the solid you have so many lovely colours to choose from, parchment, knitty gritty, fortune, tigers eye etc etc

LittleBerry said...

The choker is lovely and your thought process was interesting to read. As for HDT contrast to the solid you have so many lovely colours to choose from, parchment, knitty gritty, fortune, tigers eye etc etc

Mary Sarah said...

This is gorgeous! The design and thread colors are just beautiful!

ancolie said...

beautiful design and georgus colors !
I love yours designs.I've bought your books and I am tatting your Beguile Necklace ;-)
ancolie (France)

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RM_lacemaker said...

What a gorgeous necklace! Is the pattern available?

Marilee Rockley said...

RM_lacemaker, thank you. It's in the "Marilee's Beaded Tatting Finery" book.