Spring Corsage in 3D Tatted Flowers

 My spring corsage is done, just in time for Easter! I used the daffodils tatting pattern in Christel Weidmann’s book "Ostern" plus small tatted flowers I made up myself.

I really like how Christel's 3D daffodil design imitates the live flower so well. The book is written in German, with a list of the tatting abbreviations translated into English. There are about 15 designs in the book, including several animals and flowers, each with a diagram and stitch counts. The daffodils are the only 3D patterns in this book. The larger daffodil has more detailed instructions than the smaller narcissus, so I'd recommend trying the large daffodil first. (I started with the narcissus and had a bit of trouble, but eventually sorted it out!)

I used size 20 thread (Lizbeth, mostly) for finished flowers that measured about 2 inches (5 cm) across. After that I tatted small flowers (to suggest scilla and violets), finishing each with a tiny single shuttle split ring at the bottom so I wouldn't have to sew in ends. When all the flowers were done, I joined them together with lock stitch tatted chain. The joining was not an exact science - I just made it up while going along until I had an arrangement I liked.

I'll wear it using a corsage pin, just as if they were real flowers!

Connecting the flowers into an arrangement

Joining the cup of a tatted daffodil in progress

The book "Ostern" by Christel Weidmann