Sunday 29 September 2013

TIAS Day 3

When we tatted Day 3, we discovered that the design cups. What could it be? I figure it looks like a hat for a flower fairy. But, since I don't have a flower fairy handy, I put it on a tiny teddy bear. What do you think? :-)




Wednesday 25 September 2013

Tat It And See

I'm taking part in the Tat It And See (TIAS) currently being run by Sherry Pence. On her regular blog she posts the mystery pattern a little at a time, and on this special blog we can post our progress and our guesses about what it is. Do join in the fun!

I think I'll be posting my progress there rather than here. Here's my first post. :-)

Okay, okay, here are pictures of my Day 1 and Day 2 tatting.



What is it? My current guess: this is the skirt of a crinoline lady. Go to the TIAS blog to see everyone else's guesses! :-)

Saturday 21 September 2013

Not as original as I thought…

The first design I wrote a pattern for was a simple little flower with heart-shaped petals. I was thinking of cherry blossoms, particularly the iconic Japanese sakura you see in art and logos, so I called it Cherry Blossom Hearts. Here it is:

Cherry Blossom Hearts

The first place I showed it was in InTatters. One of the other tatters told me that there was a quite similar motif in Minitats, by Patti Duff — with six dimpled petals rather than five. I asked around, and was eventually able to contact Patti Duff and get her okay to 'publish' my little motif. This was at the end of December 2012. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I was flipping through my copy of A Pattern Book of Tatting, by Mary Konior. And there was a motif with five dimpled petals — very similar to my little cherry blossom! It's called Wild Rose, and it's on page 87.

In light of that, I've rewritten my design and 'copyright' notes for this pattern, and the latest version is here. Obviously, the motif idea is not mine alone; it has been around for a long time, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if in future I discover still other published examples of this flower. However, I developed this design before I saw either of the published examples, so I think it is okay if I continue to share my version of it with you all.

I'm glad I didn't know about Mary Konior's motif until recently. If I had, I might have been quite discouraged. My very first little written-up PDF pattern! It was also the first design that I added a diagram to — the diagram was easy enough that by doing it I could learn a new software program, as well as figure out how I wanted to make diagrams of rings and chains. I've since gone on to write up more complicated designs and do more complicated diagrams, but this was the first rung on that ladder.

Thank you, little cherry blossom! :-)