Librarian
29-07-2009, 08:28 PM
* Posted by Kim on September 25, 2008
Hi,
I have tried tatting a doily from the book "The Tatters Treasure Chest" on pg. 20 called "Adventure in Beauty". What an adventure!! Twice now I have gotten to about rounds 3-4 and it is too much of a bowl. I tried two different sizes of threads thinking that might help with my tension. Has anyone made this doily and did they have to make adjustments so it won't bowl? I'm not for sure how to do that if I wanted to attempt making this again. How do you make adjustments for tension problems? I really like this pattern but I hate wasting my time when I can see it is going nowhere. Please help!
Kim
Reply by PattyD on September 25, 2008 at 8:31am
First of all, congratulations on attempting something so challenging. Next, sometimes a bowl problem will be able to be blocked out. I have read advice from several Tatters that they had to block, iron, starch, what have you to keep the early rounds of a pattern flat. Sometimes the following rows exert a pull to keep the "bowl" rounds on their good behavior. If you haven't already drop kicked you latest attempt into the next county, it would be worthwhile to try to block it into submission.
Secondly, as far as allowing for tension, chains are much more the culprits than rings are generally. If you have a tight tension, your chains might benefit from an extra DS or so. This is where I would examine the picture of the doily closely and see if the proportions between the rings and the chains in the picture are anything like your work. If your chains look way too short, you could lengthen them a bit. Alternatively, you could try to alter the tension on the chains. I don't usually recommend trying to change tension because sometimes all it alters is your blood pressure!
There, my brain is empty now.
Reply by TattingChic on September 25, 2008 at 1:02pm
Like Patty said, sometimes when things "bowl up" it can be blocked out. I've even pressed a doily in progress with an iron and damp press cloth and gotten it to lie flat and it has solved the problem. I would try one of these before attempting stitch changes.
Reply by Kim on September 26, 2008 at 6:08am
Thanks for the advice. I'm going to try to iron/block and see what happens. I'm thinking it may be too messed up to fix but I'm crossing my fingers.
~Kim
Reply by Kim on September 26, 2008 at 6:12am
Quick question....since most tension problems stem from the chains....how do you now how much to "snug" the chain stitches? If you tat them and they look okay before snugging them...should you still tighten them? Does this make sense??!! I love doilies but I always have a problem with my tension so I get a little apprehensive about starting them because I may be wasting time and thread.
~Kim
Reply by PattyD on September 26, 2008 at 7:18am
Like all arts, Tating is learned by doing it, so even if the first attempt doesn't come out the way you would like, you always learn something. That said, my take on chains and tension is this:
Each DS of a chain should be made where it will live forever. There is no reason to leave any slack while making a chain. Perfect tension will place each DS exactly where it is supposed to go. Therefore,
Ta-Da! there should be no need to snug a chain. Any snugging is squishing something and the most likely victim is the core thread in the previous ring (The core thread out of the last ring is the core thread for the following chain, there is nothing to stop a pull on the chain core from ruining a perfectly made ring). A tiny adjustment may be called for, but nothing large enough to call 'snugging'.
But....!!!! the DS is top heavy and a long chain can get a little squirmy. There is a lot more thread in the cap than there is in the legs of the DS. Ruth Perry has gifted the Tatting community with a wonderful invention called the Balanced Double Stitch which produces an increase in the amount of thread in the legs. The process is simple.
When you make the move to work half a DS, go back over the working thread again so that the leg is doubled. This doubling occurs before you flip the loop to the working thread. Voila, a strong, practically square DS. This automatically increases the length of the DS and therefore automatically increases the length of the chain.
Hi,
I have tried tatting a doily from the book "The Tatters Treasure Chest" on pg. 20 called "Adventure in Beauty". What an adventure!! Twice now I have gotten to about rounds 3-4 and it is too much of a bowl. I tried two different sizes of threads thinking that might help with my tension. Has anyone made this doily and did they have to make adjustments so it won't bowl? I'm not for sure how to do that if I wanted to attempt making this again. How do you make adjustments for tension problems? I really like this pattern but I hate wasting my time when I can see it is going nowhere. Please help!
Kim
Reply by PattyD on September 25, 2008 at 8:31am
First of all, congratulations on attempting something so challenging. Next, sometimes a bowl problem will be able to be blocked out. I have read advice from several Tatters that they had to block, iron, starch, what have you to keep the early rounds of a pattern flat. Sometimes the following rows exert a pull to keep the "bowl" rounds on their good behavior. If you haven't already drop kicked you latest attempt into the next county, it would be worthwhile to try to block it into submission.
Secondly, as far as allowing for tension, chains are much more the culprits than rings are generally. If you have a tight tension, your chains might benefit from an extra DS or so. This is where I would examine the picture of the doily closely and see if the proportions between the rings and the chains in the picture are anything like your work. If your chains look way too short, you could lengthen them a bit. Alternatively, you could try to alter the tension on the chains. I don't usually recommend trying to change tension because sometimes all it alters is your blood pressure!
There, my brain is empty now.
Reply by TattingChic on September 25, 2008 at 1:02pm
Like Patty said, sometimes when things "bowl up" it can be blocked out. I've even pressed a doily in progress with an iron and damp press cloth and gotten it to lie flat and it has solved the problem. I would try one of these before attempting stitch changes.
Reply by Kim on September 26, 2008 at 6:08am
Thanks for the advice. I'm going to try to iron/block and see what happens. I'm thinking it may be too messed up to fix but I'm crossing my fingers.
~Kim
Reply by Kim on September 26, 2008 at 6:12am
Quick question....since most tension problems stem from the chains....how do you now how much to "snug" the chain stitches? If you tat them and they look okay before snugging them...should you still tighten them? Does this make sense??!! I love doilies but I always have a problem with my tension so I get a little apprehensive about starting them because I may be wasting time and thread.
~Kim
Reply by PattyD on September 26, 2008 at 7:18am
Like all arts, Tating is learned by doing it, so even if the first attempt doesn't come out the way you would like, you always learn something. That said, my take on chains and tension is this:
Each DS of a chain should be made where it will live forever. There is no reason to leave any slack while making a chain. Perfect tension will place each DS exactly where it is supposed to go. Therefore,
Ta-Da! there should be no need to snug a chain. Any snugging is squishing something and the most likely victim is the core thread in the previous ring (The core thread out of the last ring is the core thread for the following chain, there is nothing to stop a pull on the chain core from ruining a perfectly made ring). A tiny adjustment may be called for, but nothing large enough to call 'snugging'.
But....!!!! the DS is top heavy and a long chain can get a little squirmy. There is a lot more thread in the cap than there is in the legs of the DS. Ruth Perry has gifted the Tatting community with a wonderful invention called the Balanced Double Stitch which produces an increase in the amount of thread in the legs. The process is simple.
When you make the move to work half a DS, go back over the working thread again so that the leg is doubled. This doubling occurs before you flip the loop to the working thread. Voila, a strong, practically square DS. This automatically increases the length of the DS and therefore automatically increases the length of the chain.