"DEAD END" chains

[Liyarra]

Hi, Can anyone tell me how to finish a piece with a chain that is connected to NOTHING at the end and then to hide the ends??????

I have a lattice work piece I have designed and I am trying to tat it but the top has 2 curled chains that just stop. Very hard to explain but anyone who has seen old ironwork scrolls on houses might know what I mean. I can start the piece with a chain - that isn't the problem - it is the other end.

I love the concept of the pattern and I think it will look really good but I cannot find a way to hide the ends and a knot will just be obvious and really stupid!!

[Tattips]

You could hook the end on a clip and work backwards as in a split chain till you reach a point where you can hide the end by stitching between the double sitiches.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~TammyRodgers/lilys_way.html

[Maureen L]

One of the Easter Egg patterns in the little Danish book ends this way; I just tied the ends in a reef knot, then threaded a needle and ran one end in through the front of the stitches at the top, and the other end went the other way, at the bottom! Worked well,although it's painstaking, and I did use a tiny dab of glue when I'd finished.

[PattyD]

I have discovered that the SSSR method is pretty good for this. I use the SSSR loop for the last DS, usually from the last picot onward. That stashes one end automatically. Then the idea is to snag the other free end from the chain and use the SSSR loop to pull it up into the chain. The trick is to balance the 2 ends and not pull the whole loop out, thereby only hiding one end. True, you could then sew it under the caps of the chain.

[Liyarra]

Gosh Patty I wish you were closer!! I think that is one I would have to watch being done but it sounds ok. I am having trouble picturing how it would work so would love to see it in action. (But that is just me - not a word person) I will take some practice thread to work tonight.
I like the suggestion Tattips made too. But both include practices I cannot do and would make the piece too hard for most tatters to want to try.
It is a cute design I am sure others will want to do.
Thinking about simply putting a tiny ring at the ends but that may spoil the effect.
Vinnie has also suggested putting small beads at the ends which might work if I can incorporate beads into the design elsewhere.
I really gotta learn how to sew in ends. Magic thread is great but not always practical.

[BlueDode]

Liyarra:

My mental image of your "curled chains that just stop" remind me of the "feelers" on tatted butterflies: often these are left as lengths of thread on butterflies, but in some patterns they are tatted. Usually they are tatted in the reverse direction of what you describe, using CTM (continuous thread method): that way, there is no join at the tip of the feelers.

However, this requires that you START the pattern at the end tip(s) of the butterfly feelers/"curled chains that just stop" become "curled chains that just START". Many people hook a paperclip or a safety pin between the two shuttles (CTM) or at the start of the tatting to divide the shuttle and ball threads -- makes it easier to start and to adjust the tightness of the chain. But it sounds like your pattern is like butterfly feelers: you might want to consider having TWO starting points.

It sounds like you want to start at tip end of one butterfly feeler/curled chain that just STARTS, then end up at the end tip of the other butterfly feeler/curled chain that just STOPS.

A thought: how about tatting the 2nd feeler/chain that just STOPS first thing, then cut the threads. Next, wind the shuttle(s) for the 1st feeler/chain that just STARTS and tat your pattern until you want to insert the curled chain that just stops, which is the loose chain you tatted first. If this means you now have 4 ends to hide: do you have room? how will this look? If there's no room to hide them. this is NOT a good idea.

Tattips suggestion sounds like a great idea. Let me walk you through a visual picture of what I think she means.
1. You know about how long the first chain, the "tatted chain that just starts", is: so, when it is time to do the chain that just stops, work only with the shuttle thread: put a paper clip on the shuttle thread and tie a knot in the shuttle thread around the paperclip and position this knot at the correct length; leave the paperclip in the knot.
2. Holding the paper clip on one hand and the shuttle in the other, work Dora Young Knots (or use another method to create double stitches around the thread between your previous work and the paperclip: the measured lenth of thread becomes the core thread. Unfortuately, this would be challenging to beginning tatters.

3. When you are finished, you end up with both thread ends at the base of the chain that doesn't hook to anything. Can you hide two ends here?

Whatever you decide to do, good luck!

[Liyarra]

Hi Blue Dode.
Thanks for the descriptions they are really good.
Starting the chains from nothing is not a problem - it is something I have done many times - it was actually the ending that I was thinking about. unfortunately this idea is not going to work. Looked great on paper but to tat it would require too much fiddling around as it is not a small piece and would not be something anyone I know would want to be bothered with,
I have decided to change the pattern to include more rings and I think I can still get the effect I want it will just be a little less effective than I was hoping for.
Thank you all for your help.