Just started the last round - which is the same scallop round as before. Will post a picture when it is all done. Done in Aida size 20 the large doily will measure about 17 inches in diameter.

This is my Classic Doily done again in brown and ivory (my husband's favourite...and we have to keep the men sweet don't we?). The last time I did it in these colours I simply did all rings ivory and all chains brown, but this time I wanted to do blocks of colour.

The doily could be finished at this point and, done in size 20 cotton, it is a decent size, but I shall carry on and do the whole pattern. However it would make a good dressing table set with one large and two smaller ones.

I have also done a small mat just to use some thread up on my shuttles. I think it looks a bit like a Catherine wheel, but I won't be writing the pattern out as it needs tweeking.

Here is the little square motif pattern done 3 X 3 and then a simple little edging to finish it off.

Here is the pink set completed. It turns out that my neighbour is not really into delicate lacy things so I shall keep this as a "stock" item to give as a present to someone else in the future.

I have designed and made my friend a birthday card for December. I made a box section and covered it with a cut-out picture frame. The tatting in the centre is covered with acetate and so does not show up very well because of reflection, but in real life it is quite effective.
I saw this type of card being made on a TV craft program and thought that I could replicate the idea without going to the expense of buying the kit. Luckily I had all the equipment necessary and it wasn't all that difficult to make....just time consuming....and I think it turned out well!

I have been working very hard on different projects, but was unable to post any pictures until I purchased some batteries for my camera! Finally bought them yesterday and so here is what I have been up to.

Firstly, I made a crocheted baby coverlet in 3D roses and decorated it with tatted motifs and borders. I have line the coverlet with fleece to make it really cosy. Although it looks ornate, it washes well, and so is really practical.

Secondly, I made a cabled cardy for my latest great-nephew (8 months old)

Thirdly, I liked this little cardy so much I made another one, but made my own pattern up.

Finally, I enjoyed my spell of knitting so much that I decided to make myself an aran cardigan. I have done the back and two fronts, and have now started on the first sleeve. I will post a pic when it is finished.

I am re-working my Classic Doily so that I can photograph each section to match the written pattern. I am now on the last round and so will hope to get the pattern test-tatted soon. Anyone up for test-tatting?

I told my friend, Eileene, in America, that I was bored because I didn't have a project to tat, and I don't like just tatting for no reason, so she requested a large round doily for her dining room table.



This is the result. I liked doing it very much and I am going to make one for myself. The second rounds of rings are a little busy, so I will adjust it and probably write the pattern out as I am doing it.

I went to the West Midlands Tat Day recently and purchased a ball of DMC 80 in colourway 67 and also a white one. I made this little doily with the new threads and I have deliberately not swapped shuttles so that you can see the split chains and split rings I have used to climb out of each row. By doing split chains and rings, this doily was achieved in one go, so only one lot of hiding ends at the finish! Oh, and it measures about 7.5 inches in diameter.

I had some pearle 12 left on my shuttles from making my corsage and so used up the thread with this doily. It didn't flow as well as some of my designs, therefore I had a lot of wasted thread, however, I think the end result was worth it!

I've made this arrangement to wear on Saturday to the West Midlands Tatting Day at Amblecote, Stourbridge (UK). I shall be wearing cream trousers with a red and cream top and red blouse. The last time I wore a corsage to this event, a couple of years ago, I ended up giving it away to another tatter who was starting up her own group. I wonder where this one will end up!

I decided to make a flowerarrangement for my son and daughter-in-laws' bathroom.
The pictures show the flowers and leaves I made and the steps that I arranged them.
I had glued a small block of oasis onto a little Aynesley china dish the day before, to make sure that it was well secure.

And here is the split chain doily completed. My designing hat must have been really tall as this pattern just rolled off my shuttle.....no retro-tatting needed at all!
Being able to do split chains makes such a difference to the amount of cutting and tying needed between rows. With this design, using split chains and split rings to climb out of rows, I only had to cut and tie after row 8 and the last row, doing away with masses of ends to sew in!

The doily is now finished. I have also finished the written pattern, but I have offered it to Georgia Seitz, to help raise funds for Palmettos sponsorship. If it is that she is not in a position to sell it to fellow tatters, then I will post it on my blog for free as usual.

Here is the doily, now a little bigger. I'm quite enjoying this pattern, it seems to be flowing naturally without having to re-do any rounds.

Here are pictures of the finished Coronet Doily Variation completed.

This all came about because Judy Edwards decided to make a row of my small Coronet Doilies around the outside edge of my large Coronet Doily and she needed to make a joining motif to complete it. She did a great job and won first prize with it at the NC State Fair. (See my blog post about it.) I decided that I would have a go myself at a joining motif and this is what I came up with. It was made with Coates Aida size 20 and measures approximately 25inches across.

Following Judy Edwards adaptation of my Coronet Doilies (see previous post) I thought I would have a go at doing my own version.
This is how I would join the smaller outer coronet doily motifs together.
Only 5 more outer doilies and joining motifs to make! It will be quite large when it is completed (I am using size 20 Aida threads). I will post the overall size when I have finished.

Judy Edwards entered her adaptation of my Coronet Doily into NC State Fair and won first prize in the lace section, which included all types of lace.
I think that this is a wonderful result and kudos for tatting!
Well done, Judy!

Over on InTatters one of the members had tatted my large coronet doily and then tatted and joined the smaller version around the outside. She then had to design a joining section. As you can see from this picture she did a pretty good job but I thought it would be fun to do my own version.
So far I have made the centre doily and done two of the smaller ones (pic not taken yet) but unfortunately I am running out of thread! I managed to get hold of Mary-Helen yesterday evening and very fortunately she has got the right thread and colours that I am using and is sending them to me. I will then crack on with the project.


In the meantime, I thought I would design a new fuschia flower. I have one in my book of summer flowers, but looking at a beautiful double one in my garden, I am going to see if I can do it justice!

Giovanna has been busy. Just take a look at these lovely flowers she has completed!

I had some of this thread left on my shuttles from the ~Rosette Doily~ and thought I would use it up. I basically designed one row and then just kept repeating it. Sometimes offset and sometimes straight on. Not bad, but I don't think it is the best of designs!

Here is a picture of the Rosette Doily - the pattern for which my friend, Stephanie, test tatted for me. Didn't she do a grand job? I love the way she has used the white to accentuate the rosette edging! It just shows how colour can affect the end result and colour combinations are endless!

Here is my latest doily now tatted in a variagated thread which I have now name Rosette Doily. It is Lizbeth size 40 col 124. I have written out the pattern and my good friend, Stephanie, is test tatting it for me. As soon as she is done I will post the link to the PDF.

I was asked by my dear friend, Eileene, from USA, to make covers for her Holy Bible and Book of Mormon. She gave me the measurements and this is what I have come up with so far. The motifs will cover the front and back of each book and the rows of tatting will go down the spines. I will also do rows of tatting at each end and fasten at the top and bottom to make sleeves to anchor the covers on the books. I am using DMC size 70 and so the work is really delicate. The one I am doing at the moment (the bible one) will be 12 1/2" by 7 1/2".

What do you think of it so far?

I have now written out the pattern for my latest bookmark, that I have called Josephine Knot Bookmark. You will find the link here or there is also a link on the right side bar of this blog in the "My Free Patterns" section. Enjoy!

Here is a picture of my recent oval doily now in it's final resting place. I often put my tatted doilies under glass as it protects them and the glass protects the top of the wooden furniture. This occassional table is was bought in 1985 and there isn't a scratch on it!

Here is my latest doily completed. I wanted an oval doily to go under glass on an oval occassional table that I have. The doily that is on it at the moment is an old one from a pattern book and I wanted to replace it with something that I had designed myself. I have used a very standard edging, with a few tweeks, that can be found on many old patterns.....but I think that it works well in this case.


I doubt if I will ever write out the pattern for this as I would have to rework it to make it absolutely perfect......maybe one day, when I am bored and looking for something challenging!

This is a picture of a wedding dress a friend made that I took 3 months to decorate with tatting. The same beaded edging is all the way around the dress skirt and train and all around the cathedral length veil. The bodice has appliqued tatted motifs all over it. The fabric of the dress was watermarked silk.

It was made in 1988, modelled by my (then) 16 year old niece, Paula.

Does it remind you, similarly, of a recent royal wedding dress?

The old designs never date do they?

Sorry about the quality of the picture, but there were no digitals in those days! LOL!!!

Here, as promised, are pictures of the completed fan. It is a simple ring and chain design, but I think you will agree that it looks quite effective. It is a little fiddly to close, but I think this will improve when it has been in the folded position for a while.

And it works! Even though it is lacy, it still causes a nice, ladylike draught! LOL!!!

This is handkerchief edging No.2 from Mary Konior's book A Pattern Book of Tatting, called Betsy's Downfall. Again it is sewn to an old, never used, handkerchief that I have had since childhood and the thread is an antique DMC size 70. The handky had a pale blue appliqued butterfly in one corner and so I made a corner of the pattern to sew onto each wing. I think you will agree that it looks quite effective.....so much so that my lovely DIL, Charlie, appropriated it to put in her "going out" hand bag! LOL!!!

The new book "Tatted Tiaras and Bridal Pieces" is now available and uploaded onto my web site, Here is the direct link to the appropriate page.

I decided to get a move on with this publication so that fellow tatters had plenty of time for tatting for spring brides and weddings.

The pictures show just a few of the 24 pages.

I hope you all enjoy having a go!

This bridesmaid's headdress completes my new book. All I have to do now is to check through it for mistakes and to add an abreviations/instructions page.
Yippee!!!!!
What on earth am I going to do now? Any ideas? Mind you, the last time I asked that question I was landed with designing this latest book! LOL

This is just to show how different the same motifs can look, simply by assembling them in different ways!

Here are a couple of motifs that I am going to use in my new book "Tiaras and Headdresses".

My idea is to show that the same motifs can be put together in different ways to achieve a different look.

While I'm waiting for my new wool to arrive I thought I would finish off a couple of tiaras.
I have attached the tatting to the headband using fine jewellery wire. The left one I added pearl beads at the same time. This could also be done for the one on the right and I think it would benefit from it....what do you think?
After I had assembled the tiaras I felt that they were not stiff enough - I had used "Fraycheck" - and so I dipped the tatting in full strength PVA glue, wiped off the excess with a damp cloth and reshaped the tatting by moulding them against curmpled alluminium foil. The stiffness is now perfect!

Here is the first little headdress completed. I think that I will design a certain amount of 3D flowers and then show how they can be arranged in different ways.
How does this sound?

I have been playing with the Coronet Doily pattern and have come up with a smaller version. (It will look better when I have pressed it, but I wanted to get it posted on my blog!) It can be made in conjunction with the full sized one, like a dressing table set, or just on its own as a coaster or ornament mat. I will write out the pattern as soon as I get a moment.
Clyde is hoping to finish test-tatting the large doily by this weekend. As soon as he gives me the go ahead, I will publish the pattern.

Well the tatting is finished, just the pattern to write out! It won't be long though, I've only got the last round to complete and then I can send it to Clyde to test tat. (What a star he is!)

As soon as Clyde has checked the pattern, I shall put a link to the PDF, here on my blog.

Here, as promised, is a picture of the edited version (so far) of my new doily. It is lying flat much better already. You wouldn't think that just reducing each ring and chain by 2 stitches would make such a difference, but I suppose, when there are 96 rings and 32 chains in the round, it is definitely going to make an impact!

I have decided to call it Coronet Doily.

I knew when I purchased this Finca thread that the pink colour was my best friend's favourite and so Janet will be the recipient of the doily when it is finished.

Here is the finished result of the first attempt.
Now that it is done I can see where there are too many stitches to allow it to lie flat. Even with wetting, blocking and pressing it does not sit well.
I am really looking forward to getting it right as I think it will then be a pretty doily.
I have used split chains and split rings to climb out of each row and therefore there is only one cut and hide ends at the very end!
Thank you to all who have suggested a name for this doily.

I have decided to take a break from working on my latest book, Tatted Flowers From Bulbs. I had not picked up a tatting shuttle since before Howard and Charlie's wedding on 4th September, until last Saturday.
I loaded two shuttles, had no idea where they were going to take me, but this is the result so far!

This Amaryllis is the last flower for my latest book Tatted Flowers From Bulbs. I have yet to wire and assemble it, but I think you can see the shape appearing. Amazingly, I designed it very quickly, with only one alteration, from my hospital bed. My brain must have been boosted with the blood transfusion I had following my surgery!LOL

These two bookmarks are the ones that I designed whilst I was in hospital. They are similar....variations on a theme. It was just something to do after I had finished the amrylis flower above. Really good therapy.....when I am concentrating on designing I do not concentrate on pain!

Here is the iris that I have designed to add to my latest book Tatted Flowers From Bulbs.

Most flower patterns only take me two or three goes to get the effect that I am looking for, but this one!!!!....well I certainly got through a lot of cotton before I was satisfied with the end result!

I think the main problem was, there were so many variety variations of the flower, that coming up with something that actually looked like an iris, but was also easily achievable for the tatter, was quite a challenge!

What do you think? Would you recognise it as an iris?

Here is a picture of the flower patterns that I have done so far, for my new book
Tatted Flowers From Bulbs.
I think that the next pattern will be one for Iris and then one for Amarylis (maybe LOL!)
Also, I will have to do some leaves, although the pattern that I have done for the hyacynth leaf could simply be elongated for the daffodils and bluebells and just about the same length for the crocuses!

These are the motifs that I have completed so far, for future DIL's bridal headband. Sorry the picture is not of the best quality, but, as usual, I was in a hurry! LOL
Many more to do yet!:shock: