Three Medallion Bookmark

[Elfiona]

This pattern was requested by IdahoCanuck. Please PM me if you have any questions. It is a pretty simple pattern. The calculations were for how much Lizbeth size 20 thread to wind onto the shuttle. I used a ball for the chains, so no calculations were necessary.

[IdahoCanuck]

Thank you thank you thank you :). It may be simple but it has character and I liike it.
I bet my sister who is just relearning to tat will also love to give it a go!

[Maureen L]

Where does the pattern start? - I never can work these things out from diagrams, I still, to this day, have trouble with them! Thank you for giving it.

[Elfiona]

You can start anywhere really, preferably with a ring. I like to start with the clover group and work around. Each center of the medallion has a group of four clovers. And if you like, you can add picots, floating rings or even Josephine knots. If you add floating rings or Josephine knots, you will have to use two shuttles instead of shuttle and ball. The single medallion that I have posted in my album I did first and the three medallion bookmark developed from there. I wove a narrow ribbon through the middle. It stays put without being tacked.

[Lynn]

I know what you mean, Maureen. If it's a pattern I haven't tatted before, I sometimes have to puzzle over it a bit to decide the best place to start. Those designers who actually point out their starting point are a blessing in the world of diagrammed patterns. This pattern is similar to tatmom's Collossians cross, which is a two shuttle pattern (she originally tatted it with a needle). Tatmom has thrown rings off the chains, just to illustrate what Elfiona says about that possibility. I'd start at the top with a ring, as Elfiona suggests, and then just follow the pattern around.

[BridgetH]

Do you have a photo of the finished piece somewhere we can look at? Also, are the three medallions made separately, or did you start with a clover, around the top, down the side, around the bottom and back up the other side and connect (if that makes sense.)

[Elfiona]

Yes, there is a picture of the three medallions in my album. They are done as one in a line. There is also the original medallion I did that is a separate unit. I thought three together would be nice, but I didn't want them too loose.

Lynn, I'll keep your suggestion in mind when I diagram my next design (giggle). I am quite a newbie at that as well. You see I'm sketching with a pencil on graphpaper because I can't get the sketching programs I've tried to work as I want them to. It is all in my mind, and I forget that you can't see what I envision.

[BridgetH]

Wow, the finished piece looks very complex! I never would have guessed this is the same pattern. I love all three of them.

The diagram is very nice and neat. It printed out too light on my printer so I ran it through a few times and now I'm going over it with a marker, which is really helping me get the rhythm of the rings and clovers in my mind. That's probably not what you intended, but it worked out great!

[Elfiona]

Thanks for the feed back, BridgetH. I'll make my drawings darker in the future.

[BridgetH]

The problem is partly my printer, but I really did find it helpful to go over the design. It made me think through the pattern better, giving myself a mental road map. I'm looking forward to trying it out!