Tatting Large Rings with Large Thread

Yesterday was a really busy day with work and getting ready for class tonight so I haven’t done much tatting in the last 24 hours, but I wanted to write about something I forgot to include yesterday in my post about the tatted belt. It’s probably not much of a new idea, but I figured it out while during that project and wanted to share it here.

The larger rings were made of 9 picots separated by 3 stitches for a total of 30 stitches in each ring.  Since I was using size 3 thread it meant that each ring took a fairly long length of thread.  I’m not sure how long exactly, but it got really annoying to constantly have to pull more thread through the stitches of the ring.  And as there were more and more stitches on the ring it took more and more pulling.  I could feel wrists tightening up everytime I had to do it and because it was hard to pull the thread through I had to keep stopping to do it.  (I couldn’t just do it with the fingers of my left hand like I can with a smoother thread and smaller ring.)

About half way through the project I realized I could wrap the shuttle thread around my pinky like I was making a chain, and then bring it around like a normal ring.  That way as I needed more thread to create the ring I already had it “inside” the ring and just had to unwrap it from my finger.  For the rings in this pattern I found I needed to wrap it around my finger about 10 times to finish the ring without having to pull anymore thread through.

Anyway, that’s all for today.  I just thought it was a handy little trick and hopefully it helps you as well if you ever decide to do a pattern with large rings with size 3 thread.

3 Comments »

  1. Gina Said,

    January 13, 2011 @ 4:06 am

    It’s great to see someone else working on the vintage patterns and bringing them up to date! I’m working on the DMC book by Dillmont. I’ll enjoy watching your progress.

  2. admin Said,

    January 13, 2011 @ 2:35 pm

    Hi Gina, Saw your latest piece with the triangles on the 25 motif website. Lovely work! Nice to see someone else working through the vintage patterns as well. I’ll have to check out the Dillmont book sometime. Is it on the Antique Pattern Library website?

  3. Gina Said,

    January 14, 2011 @ 1:43 pm

    Yes, it’s on the Antique Pattern Library site. I’ll try to find the exact link. This morning I could not connect to the internet at home so hopefully when I get there tonight, I will be able to.

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