7 types of lace

In the comment section on this post on this blog some one said there are 7 types of lace
knitting, crochet, weaving, bobbin lace, tatting (knotted laces such as netting are here too), hairpin lace and needle lace

OK I do crochet, bobbin lace, tatting, hairpin, needle.

Trying to learn knitting and weaving.

What laces do you make

Progress on kids and my crochet lace

One of my kids has finished her ball of thread the one doing finger crochet. I have finished mine and decided I wanted more lace so I added another ball and I am continuing to crochet lace. The oldest hasn't finished her ball yet but she is steadily working on it. My middle daughter seams to have hit a wall and hasn't progressed much. But that is normal for her she usually is a little more timid on picking up new skills in time she will go gangbusters on it when she is more comfortable with it all. But I may switch her over to tatting before she gets this as tatting maybe a little easier for her to manipulate. I know that sounds odd but its true. Tatting is actually easier than most people think especially if you start with chains and not rings make a yard of chain then make a foot of chain with picots then switch to rings and then join then you have it.

Tatting Callenge 14 & 15/rug

I have not done tatting in a while so I thought I would post it today. This is also one of those things I do while my husband drives the first and last parts of our daily commute. The pattern is 3 picot term 5 joins at first and last picot.I am doing these for the 25 motif tatting challenge this really has been a challenge for me to work this into my life so I have done simple patterns I wanted to do more complex but life is to complex at times and I just needed easy mental release when tatting lately. As you can tell from the photo I just started one and one has about 5 yards thus far. I have more of both of these vintage threads somewhere in my stash so I may dig more out after I run out of this thread to add to the length of these edgings. The red shuttles a gift to me by a friend on the internet. I think that is sweet of her this is my first time using them I am trying to get use to their quirks every new tool has quirks some good some bad still figuring these out.
If you like tatting also check out the mad tatter group on flickr.

Also in the top of this photo you can see the start of another project a red black and brown rug for my sister in law. I know she reads this blog this is not a surprise to her.

The other rug is done I just haven't had a chance to edit photos and make the tutorial yet. But here is a picture of it for you all to see what it looks like. I hope my kids piano teacher likes it.

This rug is over 5 feet across I am standing on a tall chair with my arms as high as I can reach in the air trying to take this photo. It is a good thing my camera has a viewing monitor that pivots so I can do this.

Felt Ornament Heart

felt ornament heart, originally uploaded by sunshine's creations.

If you are thinking of Valentine's Day and want a simple ornament or gift tag, you can always make one of these hearts; follow the last link to the tutorial. If you do make one, please feel free to join flickr felt creations group and add your photo; I would love to see them.

This would be real cute with tatted flowers, too, instead of embroidered ones. I may have to try that. If you make a tatted version, join "the mad tatter" group on flicker and add tatting ones there. If you have no idea what tatting is, check out this site the 25 motif tatting challenge.

Post to answer another Question

There was a question on another blog that I read, and I am trying to answer the post here with visuals. This is sort of how it would be used because I am right handed. This should really hang from my right wrist so it feeds directly into my hand that holds my hook; I can crochet lefty, too, just don't do it much. Anyway, because of that I use my right hand to take photos, too, so it is on my left in the picture.

This is a wrist thread-ball holder. They where popular when crochet and knitting where in the height of fashion. I have patterns for these from 1880-1920. In the center is a cabone ring on each side (not always used). This is where the thread is fed through the item, so that when you are traveling your ball does not end up on the floor and get dirty. This was a common item in most ladies' traveling knitting/crochet bags. When a lady wanted to crochet, she would pull out the lace from the top of the bag and pull out her needle or hook that she had stabbed into the ball, and would start to work. When done, she would place the lace back into the top of the bag and re-stab her ball with needle or hook. This is also a bag that tatters would carry and do the same thing with it, except they wouldn't stab their work, they would just place the shuttle inside the bag. Of course, for tatting the ball bag would hang on the opposite wrist than it would for crochet. So when I tat, this is the wrist it hangs on. For any of these techniques it is best to use a center-pull ball, but it's not required.

The bag pictured above is not antique; it is one I made from an antique pattern.

Coming out of this is a piece of lace I am currently making. The pattern is from Leisure arts 111 Easy Edgings; in case anyone else wants to make it, pattern number 75. The hook size I am using is 10 this is roughly size 30 thread. The lace is actually a light khaki color and is a boil fast thread, meaning it is vintage to antique thread.

Item 13 in 25 motif challenge

2 inch wide tatting, originally uploaded by sunshine's creations.

This is a ruffly, two-inch wide tatted edging; this is one of my favorite motifs. Everything is a count of 4 double stitches, that makes it easy to remember. The only exception is the two picots on the chains at the bottom where you attach to the fabric that has two double stitches between them; same goes for the three picot in the top large ring on the trefoil. Check out the 25 motif tatting challenge; there is some real cool stuff that has been made. I guess that puts me at the little over half-way mark.

Item 12 for 25 Motif tatting Challenge

Above is motif 12 for the 25 Motif tatting challenge. This was put on hold while I worked on the advent calendar tutorials. I was reminded that I was doing this and hadn't posted in a while. So, here is the piece I have to post at the moment. It is a mixture of ring-only tatting and crochet. The top photo is true to colors of white and raspberry pink. The other two photos are not accurate for color; I had a hard time getting two more good images.

The second photo is so you can see the pattern, and the last photo is so you can see some of the edging. All laid out, there are about 24 inches of lace. I made it as long as the pink would let me; because it was a piece of scrap thread from another project, I didn't have much of it. Also it really isn't good for tatting, the pink that is. It was South Maid crochet thread, which isn't a very good quality thread, but I liked the vibrant color so I used it any way. However, I made sure it was for the crochet part of the piece. I have made a similar pattern in the past; I like mixing crochet and tatting. I think it is fun when the two textures meet and even neater when there are two or more colors to show off the color and stitch change.

Probably only another tatter would notice, but I didn't pay attention to my photos and my tatting is wrong side up!
rings are 3 picot term 4

25 motif challenge cont..

Here is the next little bit of this challenge; it's not as big as the other items I have done. I really haven't had much time to work on this or the butterfly room as of late, so I combined the two. Here are two butterflies that I tatted out of antique size 10 crochet thread. These are actually the size of quarters; I just took my photo in macro mode so these look much bigger than they are. Together I will call them item 11 for the challenge.

Z is for....

ZZZZZZ...... I finally caught some Z's the last two days. With school starting, and it being so far away, I spend most of my day driving to and from school or running errands in the other county. I have been getting about 4 to 5 hours of sleep per night. I made that up yesterday, and I will get some more tonight. I also did a little bit of tatting.

This is copy of a piece of tatted lace I saw at an antique store on Friday. I bought the spool of thread (at the same store). I just love the size of that wood spool of thread. Anyone who knows what size a shuttle is knows that that is very big spool of thread for $3.00, and I decided I would tat the pattern I saw instead of buying the lace. For some reason, I kept making mistakes on my rings and chains; I think it is from lack of sleep. Hopefully, the rest will look much neater.

The pattern is as follows:

Rings are : 4ds, picot 4 ds, 4picot ( with 1 ds between each of them), 4 ds, picot, 4 ds. close ring joins on first and last picot
chain: 4 ds, 4 picots (with 1 ds between each of them) 4 ds

I will add this piece to the 25 motif challenge; this will be item 10 for the challenge.

explore photos

explore photos as of Aug 26 2007, originally uploaded by sunshine's creations.

1. butterfly pillow, 2. suzyhomemakers mini quilt is done, 3. This block is made by clare, 4. 1st finished butterfly for curtain, 5. lt and dk pink tatting, 6. hex granny squares, 7. more antique tatting, 8. antique tatting,9. front, 10. redwork butterfly signature block, 11. style d, 12. layette set, 13. crazy daisies, 14. flower tutorial, 15. English Paper piecing tutorial, 16. bubble gum pink quilt #1,17. lazy daisy week 3, 18. back side dove, 19. felt snow man done, style:christmas colors

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

P is for....

Pictures, or in this case, no pictures! My computer is not talking to the memory card of my camera, so this might take a little bit before I can post pictures again.
If you are into the tatting challenge, here is a site with a few patterns and lovely examples of tatting.

N is for...

antique tatting, originally uploaded by sunshine's creations.

Number Nine in 25 motif challenge.

This is a photo of one piece of tatting that is in a salesman tatting sampler that hangs in my front room c. 1900.
Look at that price: 55 cents a yard. Wow, wish I could buy it for that price now!

Pattern starting with chain on left:

ch1: ch 4 picot ch 8 picot chain 8 picot ( future join place safety pin here to find this spot easily later), chain four

r1: 9 picot term 1 (join 5th picot to starting point)

**ch2: chain 5ds

r2: 9 picot term 1

chain3: 5ds( future join here*), ch 4, picot (future join), ch 8, picot , ch 8, picot( future join), ch 4

3r: 9 picot term 1, form join on 5th picot to first future join* on chain3** repeat

Please look at photo to see where joins are.

My other items for this challenge are here.

I used antique crochet cotton for this. Now, I wish I had not because it is a little too floppy for my tastes. Maybe I will do #10 with this same pattern but with tatting thread.

M is for...

Motif #8 = finished

This is my edging, all done for #8 on to # 9 for the "25 motif challenge". This is just shy of 2 yards long. If you want to see the others I have done, go here.

Photos from salesman tatting sampler.
Pattern from the pink one; the blue and purple have a tiny bit different stitch count.

25 Motif challenge tatting #8 continued

#8 continuation, originally uploaded by sunshine's creations.

This item is still growing. It has reached 30 inches, and I plan on continuing until that ball of thread is all gone. If you are interested in joining the challenge, go here.

Mini Aprons

Mini Apron swap at MJF, originally uploaded by sunshine's creations.

These are aprons For a Mini Apron swap over at MJF. I think I was supposed to make 15 or 16 don't ask me how 17 showed up; that just sort of happened. I used vintage seam binding for the apron ties. I also used antique tatting, some antique crochet and a little new crochet on antique tatting.

Antique tatting with crochet (the crochet part I did), vintage bias tape

Antique tatting, reversible

Crochet lace (I made the lace)

Antique tatting, vintage bias tape

Antique tatting, vintage bias tape

Antique tatting, vintage bias tape

Antique tatting, vintage bias tape

Antique tatting with crochet (the crochet part I did), vintage bias tape

Antique tatting, vintage bias tape

Antique tatting, vintage bias tape

Antique crochet, vintage bias tape

Antique tatting, vintage bias tape

Antique tatting, reversible, vintage bias tape.

My sewing machine was acting weird (I think I need to service it), so my stitches are not exactly the way I want them to be; very annoying.

Explore Photos as of July 27, 2007

explore photos as of Jul27 2007, originally uploaded by sunshine's creations.

1. This block is made by clare, 2. lt and dk pink tatting, 3. hex granny squares, 4. antique tatting, 5. more antique tatting, 6. front, 7. redwork butterfly signature block, 8. style d,

9. layette set, 10. crazy daisies, 11. flower tutorial, 12. English Paper piecing tutorial, 13. bubble gum pink quilt #1, 14. lazy daisy week 3, 15. back side dove, 16. felt snow man done, style:christmas colors

#8 of the 25 motif challenge started

This is number #8 in my quest to complete the 25 motif challenge. This pattern came from a circa 1900 salesman tatting sampler that I have hanging in my front room. You can see a corner of it in this post. I will make this as long as the thread will let me; I only have the one ball, so not too long. This is size 80 vintage variegated yellow tatting thread that was given to me as a gift.

The pattern is
R= 4, picot,4, picot, 2, picot,4,picot, 4, close ring make joins on 1st and 4th picot of rings
ch= 5, picot, 5

For those of you who are lace makers, yes, this doily has a coronation cord edging.

I wanted to make 25 edgings, but that may change now to bugs. My daughter, as most of you know, wants a butterfly bedroom. So the idea came to me of the curtain and now a new idea has come for a wall decoration. She is a little girl who likes bugs but doesn't want to kill them, so I am thinking I will tat, crochet, needle lace what ever I can think of to make some lace bugs for her. Then we will put a pin in them and place them in a shadow box just as you would a real dead bug collection. But in this case she gets to name the bugs and nothing dead is on her walls. If any tatters or lacers want to help me and make a bug or two for her room, we would happily put your name below that bug as the creator of it. If not, then it will just be our own bugs.

4 yards 4 inches

I finished my #7 item for the 25 motif tatting challenge, and ended up with 4 yards and 4 inches of this lace. I finished it yesterday while sitting in a class on how to teach kids to quilt. My three daughters (i.e. kids) were in the class with me. So, now I guess I am on to #8; I just haven't figured out what that is, yet.


This braided rug I made a long time ago. Since I was sitting on the floor to take the picture of the tatting, I thought I would get a close up picture of the braids on this rug.

This used to be the rug in my old sewing room at my old home. It almost never got walked on because you couldn't walk into that room, it was so crowded. Now it is one of three rugs in my family room. It took about 3 weeks to make and is 6 feet by 8 1/2 feet. Seen in bottom right of photo on this post.

Sunrise/hexes/25 motif challenge

This is the view I had yesterday morning from my back porch. It was such a red sunrise this picture doesn't do it justice at all.

The hexes seem to be reproducing on their own this weekend. If you want to make your own, the pattern is here.

I have been working on the 25 motif challenge over the move to our new house. I have achieved getting this pattern up to about 3 yards with 2 1/2 bobbins full of pale pink yet to go. I will keep tatting with this until I run out of the light pink. I know I have way more dark pink that light, so that will just go towards another tatted edging. This is my #7 item for the challenge. You can see other challenge items by going here. I am still working on 1, 5 and 6, but I am not able to find them at the moment due to the move. When I do find them, I will get back to work on them, too.

Antique Lace

Over the years of thrifting and junking I have purchased lots of balls of vintage and antique thread. Every now and again I will find a piece of lace inside one of the balls. These have been tatted, crocheted and hairpin lace and a few knit pieces over the years.

Since I have been doing a little bit of tatting lately, I thought I would show you where some of the patterns are coming from. Some of these have as much as thirty yards on them, but most only have few yards.