Each month this year for my CQJP (Crazy Quilt Journal Project) I am learning a new skill, experimenting with or adding to what I have learned. This month I worked with needle tatting. I had already learned very basic needle tatting a few years back but had never really done anything with it. My challenge was therefore to follow patterns and I also worked with ways to add beads to my tatting. Three YouTube videos were previously added to my blog and you can find those HERE. I found the videos very helpful and had a lot of fun with this. I am happy to say I finished before the end of the month.
Following are some close-ups. Working on a black block was also something I have been wanting to try. I'm quite pleased with the effect. It is surprising how much brighter the colors look on black than on softer shades.
The fan was definitely one of the most challenging patterns I followed, lots of tearing out stitches and re-starts. I had saved the pattern for several years and was happy to finally make it and have a place to use it. The butterflies are my own pattern and I modified the larger flower pattern.
Since I finished my block early I decided to try a few more patterns and experiments. Those pieces are shown in the following photos. I will probably use these in future projects or maybe just sell them in my Etsy shop. If not any these pieces, I will definitely offer some tatting pieces for sale in my shop as I really enjoyed tatting.
I know there are a lot of excellent tatters and I have learned to appreciate even more the time they put into a piece. Tatted jewelry is also a popular trend and I hope to find some time to try some of those and to try some tatted ornaments.
Do you do tatting? What is your favorite thing to tat? Do you tat with a shuttle or with needle, and if both, which do you prefer?
