Friday, August 20, 2010

Finished, finished, finished!

I finished three things last night! I know! I can't believe it myself.

The first thing I finished was my current temari. I loved stitching on this one, and since it didn't have a deadline, I just stitched away on it when I had a few moments. I figured out that I stitched 720 petals, on 122 flowers. The thread from Japan was a joy to stitch with, and it is nice and shiny. There may be a missing petal or two, last night I kept on finding partial flowers.

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I'm planning my next multi-pole in my head (green, with white and periwinkle), but I have to make some mari and some ornaments before my next guild meeting, so that is next.

At the end of the night I finished (almost) this. I still have to add the velcro closure in the back, but that is all that is left. The proportion doesn't look quite right. It has a little bit of a dropped waist, so the skirt looks short, but it fits Isabella just right. This one is for an opportunity drawing for my guild, if you would like to buy tickets to win it, leave a comment, and I will get back to you. Isabella (and C) will get their own yellow dress in this pattern.

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I learned so much making this dress! I had never made tucks, or piping, and both items turned out great on this dress. I also learned a quick, cute method for hemming, and for adding lace to the sleeve. The lace technique is almost magical! There's no hem, and you can't see the stitching. It looks like the lace just grew on the edge of the sleeve, very cool!

In the middle of the evening I did lesson 3 in my tatting book, and made these two butterflies. The big one is about 1 1/2 inches across, made with DMC pearl #5, and the little one is made of Cebelia, I want to say about a size 30. I couldn't believe the difference in size, using the same pattern. They both have the same failing too, my rings are not close enough together.

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I don't think I will go back to tatting with size #5, I love the delicacy of the little one so much. I found some tiny spools of tatting thread in my sewing room.

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You can't tell from the picture, but these balls are tiny, less than 1 inch across! I will have to take another picture including a regular Pearl cotton ball for scale.

My goal with this tatting is to copy a hankie lace edging from my grandmother. It's over 1 inch wide, but is all little rings with long, unworked thread connecting them. I will try to get a picture of it.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

4 comments:

Moonsilk Stitches said...

Way to go! Lovely temari! I like your new color choices for the next one, too. I like the smocked dress. I'll have to learn that lace technique! Cool tatted butterflies--aren't they fun? Thanks for sharing the good finishing feelings.

Cindy said...

Guess who else discovered the tatting thread today? I had to send C on a rescue mission!

Gina said...

I wonder if it is the hen & chicks edging? It's the last edging in this pic from my blog:
http://tinyurl.com/2fycp96
If you google search tatted hen & chicks, you will find instructions, or I can email you some.

NANI said...

way to go Jane! Beautiful dress & temari : )

I like using the LizBeth from Hobby Lobby - size 20. It is a nice fiber & easy to tat with.

Your butterflies are great!