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Friday, January 22, 2016

Like Puzzle Pieces

I'm not sure if I've ever written about designing being like placing pieces of a puzzle. It's something I think about often, especially when working with elements that don't quite fit into place. I've found that it's extremely helpful to make little bits of tatting to overlay on the offending part of the design. Like pieces of a puzzle, you can visualize what fits and what doesn't.

I decided to try something new with my last piece of tatting and truly work it backwards. I had been having trouble fitting a center into a pre-determined outer round and wanted to see if this would help.

I began by tatting a ring of 12 flowers, followed by one central flower:


I don't actually have photos of the next part, but I placed bits and pieces of tatting into the open space to see what would fit. After I had an idea of something that would work, I began filling in the blank area with tatting:


Surprisingly, it was very easy to tat this way. I thought that it would be awkward to work in a confined space, but it went very smoothly! I will definitely use this method in the future.

After I finished up my sample, I realized that I might also be able to use the center from my previous post, with altered stitch counts. I tatted a new center and placed it on top of the light blue doily to see if it would work:


As you can see, the picots on the white chains match up with the flowers in the final round. Many hours later, I ended up with a few small doilies:


These ended up very similar to the small doily in my previous post, as I wanted to keep the same idea and not "lose" that pattern. However, I received a lot of great suggestions on that post, which I've been keeping in mind for future adaptations of this pattern.

Speaking of puzzles, I've also been working on Jane's TIAS. The consensus is that this will be a frog, but I'm still not sure how three beads will be worked into that. I'm anxious to see how it turns out!


14 comments:

Madtatter80 said...

Your tatting is soo beautiful and fun to watch it develop or morph into different things too!

Fox said...

Terrific pieces! Love what you are tatting there. : )

Bernice said...

It is interesting to see how you translate your vision into tatting. Nice little doilies.

Jenn said...

Gorgeous pieces! Thanks for sharing your design process :).

Jane McLellan said...

That's really interesting, thanks for showing us the process. Love the result!

Lace-lovin' Librarian ~ Diane said...

Thanks for sharing your design process. I find it fascinating!

GraceT said...

What a good idea! I guess one needs to be versatile - use the design process that fits where you want to go.

Grace Tyler said...

I want that pattern! Your patterns are all so pretty.

Margarets designer cards said...

I am finding it fascinating how you work out your designs, I like all three of those doilies, hope in the future you share the patterns.
Margaret

muskaan said...

Always such a joy & inspiration to watch your tatted pieces !!!
Yes, any design with motifs is a puzzle whether one is deconstructing or constructing - and a fun process :-)
I prefer the green & the white 'centers'- an elegant curvature throughout; the ash grey one gives a radiating spokes-on-a-wheel effect. Just my personal opinion.
Lovely post !

Robin Perfetti said...

I'm in a coaster making phase...got a few more ideas drawn up. Then onto pattern writing, though I think that will be a few months down the line.

Robin Perfetti said...

Yes, I agree, I prefer the other two as well. The light blue isn't quite as balanced in its features, and I felt compelled to explore alternative ideas.

Robin Perfetti said...

Thanks everyone!

God's Kid said...

Those doilies are all so fabulous!!! :)