Bodacious Baby Burp Cloths 

Get over the fear of stitching each and every picot down using a creative pattern for making burp cloths.

I thought long and hard before I figured out something that I could make that incorporated tatting and was also practical, durable, and saleable. Practical is a double point- in that it has to be relatively easy to make quickly AND useful. I created Baby Burp Cloths- and they have been an outstanding success! It makes a wonderful baby shower gift- and I give them to expectant mothers who I meet on occasion- like a favorite waitress, or sales person, and to friends and family. There is a synergy hereand people like them enough when gifted with one to want to buy them for others.

Beginner: Comfortable with rings, chains and joins.

Materials: Burp Cloth reserved when registered-Email Hope (so that you know what color to tat your Hen & Chicks)
Sewing thread to match your tatted edging.
Pincushion with hand sewing needle (the smallest you are comfortable with) and about a dozen pins.
Thread Heaven if you have it.
Whatever else you need to be able to stitch - glasses, ott light and patience.

Homework: Make 14" of "Hen and Chicks" lace tatted in #20 thread to match your reserved burp cloth.

©2008-2009 Hope Green

Creative Designing with Block Tatting 

Designing with block tatting and unflipped stitches.

In 2007 Jane Eboral showed me her way of doing block tatting unflipped- and how easy this made the process of block tatting. This is especially easy with 2 different colors of thread. It is SO visual keeping straight which stitch is flipped and which is unflipped.

After the agony of trying to create a hairpin lace chrysalis- the answer popped into my mind, do it Jane's way!!! I recalled that she used the method to make letters and numbers so I gave it a try.

So here we go- a design as you go block tatting ... it is SO easy. Never before have I been able to pick up and put down a piece of tatting and never loose my place- you can just pick it up with no worry that it is backwards. No rings- just chains and unflipped chains.

In class we will make the chrysalis, and learn how to diagram our "tat as we go", and how to "untat" it also!!! A perfect chance to practice a technique that will "be there" for you someday when you need to create something. And believe me- this technique makes an awesome simple bookmark- one you can use without fear of loosing it.

Beginner/Intermediate:  Knowledgeable and proficient with rings, split rings, chains, and joins. 

Materials:
#20 thread in 2 contrasting colors
Two shuttles
Hook for joining
Magnifier or glasses, if needed, so you can SEE the stitches

Precious Butterfly 

Awesome butterfly pattern that explores the beauty of adding hairpin lace to tatting.

Welcome to the challenge of joining hairpin lace & tatting to create Precious Butterfly. Years back I saw her in my minds eye- and what a joy to design her. She morphed from Martha Ess’s Hairpin Lace Angel. In class we will address how to create a hairpin lace braid that lets us hide our ends creatively. Using a loom and crochet hook is so much faster and easier than tatting a strip of split rings with long picots.

We will learn how to make different joins and how they affect the shape of the lace.
How to make “enough” braid for a project.
How to add beads.
How to add filament threads to the mix.. This is awesome and gives body to the braid.
The sky is the limit- let your imagination soar.
Your basic variegated hairpin lace “blank” will be included in the class so just bring a sense of humor & pinch of patience.
I will have a supply of different hairpin lace looms in class so you can try using them and see which you want to try and find on Ebay-LOL.
You can bring a #10 steel crochet hook which is a good size for thread hpl and try your hand at making the braid.

Advanced:  Have mastered rings, split rings, chains, split chains, joins, and Josephine rings and ready to try new techniques and creative tatting.

Materials: Size 20 thread ONLY for class.
2 yds for body.
6 yds for wings.
4 shuttles-we work CTM only.
2 pr of shuttles pre-loaded with thread.
Magnifier or glasses for close work.

Tatting for a Wash and Wear World  ALL

Explores methods of attaching tatting- fusing, hand stitching, and by sewing machine. "Trunk Show" of garments to illustrate methods.

This will be a fun lecture that I wish I could have taken when I began tatting. There was no one to show me or tell me- and no book or magazine that addressed the problem of “how to do it”. I asked the most accomplished tatter and sewer I knew at the time- and she said to “tack it down enough to hold it” - No- those dreaded words “stitch every picot” were not uttered or even thought about. Much to my dismay after designing tatting for the collar, cuffs and front placket, and stitching it down as directed and making the shirt- HORRORS- every picot in the #20 thread curled up and vanished! And so I pressed it- one time- after that I just tried to not think about the disaster- and swore to figure out how to go about this in the future.

I love to sew- and create beautiful things- and wear these things everyday. To make me happy they have to be wash and wear- and by this I mean washer & dryer friendly. Note I did NOT mention an iron and ironing board.. To me an iron and ironing board are construction equipment as we will discuss in class.

In class we will have a hands on “trunk show” {Please bring clean hands!} and discuss how to decide WHERE to put tatting on clothes that
we create and make, and WHERE to put tatting on clothes we buy. I will share my methods for “neatening, blocking and attaching tatting” in the
most time efficient way. Sometimes I attach by hand- and often I attach with the sewing machine- it is unbelievably easy and extremely durable. I
put 400” of tatting on a petticoat- yes, that is more than 11 yards!! Without the sewing machine I would not have attempted the project. This
garment IS cleaned by putting in the washer on gentle cycle, and dried in the dryer! And comes out ready to wear- no ironing- no touch up. It also
took a blue ribbon here at Tat Days back in 2004 as part of my Victorian Dreams ensemble that had 25 yards of tatting attached.

We will have samples and examples galore… there are a lot of techniques to show & tell about. The contents of the “trunk show” will be present to be handled and fondled- not just looked at. There are oodles of goodies in the trunk to spark our creative imaginations.

Lecture for ALL tatters.