Category: cuff

All Dressed Up

This year at Palmetto Tat Days they had a costume contest during the Friday evening banquet. Once I knew I was going to Tat Days the contest sounded like fun. But what to dress up as? A lot of thoughts later – and a lot of time later – an idea came to mind that I thought I could handle.  My sister agreed to help me with the major sewing parts which would get done a lot faster than I could do it. If I did it I might, maybe, have been ready in a year or two. Then the tatted parts had to be designed and placement figured out.

I didn’t know I was going until about June, not much time to get a costume together. With vacations and normal life in the way, I was tatting every chance I got. My sister ran into sewing machine issues and her time was taken up by things beyond our control so the costume was a lot different than originally envisioned. My Tat Day roommate, Diane, helped me put it all together for the first time when I dressed for the banquet.

Tatterlady and Princess Peach at Palmetto Tat Days 2017 on wandasknottythoughts
Tatterlady and Princess Peach at Palmetto Tat Days

Neither Princess Peach, aka Kayleigh Osborn, nor I won the contest, (isn’t her outfit amazing?? She sewed it herself!) but we all had a lot of fun.

I know it doesn’t look like I have all that much tatting on my outfit, but I kept changing my mind! There were quite a few motifs of different colors tatted that I did not use. There were also a few things tatted that just didn’t work out.

Tatterlady's tatted jewelry on wandasknottythoughts
Tatterlady’s tatted jewelry

Most of the medallions/motifs that I ended up using were in Lizbeth #657 Ocean Turquoise Dark in size 10. The earrings were in #657 as well but in size 20. The other colors were #641 Lilac Dark and #638 Christmas Green.

Tatterlady's fascinator on wandasknottythoughts
Tatterlady’s fascinator

It was a blast coming up with a fascinator. All three colors of the medallions were originally going to be used in the entire outfit. Due to unforeseen problems with the costume, this was the only place I used all three colors in medallions. The scissors are not real but an accent piece I found at JoAnn’s (I think). The shuttle is one side of a Susan Bates shuttle that came apart. An elastic headband did an excellent job holding it in place.

Tatterlady's cuffs optical illusion
Tatterlady’s cuffs

I thought the cuffs came out great! The hardest part (other than the sewing!) was positioning the frogs in the right places. Notice the optical illusion?

Tatterlady's cuffs turned around on wandasknottythoughts
Tatterlady’s cuffs turned around

These are the same cuffs with one cuff turned around.

Tatterlady's spats on wandasknottythoughts
Tatterlady’s spats

I made spats* instead of wearing boots. They are more like leg warmers, but spats sounds better 🙂

One day, soon I hope, Palmettos will have their pictures up from this year’s Tat Days. I didn’t get many pictures of others in costume but I’m sure they have some. I saw some of them before the end of the weekend, there were some marvelous ones.

It was awesome to be able to go this year but it went by so fast! I only finished one project while there and haven’t had time to finish anything here at home yet. I plan on getting them done before Tat Days next year!

“Playing dress-up begins at age five and never truly ends.” Kate Spade  
brainyquotes.com

*from dictionary.com “a short gaiter** worn over the instep and usually fastened under the foot with a strap, worn especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.”

**from dictionary.com
“1.a cloth or leather covering for the leg or ankle buttoned on one side and usually strapped under the foot
2.Also called spat. a similar covering extending from the ankle to the instep
3.a waterproof covering for the ankle worn by climbers and walkers to prevent snow, mud, or gravel entering over the top of the boot”

Denim and tatting

Back in May I made a couple of denim wrist cuffs for my daughters for Mother’s Day.  I was so delighted by how they came out that I decided to make one for myself.

Of course, it had to be a little different.  Instead of tatting around buttons I edged a small piece of material instead.  I planned the material to be white with white tatting.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find my white thread.  (Can you believe I couldn’t find white thread???)  My solution was using Lizbeth #602 Natural in size 20, sewed to a corner of an old tea towel, then stained in coffee.  The lace bits I had were different shades of white/off white which worked well with the material piece.

Denum cuff with tatting, lace, and buttons on wandasknottythoughts
Denim cuff with buttons and tatting

I have a jar of old buttons that I sorted through to find accents for the cuff.  I tried newer buttons as well, trying to find just the right ones for the look I was after.  It’s amazing how hard it is to find just the right buttons and just the right places to put them.  I also added randomly placed seed beads over the whole thing.

You might notice that the ends don’t have the obvious stitching like my daughter’s had.  I used invisible thread this time.  It gives a nicer, finished look to the cuff, but it’s a lot harder to use than regular thread.  Instead of using a hair band for the closure I braided thread to make the loop.

Wearing the denum cuff with tatting, lace, and buttons on wandasknottythoughts
Wearing my denim cuff

I’m tickled pink at how it came out. I probably won’t wear it much until the weather cools off, but I’m already planning what I’ll wear it with this fall.

I’m still working on my clunies, but also a few other techniques that I don’t use often, like split chains.  I’ve done split chains before though only rarely.  I had to go on-line and refresh my memory.  I have a very strange-looking piece of tatting where I practiced this over and over.  Maybe, maybe, I have this down a little better.

My biggest concern right now is not what I need to know at Tat Days but what tatting should I take with me to do on the plane?  Something not too complicated, without beads, and easy to put down and pick up.   Hmmm.

What do you take with you to do when you fly?

“Denim has always been an everyday symbol for style” Ritu Kumar