(side note – clicking any of these photos will make ’em bigger.)
Last year, when I decided I was producing a lot of tatting and it was about time to do something with it, I made some lavender bags. A complete sewing novice I thought they’d be a good place to start. Actually, they were… Tiny practice pieces, all a bit wonky, none of them with the motif actually in the middle. Luckily lavender smells lovely and if you squint a bit the wonkiness fades, so they do the job quite nicely.
After my quilting adventures, and an earlier attempt at a drawstring bag, I decided it was time to try something new with my tatting. Still all straight lines of course, but, you know – no point rushing in to curves!
I’m quite pleased with this. Made a few mistakes but learnt a bit too. I did have to unpick the sewing that holds in the drawstring about 5 times – it’s actually very tricky at that size on the machine. Next time I might do it by hand. I’ll also plan to sew on the tatting in advance rather than in the middle of everything, because I got so impatient with it!
I mentioned in my previous post that I finally sewed in the ends of a few pieces of tatting I’d had sitting about, including the Mary Konior pattern made in Valdini thread . I must admit, I really wasn’t that keen on the colours of it at all, but after blocking and sewing, I’ve changed my mind.
In the end, I just wanted to use it for something – anything really, and so I bashed out another lavender bag. I think I overstuff them usually, but this time I was a bit more sparing, and it makes it look a lot more professional! I think the linen knocks a bit of the garishness out of the colours – generally mutes it a bit. Now I’ve actually gone from not liking it much at all, to loving it!
So, all good. Room for improvement, but ok for a Sunday afternoon.
Occasional Crafter 
Wow! The lavender square is absolutely stunning. I’ll take a cushion like that please 🙂
haha – don’t you try and up *my* stakes, because I asked *you* to weave me a blanket! 😉
Now they are beautiful. The linen really works well. Nice contrast to the very fine tatting. At first I thought the square bag was a pin cushion, there’s another idea for you.
Thank you! I really like linen actually – and I think there’s something quite nice about the ecru thread on the linen – because the tatting can be quite fussy, I think it calms it down a bit.
Pincushions are a good idea. And actually, I’ve just thought – the piece the Stormtrooper was holding would work quite well, as it has a big hole in the middle, for the pins! Teamwork! (You, me and the Stormtrooper).
Delicate perfection as usual. I love the linen too! These designs would look gorgeous on little linen covered artist’s box canvasses 🙂
Goodness these look fiddly things to handle! They are exquisite! I have never heard of tatting, I thought you were maybe a tattooist when I started reading your post 🙂 I’m also super-glad someone else out there has ‘wonkiness’ in their crafting vocabulary 😉
Stunning! I wonder if you could make brooches out of them…I’d want to wear them!
You would? Excellent. I bought 10 brooch backs from eBay in my lunch break after reading that 🙂
What about a linen book cover embellished with tatting? No curves to sew on that. Oh I’m just full of ideas!!!
Another nice idea! I had thought about little needle books too… Thank you 🙂
My you come on by leaps and bounds and both items look great.
I think you should try to make some small boxes, you could cover them in Linen and use your small pieces of Tatting to decorate the top. These would make nice gifts for earrings ect
I missed this – so pretty! Love that last pic – lovely colours.
Fox : )