Top of the day to you!

Just thought I’d use a silly title today!

BUT I do have a closeup of the top of the silk top I’m working on today.  

These two buttons are really pretty and complement the top really well.  What I’ve done since is use a short length of round elastic and have anchored that to one of the buttons.  A loop of the elastic can now be taken over the other button to fasten the blouse/top together.  I’ve tried it on but need somebody to take pictures of it.  Now which neighbour is in at the moment?!?!?

Shirt progress again

In the photo below you can see why I was concerned about the ‘shadow’ of the facing but having done one edging I decided to sew it onto the edges of the top to see what it looked like!  You can see that I took it right round the neck too and also you can see that I definitely need another strip to hide the shadow although I think that when it’s being worn it won’t ‘show’.  

Anyway I thought I’d pin on the buttons too just to get an idea of what it’ll look like!!  I also found some VERY pretty buttons that I was given years ago that I’ve added to the top as fastenings - yet to be decided on, though!!!  

If you look VERY closely you’ll also see some black showing at the centre of the back.  That’s the label saying ‘Thai silk’ which I’ve sewn back in.  

Yet more!!

Beads!!!

I’ve only done the top two - the other smaller ones were found when I tidied the tatting cupboard up last week!!!  I’d obviously done them with a project in mind but that must’ve fallen by the wayside as these were in a project box all on their own!!!

I’ve been ‘avoiding’ yet another project that I’ve been working on for weeks and weeks so I think I may go back to it soon.  I’m not happy with how it was working out so I think it might be yet another design that never gets into the public domain!!!  Maybe going back to it with a fresh mind will help but I’m not very optimistic!!!  To give you a clue - it’s a square pattern.

Carrying on with the shirt

Well the facing for the neck and front of the shirt went really well.  I am taking things very slowly as I don’t want to spoil the silk in any way.  

I’ve machined it to the body of the shirt and then ‘stuck’ it down on the inside (rather than stitching it) with some of the ‘wonder tape’ hemming stuff.  I’ve seen it called all sorts of names so here’s a link so you know what I’m talking about!!!    It’s one of my favourite sewing ‘accessories’ and seems to last forever too!!!  I've used miles and miles of it over the years!!

Now to hide the ‘line’ where the edging sort of shadows through to the front I’ve decided the top needs some more tatting so I’m doing a very, very simple edging for it using the same thread as the buttons.  I’ll probably do another strip on the edges of the fronts too.  Here’s the start of the edging which I took a picture of a week or more ago.  I can work on the sewing part of the top in the daytime (well, afternoon) and the edging in the evening so progress should be fast - unless I fall asleep, of course!!!

Monday moan

Before I start my usual curmudgeonly Monday moan I’d like to add to last week’s post.  I totally forgot to mention the bible of tatting written by Judith Connors.  Here’s a link to this book which should be in every designer’s possession.  If only it was then last Monday’s moan may never have happened.

Today’s moan is something I picked up from a comment by another tatter somewhere else.  Probably during a flying visit to Facebook which I avoid as far as possible.

Signing and dating patterns and also adding contact details are today’s moan.  When I started putting my patterns out on the internet in the very, very early days of it’s existence I didn’t date mine but did add my name!!!  It was pointed out to me that it would be a ‘good idea’ to add the date so I started doing that immediately.  Nowadays there are a lot of designers who aren’t dating or sometimes not even putting their names on either.  This can prove very frustrating if there ever becomes a copyright question on the pattern and could be an impossible thing to prove who’s came first.  

It’s also important to put a contact email address on each pattern simply so that the person who wants to work it can get in touch to ask questions.  Sometimes I get questions about patterns I did almost 20 years ago - that really does ‘strain the brain’ (poor old BC3) sometimes!!!

Although I played with Dorset buttons many years ago this is the first I’ve done since then!!!