Look what I found!!

I was rumbling around in my VERY untidy tatting cupboard a few days ago and found a little box of bells!!  I’ve NO IDEA when I made them but it was probably after I got back from Palmetto Tat Days in 2019.  

I think the idea was to make a Christmas dangle with them to take to America two years later but then, of course, Covid hit us all.  

Why?  Well I’d done a silver cluster for the silent auction and the person (I think it was Sherry) who won them paid a considerable amount to get them.  The money raised from their silent auction goes towards their scholarship scheme, I believe.  

I may just put this little cluster together for the same reason now I’ve found them. 

Meantime I have the urge to make more but I think I’ll do silver ones next time.

Now for a bit of sewing

With the machine!!!!

I’m a member of ‘Freecycle’ for our area but have a strict rule with myself that I’ll only ‘pick up’ (IF I win an item) if it’s within walking distance.  Seems pointless to pick up something that’s free but have to spend money on petrol (gas, for you Americans!!!) and pollute the planet by using the car.  So this somewhat restricts me - but not a lot!!!

I’ve gained a brand new iron from sticking to this ‘rule’ and often good fabric too.  A few months ago I picked up a lovely, lovely lot of good sized pieces of fabric and brought them home.  There were a few pieces that I really liked but others that I didn’t think I’d ever use so I sent a WhatsApp to a couple of lovely neighbours to come and help me out!!!  They were very happy to do so!!

I made this top from one of my favourites.  I used a top I bought some years ago as the ‘pattern’ which I laid on top of the fabric.  I then used newspaper to make the neckline pattern.  It’s now classed as a ‘totally free’ top!!!  The only damage to the planet is using electricity to sew it!!!

Job done!!!

Stitching still progressing.

Again this is just a progress report!!!  

This is the first side of a tote bag.  I THINK it’s finished but I may add more to it when I’ve done the other side!!!   

I’ve decided I’m not very good at forward planning on this type of work but I think it’s OK.

Progress on the cardigan

I’ve made a fair amount of progress since showing you this last link.  

This garment has been a delight to work on as the designer has written it so well.  

Back with a Monday moan

Yes I’m back for a while.  Sorry to have neglected the blog for a few weeks but it doesn’t mean that I’m leaving it permanently - just had too much going on and not a lot of crafting to show.  

Today I want to mention copy tatters.  These are people who see a design they like (mostly on Pinterest), enlarge it and then copy tat it.  Whilst I personally feel there’s a bit to learn when doing this it is basically immoral.  

The biggest lesson to learn is that wysiwyg applies.  Do you remember when the internet was new that wysiwyg stood for ‘what you see is what you get’?  Well, when copy tatting, there are often stitches or techniques that the copier has to ‘guess at’ so wysiwyg doesn’t always apply and the piece being copied may well turn out ‘wonky’,not lie properly etc because of that.  

It’s also ‘theft by stealth’ just as photocopying (nowadays scanning) a pattern out of a book and then sending that to somebody else.  I guess that those who do this feel there’s nothing wrong with what they’ve done.  

BUT it does deny the designer of an income if they’re selling the pattern.  

All I can really say is that oldies (old gits) like me learned the hard way as pictures were only in books (and often fuzzy!) and we had no internet etc to enable that type of behaviour.  I would BEG those that do copy tat to not share on Facebook groups which only encourages others to do the same.  

Remember even the simplest pattern takes months to refine and some people sell theirs to earn a living.

A picture to cheer you up!!!