Tatted barrette

While looking through a drawer the other day I came across this barrette I decorated a long time ago.  It has seen a lot of wear and tear, and maybe a bit of rough handling.  There used to be three strands of the beads but two were lost somewhere along the way.

Decorated tatted barrette

I know this is made with DMC size 30 Ecru thread.  After all these years, how do I know?  Because I used it a lot back in the early 90s.  I even know what pattern this is.  It’s the skirt of  “Colonial Lady Applique” from Aunt Ellen’s Tatting Handbook.  This one has a mistake in it somewhere, hidden by the flowers.  I made several Colonial Ladies back then, or at least parts of them, one of which I took to the fair.   I noticed that I used white ribbon behind the tatting.  I must have been in a hurry to wear it and didn’t have ecru ribbon to use.

Tatted barrette

I used to have long hair and wore this frequently.  I now have very short hair – this wouldn’t stay in long.

I have a hard time throwing tatting away, even when mistakes are made.  After putting in all that hard work it is a shame to just toss it.  I have bags of things that have some kind of issue that I keep.  I may find some place that I can use it.

Eventually.

What do you do with your mistakes?  Keep or toss?

“Recycling turns things into other things.  Which is like MAGIC!”  unknown

If only my hair was longer...

The other day while searching for a box of craft items I found a whole lot more than I expected. 

 I came upon a box that has been in a cabinet for quite a while, so long ago I forgot what I put in it.  I had to laugh when I opened it.

 It was full of hair accessories that I had made (mostly tatted) back when my kids were much younger and I had long hair.   

There are a couple of head bands and a snood as well as a lot of decorated barrettes.  For some reason there were also several tatted pieces that have nothing to do with hair or even clothing accessories.  I have no idea why they were in this box.

All of these barrettes are made of a metallic thread, I think the brand name was Kreinik, or something like that. I remember these threads were a real pain to tat with but they were so pretty.  A lot of these are tatted over wire to give them their shapes.  I know that I was trying a lot of different ideas at the time, some working out better than others.  I think I wore more of these than the girls did :-)

I guess I'll put all of these back in the box for now.  Maybe my granddaughter will want to play dress-up or something with these some day.  

"I'm undaunted in my quest to amuse myself by constantly changing my hair."

Hillary Clinton

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