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

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

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

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

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

These are the same cuffs with one cuff turned around.

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.

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 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

Putting on cuffs

No, I didn’t get arrested.

I put tatted buttons on denim with a little lace and made cuffs for my daughters for Mother’s Day.

My original idea for my daughters did not work out, so I scrapped it and looked for something else.  While on Pinterest, where I spend way too much time, I came across decorated material cuffs.  They sparked an idea that had a chance to get done in the time left before Mother’s Day.

I started with a known favorite color – purple – and tatted the buttons.  These could be done in the car going back and forth to work as the passenger.  The easy part.

At home I found an old pair of jeans to cut up for the base.  At first it was going to be one piece of denim for each cuff.  It didn’t take long to decide there needed to be a backing to cover up all my stitching and keep the back pretty.  I collected odds and ends of lace, ribbons, and buttons to play with, laying them out on the denim with the buttons in different ways.

I had recently purchased some leftover pieces of lace material from a local second hand shop which made a nice base for the other decorations.  It didn’t take long to notice the buttons could be flowers.  And what are flowers without leaves?  A few leaves of green material – didn’t quite look right.  They were very plain and boring.  A few simple stitches with embroidery floss helped them look much more like leaves.

It took longer than expected to put the first one together.  Mostly because I couldn’t make up my mind how to place things or what, exactly, I wanted.  But, at last, the first one was done.

The second one didn’t take as long.  Other than changing the thread colors to blues on the buttons it was pretty much the same.  Except – the green material used for the leaves didn’t look as good with the blues.  I had to find a different shade of green material and thread for them.  I also added silver beads as I stitched everything down.

My sewing machine is not accessible at the moment so I stitched the ends down by hand.  Which would have looked much better in something other than white, especially I as I can’t sew straight.  I purposely left the sides frayed-looking but it won’t fray far.  The two layers of denim are glued together.

The cuffs are finished off with a button on each end and an elastic hair band in the same color as the flower buttons.  They are easy to put on.

I gave the cuffs to my daughters the week after Mother’s Day.  One was completed on time but not the other.  Gotta be fair, right?

I’m thinking about making one for myself.  Will I continue with flowers or try something else?

I would hate to be cuffed to only one idea.

Okay, I’m done now.

“Don’t let your habits become handcuffs.”
Elizabeth Berg

Putting on cuffs

No, I didn't get arrested.

I put tatted buttons on denim with a little lace and made cuffs for my daughters for Mother's Day.

My original idea for my daughters did not work out, so I scrapped it and looked for something else.  While on Pinterest, where I spend way too much time, I came across decorated material cuffs.  They sparked an idea that had a chance to get done in the time left before Mother's Day.

I started with a known favorite color - purple - and tatted the buttons.  These could be done in the car going back and forth to work as the passenger.  The easy part.

At home I found an old pair of jeans to cut up for the base.  At first it was going to be one piece of denim for each cuff.  It didn't take long to decide there needed to be a backing to cover up all my stitching and keep the back pretty.  I collected odds and ends of lace, ribbons, and buttons to play with, laying them out on the denim with the buttons in different ways.

I had recently purchased some leftover pieces of lace material from a local second hand shop which made a nice base for the other decorations.  It didn't take long to notice the buttons could be flowers.  And what are flowers without leaves?  A few leaves of green material - didn't quite look right.  They were very plain and boring.  A few simple stitches with embroidery floss helped them look much more like leaves. 

It took longer than expected to put the first one together.  Mostly because I couldn't make up my mind how to place things or what, exactly, I wanted.  But, at last, the first one was done.

The second one didn't take as long.  Other than changing the thread colors to blues on the buttons it was pretty much the same.  Except - the green material used for the leaves didn't look as good with the blues.  I had to find a different shade of green material and thread for them.  I also added silver beads as I stitched everything down.  

My sewing machine is not accessible at the moment so I stitched the ends down by hand.  Which would have looked much better in something other than white, especially I as I can't sew straight.  I purposely left the sides frayed-looking but it won't fray far.  The two layers of denim are glued together. 

The cuffs are finished off with a button on each end and an elastic hair band in the same color as the flower buttons.  They are easy to put on.

I gave the cuffs to my daughters the week after Mother's Day.  One was completed on time but not the other.  Gotta be fair, right? 

I'm thinking about making one for myself.  Will I continue with flowers or try something else?

I would hate to be cuffed to only one idea.

Okay, I'm done now.

"Don't let your habits become handcuffs."
Elizabeth Berg