#22 Motif Challenge
Yarnplayer's "Celery" HDT . and Milford #40
I am beguiled by the old patterns. Suddenly, I am truly smitten. Perhaps, once one begins to understand the way they are written, it is just a natural progression to trying them out and succumbing to their charm! Whatever. I like them a lot!
That is not to say that they don't drive me right up the wall. This one was awful for me to tat - just dreadful. I just could not get it right. Worth it in the long run, but I cannot believe how women tatted yards and yards of this stuff... How did they do it? This one took HOURS, and this is all I have to show for all that time.
By the way, it occurred to me this afternoon, that a 'glass mat' is a small mat to put under a glass! Is this correct? I have wondered for a long time why it was called a glass mat, and I am so dyslexic and literal, that sometimes the oddest things elude me! Set me straight, someone!
P.S. This pattern looks like a light switch cover!
This was probably used on a skirt waist (with a ribbon) and blouse cuffs...
ReplyDeleteLove it in green!
You have such patience, Fox, and I love the thread you used making this vintage pattern.
ReplyDeleteWow what a stunner!
ReplyDeleteIt would look pretty cool for a light switch - does this color go with any of your room decor?
ReplyDeleteYou remember that adage about idle hands? I think back in the day of these patterns they had to be busy doing something every waking hour so might as well do something pretty ☺
Like make mats, or as we say coasters, to go under glasses! LOL!
LOL .. I was a bit blur myself about the glass mat, when reading Diane's (the Librarian) obsession with them. Only lately that I realise it may be for placing under a glass.
ReplyDeleteYour work of the old pattern is lovely. I like the shade of the thread too. Tatting vintage patterns and rewriting in modern notation is one of my aims that I have not realised. I will get to it someday.
I've always assumed that's what was meant by "glass mat"-- just another term for coaster.
ReplyDeleteI figure these repetitive patterns would have been done while "visiting". It was common to take your needlework with you when going to spend an afternoon with friends. Once you've done a few repeats, you can let your concentration lapse enough to carry on a simple conversation. It's funny, sometimes I can actually tat faster if I'm thinking about something else at the same time.
I wouldn't have thought of a light switch cover, but you're right. I see it as a bookmark, with a few more repeats.
I love this combination of greens!
I do love that thread! I also like vintage patterns, and I think that book is a gem. I'll bet you could tat yards of this once you have the pattern down... what will you use it for? ; )
ReplyDeleteYea! I have this book! I remember getting it and thinking: 1) What BEAUTIFUL tatting!, followed quickly by 2) I have NO IDEA how to read these patterns!
ReplyDeleteI think that is why vintage patterns have been off limits to me. I just have thought they would be too hard for me to follow... and I was probably right... at first. The more experience I get, the more confident I am tackling a pattern that doesn't draw me a map and spell everything out. I think I could ENJOY tackling one of these now - provided I can find the pattern that matches the picture. It's crazy that this photograph is on page 7 and the the pattern is on page 5. Guess they were maximizing space.
Your tatting of the pattern is LOVELY! That thread combination is SO restful - like laying under trees on a spring day and looking up through the leaves to the blue sky above. Would you be a pal and photograph it on something blue - I've got spring fever. :)))))
:) Ann
This is beautiful. I love the colors you chose. Thanks for sharing with us.
ReplyDeleteThat looks absolutely gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it looks like a light switch cover, but it's awesome either way!
I was struggling with the word glass mat too until I tatted the Mary Konior glass mat and concluded it to be a coaster. :)
Can't get over how color adds life to vintage patterns, though it is true that the best patterns are both versatile (by that I mean 'look good in single solid, multiple solid, or combinations of solids and variegated colors) and timeless.
ReplyDeleteYour choice of Yarnplayer's Celery and the Milford illustrate this perfectly.
Your Abigail and Maeve motifs qualify as instant classics.
Hi Fox, very pretty tatting, I can't believe that I was just looking at that pattern this evening. head over to my blog later, I am posting about why I might be using that very pattern.
ReplyDeleteas for glass mat, yes it is to be used similar to a coaster. I think it is in that book where there are several patterns for table mats and smaller versions to be used under glasses and they are called glass mats.
I'm a lover of vintage patterns and motifs too, so I can understand the attraction for you. Yes, glass mats were used to rest a glass on, there are lots of terms for household items which we no longer use today. Like antimacassars - they were used over the back of an armchair to keep the chair from getting hair oil on it (macassar was the oil men used to put on their hair). In days gone by, women were expected to do needlework at every odd moment, "Idle hands make idle minds" was a popular Victorian saying. Don't forget the richer folk had servants to do the bulk of the work - they had many hours to fill in and there was no tv etc to occupy them.
ReplyDeleteYou turned this old pattern into something really modern.
ReplyDeleteBut I really don't see the problem of reading those patterns, they DO make sense to me, that is, if there is a picture of the endresult, sothat I have an idea where I am going at. I bought some old books and made some edgings from them without a single problem. Take your time before you start, see it as a puzzle. I did not even bother to rewrite, just go step by step. In fact, I see it as a challenge..
Thank you, ALL, for your amazing comments! They sure brightened up my day.
ReplyDeleteAnn, I will NOT be photographing this on blue, as I would only fall prey to the yearly wanderlust that arrives a month or so from now...
I do suggest that YOU tat this pattern and get out the blue fabric that you undoubtedly have masses of and your digital camera! : ))
♥ Fox
Fox, yo soy una apasionada por los patrones antiguos, no importa tengan muchos picots, me encantan y este es muy bello. El hilo de yarn pintado a mano hermoso, ella reproduce perfecto los colores de la naturaleza. Yo aún no he probado el hilo, pronto le hare un pedido, pues viendo como te quedo. dan ganas de hacerlo
ReplyDeleteMaria, I love this thread too!
ReplyDeleteFox : )
I’m glad tatters like the vintage patters; because they give me a headache and there are enough of you out there to do those; and, leave me headache free. LOL
ReplyDeleteI wadded a pattern for a heart up today and threw it in file 13. I worked on it last night and today and reading paragraphs of instructions _ well, it wasn’t that pretty anyway! Plus I was using some AB thread and it just kept twisting and knotting...I decided to finish day 6 of the TIAS and let it go...So a nights work went in the wastebasket along with the pattern!
There, I’m glad! Whew! No more headache! LOL xxxx bj
Absolutely love it! It's so pretty!
ReplyDeleteSo this pattern came from Julia Sanders TATTING PATTERNS book?
Never heard of this one.. I'll have to go find it!
I never knew what a glass mat was either.. I figured it was to put under glass... but then I started thinking it is a glorified word for 'coaster'
This book is actually a replication of the Priscilla #2 book.
ReplyDeleteWhen I bought it, about a year and a half ago, I was still so new to tatting I didn't know about the on-line availability of vintage material that you can download for free. Live and learn...
Fox : )