Peter Pan Collars

Early Friday I decided that I was going to put all the remaking on hold and move forward with at least one of the new ideas floating about in my head. The one I chose was a tatted peter pan collar necklace. These things in leather, lace and other materials were featured in one of the etsy emails not too long ago and I kept thinking I should do that in hand made lace. I didn't need to start from scratch because I had already run across a vintage pattern that had the right basic shape to exploit.

Then came the countless adjustments to get it the way I wanted it. First I got rid of the thread space by replacing it with a chain. Then I redid the center flower bit to give me a wider and more stable base. I felt the collar bits should be more oval than the original design. This change was followed by changing the chains to zigzags. I think they give an older design a more modern feel...or maybe I just like them.

Next was connecting the prototypes to see if they would in fact resemble a collar at all. Then there were more adjustments to make them curve up at the outside edges and still more when I wanted the center motif to feel more joined to the outside row so I used some long picots and crossed them when joining.

In the end I think there were at least four different prototype pieces made before I busted out the white and black threads to make the actual collars. See, sometimes when I say I adapted a pattern, I mean I changed the length and slapped on a clasp and other times I mean I spent hours adjusting and tweaking until it's a different beast entirely. I made two and added silver thread so they would hand high on the neck. I think they look pretty much the way I imagined them and since they're done, I should get some proper photos today and get both a white and black one listed. I thought about embellishing them, you know hang something from the center, but I think they probably make a big enough impression as they are.

After I get these listed, it's back to remaking. I do feel completely revitalized by the new pieces. It really is amazing how taking a break to be creative gets me back to work. I do, after all, have a pretty awesome job.