Free Pattern: Tatted Lace Corsage Bracelet

I'm not certain why I got it in my head to release a pattern yesterday, but I did. Even before I started schooling for the day i was hard at work making up the sample piece so I could take pictures the entire time. I know I could just publish the pattern, but I really do love the format at Instructables that allows a much more comprehensive approach so that even non-tatters can give it a go. I didn't finish writing it up until well into the afternoon, but it is published now. You can find my newest free pattern here: Tatted Lace Corsage Bracelet. The link has also been added to the sidebar with my other free patterns. The reason I chose to do this one was because a few days ago someone had asked for it in order to make a gift. Of course I didn't have it written up, but I really had no objection regarding this pattern. I suppose I felt it was the perfect excuse to get something new up. Please do let me know if I've made any mistakes or anything.

In other news, I also managed to get both the new Peter Pan collar necklaces listed. In fact I felt rather too productive for the day even though all I did was get photos taken since the camera was out anyway. I was pretty proud that they looked like they were supposed to when worn. Sometimes I'm just not sure I got it right until its really too late to back out. Once all this nonsense was taken care of I even got back to remaking things. I got some supplies in the mail that I needed to remake one piece, so I worked on that. If I hadn't had an allergy induced headache most of the day, I would have been extraordinarily happy, but I did so I was merely pleased.

Today promises to be a much less productive day. We have the last face to face teacher meeting of the year with our homeschooling teacher this morning. They're always pleasant and relatively short, but it throws my precious schedule off a bit. I'll likely use the rest of the day for more remaking and perhaps thinking on my next possible project. No, I have no new ideas, just trying to seed them by putting that out there in the Universe.

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.