A ha! It is all about the joins

I have had this little daisy motif in my to-do list from I-don't-know-when and only now got around to attempting it.

This is my first attempt.  I had no trouble with tatting the rounds and rounds of chains but, as you can see, I struggled to get a good-looking shape for the loops over it.

My first two attempts came out horribly misshapen.  Put it down and had lunch.  Picked it up later in the day and it dawn on me where I was doing wrong.

It is in the joins!

Working with chains, naturally the first thought of joins would be the lock join.  That was what I did for the first two attempts. Using lock join forms kinks in the chains whereas I wanted a continuous curve in it.  That can be achieved by making use of the regular join, i.e. by pulling the ball thread through the picot of the centre ring. I also used the regular join for the outer part to achieve a smooth flow of the chains, moving on to the next part of the daisy.

Having decided on the methods that I wanted to use, This is my second attempt. There are some issues with the tension though because the size of the loops are not even but I am happy with it..
Thread is Altin Basak 3053

Comments

  1. I also have that daisy motif on my ToDo list. i am so glad that I haven't done it yet. Thanks for the tips, now I know that I will be happy with the future daisies.

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  2. That's on my 'to do' list too, Jon. Been on the list for years!! I may well get round to it soon!! I love that second one and thanks for the tips on the joins too.

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  3. I had forgotton this pattern I was going to tat this, yours is lovely in those colours, thank you for reminding me of the pattern to do
    Margaret

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  4. This is really beautiful and thanks for the tips, this is one I have been wanting to try for a while too, and I downloaded it and read it and had a time visualizing it. So never started it, now I will give it a go :)

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  5. I can see the difference! - the second version is beautiful. I think you could also use a Dora Young join to avoid the kinks in the chain, but an ordinary join is so much less fiddly!

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  6. Your work always looks perfect to me

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  7. Very pretty. I also wonder if Catherine wheel joins would work for this motif.

    The variegated thread has a wonderful effect for this pattern. I think I'll have to put it on my to-do list as well.

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    1. I remember trying the CWJs. Thing is, I know I didn’t like the way they turned out, but can’t remember the reason why!!! : ))

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  8. Yes, I had to go through that thought process too. It's the direction of the top chains that is puzzling. Worth persisting with because it's a lovely pattern.

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  9. Gorgeous, I tatted only one and gave it away last year. Now you inspired me to tat it again. Thank you.

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  10. I would have thought it needed lock joins also. Thanks for the tip!

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  11. That pink and yellow version is soooo pretty!

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  12. That's so pretty Jon. Really lovely in the coloured thread.

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  13. What a unique design! It's just lovely, both in the white and in the pastels. :)

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  14. I had the same issues as you. Now to redo, thank you so much.

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  15. Really lovely job. Such a deceptively simple pattern. I found it very thread intensive too. I'll have to keep that in mind next time I try it--the joins are the trick!

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