Eva Shock's Butterfly with needle lace

Eva Shock has been inspired by recent discussions in the class of romanian point lace and by the elements of designing. Here is her butterfly pattern with split ring tatting and needle lace à la romanian point lace.

Wind two shuttles CTM (continuous thread method).http://members.aol.com/SLWelker/ctm.html

Split ring shuttles http://members.aol.com/SLWelker/splitrng.html
Split ring needles http://www.georgiaseitz.com/2002/splitringneedle.html

For body: Split rings
6/6

2-4/2-4 (a)

6/6
6/6

2-4/2-4 (b)

6/6

2-4/2-4 (c)

6/6
6/6

Bottom wing right side: Note the 5 double stitches are on the inside of the wing. 1-5/6 join to (a) picot 5/7, 2 more times for total of 4 split rings 2/10 5/7, 5 more times for a total of 6 split rings 5-1/6 join to (b) cut tie

Bottom wing left side Reverse split ring order. 1-7/4 7/5, 2 more times for a total of four split rings 10/2 7/5 5 more times for a total of 6 split rings 7-1/4 join to (b) picot cut tie ------

wing 2 CTM, drop one shuttle through finished wing Count 3 split rings; between 3rd and 4th split rings make the alligator capture join.

Chain one English flipped, one French unflipped http://www.georgiaseitz.com/2002/JK/jk.html

5/7

5/7, 3 more times

2/10

5/7, 5 more times

5-1/6 join to picot (c)

7/5 alligator capture join at third split ring

5/7 3 more times

10/2

7/5 5 more times

7 -1/4 join to (c) picot, cut tie

Stretch cloth tight by using an embroidery hoop, then sew the butterfly line drawing to the cloth followed by the finished tatted butterfly.

Use the caps of the double stitches to sew in the needle lace filling. Hide the end in a split ring then sew through the caps by going up through the caps. Fill the area then return using a half hitch, capturing two threads. Hide ends in the tatting.

For the upper wing sew several times through the same cap and needle weave the worp. When the filling is complete, run the needle back through the weaving. Cut ends.

When translating Romanian point lace into tatting, there were several things that had to be considered. The first was the `style' of tatting. My first choice was a Josephine chain, unfortunately, it did not offer a change in direction without cutting. The second choice was rings and chains, with the chains continuing around the tops of the ring. This attempt allowed a change in direction but did not have the affect that reminded me of RPL. The final choice of a split ring allowed for easy shaping and gave a visual appeal.

The only picots in the pattern are used to join and do not show in the finished piece.

The alligator capture join was used between the third and fourth split ring. Going straight into a split ring was going to encapsulate as if making a Celtic type design. The solution was to make a short chain to `lock' the threads.

The other thing that had to be worked out was where was the needle lace going to be sewn in. Picots would have made it easier to make the needle lace but it did not suit an adaptation from RPL to tatting and I was concerned that they would stretch out when the needle lace was being made. So the only other choice was the `caps' of the double stitches.

Many thanks to Eva Shock.

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