Bags for Every Use

September 28, 2021September 1, 2021 VintageJenny

Simple drawstring bag with a small cross stitch design on the front and a fringed bottom. — This bag could be used for a day out, sewing, or lace.

How many bags can one person use? Well, in a vintage world without pockets –– unless you happen to be wearing an apron –– quite a few bags, actually. You need a knitting bag, a travel workbag, a sewing bag, an evening purse (for those nights you go out), and a day purse. Most of these need to be updated every year or two as the fashions change. Oh! Don’t forget the storage bags, the travel bags, the organization bags…

For someone who enjoys making bags, the 1910s through the 1950s is a world of creativity waiting to happen. Every needlework magazine offered the latest in bags for this use or that one. Individual crochet booklets offered bags. Once in a while, a company published a booklet containing instructions for bags for nearly every use imaginable.

Vintage bags organized life

In a vintage household, a bag was a sign of organization. Items that needed their own places found themselves nestled into bags or containers specifically made for them. The most obvious example of this in the vintage home was the string holder which hung in the kitchen or pantry.

Have you ever tried to keep a ball of string from unraveling until you used the last of it? Regardless whether it’s thin or thick, slick or rough, string tends to unwind. And it often unwinds in large bunches, a layer at a time. Let’s say you’re in a hurry, you need some string, you open that kitchen drawer and… it’s everywhere. Somehow the string got caught in the ice pick and several layers lie strewn about the top of the drawer. You can’t even see the cut end to pull it. And you are in a hurry. You were on your way out the door to a meeting, and planned to take this package with you….

Keep the string handy

You can see the problem. Thus, one of the most oft-used bags in a kitchen was the string bag. Sometimes it looked like a tomato hanging from a hook. Other times it looked like a puffy round ball of fabric. At all times, though, a thin string of some kind hung from an opening in the bottom of the bag. You pulled the string, it unwound inside the bag, and you cut off whatever you needed to use. The rest of it waited in the bag until next time.

And why did everyone need a ball of string or twine in the kitchen? Because before 1930, Scotch/cellophane tape did not exist. There was no tape. The only tape that existed was for medical use. Everyone else used string. Need to truss a chicken? Cut some string. Tying a roast for dinner? Use the string. Need to get that package ready for the mail? Grab the string. (This, by the way, is why the U.S. Postal Service still states that they cannot accept packages tied with string for mailing. Because for many years, they did! You can find that in this list of packaging suggestions from the USPS.)

Keeping a ball of general purpose string handy is still a good idea. Several times a year I find myself poking through my yarn stash, in search of some inexpensive cotton string or yarn that I can use to tie or measure something. And to keep it neat, I can make a string holder for the pantry.

Organize that linen closet!

If you really had your act together in 1925-1945, your linen closet held a selection of specially made bags. Some held sheets and pillow cases. Others held your best tablecloths. Opening your linen closet door, you could take immediate stock of what was available and what you needed. Your linen closet might even hold a closed bag for soiled laundry of some kind.

Keep your crafting separate

Do you tat lace? Then you need a small bag that hangs from your wrist so that your lacemaking thread remains untangled –– and stays with you instead of rolling across the floor. You also need a small bag to keep your tatting shuttles and other implements safe. In that bag goes your current project.

If you knit, you need a knitting bag. Or two. Or more. Some knitters are One Project At A Time knitters, but most knitters I know have two to three projects going on a time. Often they are a quickly made project, an intermediate length project and something large like an afghan or a detailed cardigan that takes many hours of work. Mixing these together in one knitting bag is not wise. All those knitting needles start talking together while you aren’t looking, and before you know it you have a knitting mutiny on your hands.

Seriously, though, keeping projects separate means that they remain clean. They also survive with fewer poked holes in them. I don’t know what those knitting needles do in there, but I inevitably find a stray needle poking through my current project if I have more than one per knitting bag.

Crocheters need bags too. Even though it uses yarn just like knitting, a crochet project works best by itself in its own organization bag. For one thing, crochet can get bulky as the project grows.

Today many crafters grab a large ziplock bag to create a “project bag” with yarn or thread, needles or shuttle. Then they are ready to go. These individual crafting bags predated the plastic ziplock bag and fulfill the same function. Truly, they were bags for every use.

Sewing on the go

Although makers use their sewing machines a lot, keeping a sewing bag close at hand can be quite useful. A few vintage lovers find themselves making garments and items completely by hand. Others (myself included) prefer handworked buttonholes to machine buttonholes. (The fact that I can’t seem to get a buttonholer attachment to work with any of my vintage machines doesn’t help either, but I digress…)

Mending used to be never-ending in the vintage household. Someone always needed a replaced button, lengthened dresses or pants, darned socks. The clever worker kept a mending bag just for these items, with a darning egg, matching threads, strong threads for attaching buttons, and other such necessities. That way, when ten spare minutes presented themselves, they could grab the bag, open it up, and complete a quick project.

Other people kept a sewing bag specifically for pickup work. This included small handmade gifts, embroidery projects for spare moments, and that placemat project you wanted to start last year. Items you can pick up, spend half an hour on, and put back down until next time.

So when you see those lists of bag projects from vintage years, keep in mind that the vintage worker kept bags for every use under the sun. If you’re looking for an easy project to carry in a bag, these Outline Stitch squares go together to make up a small quilt.

Make a Simple Vintage Sunbonnet

September 23, 2021September 1, 2021 VintageJenny

Mannequin head wearing a purple sunbonnet. Sits on a wooden table. — Keep those rays out of your face and the insects out of your hair.

This project started out so easy. I wanted a simple vintage sunbonnet or sun hat to wear outside while I do needlework. I often sit outside under a tree on nice days and tat. Sometimes I knit. Other times I sew by hand. It gets me out into the air and into the sunshine.

However, I sit under a tree outdoors. And I might be there for a few hours. Trees have birds in them. And insects. I found the idea of things falling into my hair while I bent over a needle and thread less than thrilling. Better to fall onto a washable hat. That’s what I need! A simple sunhat of vintage or antique history, but modern materials, would do nicely.

Simple, right? Not so fast. I found my fabric, that great purple that you see above, followed the 1940s instructions, put it together, and it Did. Not. Fit. Nope. That hat you see there would fit a ten year old, which I am not. The back curve needed three more inches to go over a modern medium-sized head.

This is why I test almost all the patterns that I present. Even taking into account the change in fashion and how things fit differently now than they did, this hat was far too small. It was uncomfortable. The ties wouldn’t tie under my chin. They were too short. If you try a craft for the first time, I want it to work. This should be a pleasant experience. Thankfully, this is a very simple pattern so when I realized this didn’t work I removed almost all the stitching and returned the large, now completely hemmed rectangle to my scrap bag for another project. You may see it later as part of a small quilting project.

Although I show putting this together on the sewing machine for speed’s sake, you can absolutely do this completely by hand. In fact, it’s a good handwork project because the seams are simple and all straight.

You will need

In order to make your simple vintage sunbonnet, you will need:

Piece of fabric measuring 21 x 36 inches. The original pattern squeezed it out of half a yard of fabric and that’s where this doesn’t work. For comfort it really needs to be about 21 inches wide. I made my samples from cotton, but you can use anything that will gather well. Lace yardage might be really cute if you have some left from another project.
Ribbon, 1.5 inches wide, 2 yard to 2 1/4 yards. Cut one piece 28 inches long and use the rest in one long piece of 44 – 48 inches. The longer you cut this, the longer and more luxurious your hat ties will be. If you don’t have ribbon, but you have fabric, you can make two long hemmed pieces measuring about 1.5 inches wide and use those instead.
Thread and needle or sewing machine for assembly
Large safety pin or bodkin to pull ribbon or ties through completed hat channels.
Iron to press your seams. This does make the whole process a lot easier.

Putting it together

First, hem the two short ends with 1/4-inch hems. Turn the fabric edges up 1/2 inch and press.
Then turn half that 1/2 inch allowance under and hem, like the photo below.

3. Now you have both short sides hemmed. Great! Turn the fabric so the long side is facing you, and turn up 1/2 inch like you did before. Press. Do this with both sides.

4. On one end, bring up a 1-inch hem. Press.

5. Sew this into place close to the top of the hem, using a 1/8 inch seam or less. Do not close the ends, because you will be threading a ribbon through there.

6. On the other long end, fold the edge up 5 1/4 inches and press. This makes the brim of your hat.

7. Sew this in place, sewing close to the edge of the hem. Use a 1/8 inch seam or less.

8. Sew again, one inch below the first seam. You should be sewing through the outside fabric and the hem at the same time. This makes the channel for the under the chin tie.

9. This is what it should look like after all your seams are finished. This image is folded to show you both the top side and the lower side. Your simple vintage sunbonnet is almost complete!

10. Next we’re going to insert the short ribbon or tie, your 28-inch length. Using a large safety pin or bodkin attached to one end of the ribbon or tie, work it through the smaller of the two hems. Once you get it through, pull tight and tie it in a bow. If you don’t want to remove the tie for cleaning, you can use your needle and thread to tack the bow in a couple places so it doesn’t come apart.

11. Now, taking your longer piece of ribbon or tie, thread it through the 1-inch channel at the top of the larger hem. Pull it up a bit, adjust the gathers so they will fall softly around your face, and try it on.

This is the one that actually fits, and more like what yours will look like.

12. The strings should tie comfortably under your chin, and the brim should fall far enough in front of your face that it gives you some shade.

You did it!

Congratulations on your new simple vintage sunbonnet. This pattern appeared during the 1940s as a simple hat to make with very few supplies.

Most sunbonnets also offer a neck guard to keep the sun off the back of your neck, which this simple vintage sunbonnet does not. This is more of a sun hat or a costume hat than it is a traditional sunbonnet.

If you want to decorate your sunbonnet brim, here are some Outline Stitches that would look lovely.

The Creative Corner · Vintage Needlework

Tatting with Rings and Chains

September 21, 2021August 22, 2021 VintageJenny

Wooden table surface with three strips of handmade tatted lace. — You can tat all these with two threads.

If you’ve been following my series on introductory tatting, you’ve spent the last several installments working with only one thread. If you missed prior sections, you can find the last one here. Personally, I love shuttle-only designs for their airiness and their portability, but one cannot live by shuttle alone. So today I bring you a few options for tatting with rings and chains.

There are two ways to tat with two threads. You can keep the thread connected to the ball of thread after winding your shuttle. You then make your chains using the ball thread while you create rings with the shuttle thread alone. While this is a traditional way to tat, it offers drawbacks as well as advantages. It allows you to suspend the ball from your wrist in a holder if you like. This keeps it close yet lightens the weight on your hands. A negative, however, is that when you run out of shuttle thread you have to cut both threads, rewind the shuttle, and attach both threads as you continue. That, in a word, is a pain.

An alternate way to tat with two threads is to use two shuttles. I thought this was a relatively recent way to tat until I came across a 1925 pattern calling for two shuttles. The benefit here is that everything is very portable. Two shuttles fit into your pocket or bag as easily as one, and off you go. Plus, since your remaining thread waits for you on the ball, you can refill an empty shuttle at any time. I have found two drawbacks to this method, however. First, the extra weight from a loaded shuttle can be trying for my hands over time. And second, the two shuttles tend to wrap around themselves and tangle if my attention wanders or I try to go too fast.

However, the two-shuttle method remains very popular. Lots of tatters use it and love it. Experiment a bit, if you haven’t yet, and decide which method is better for you. You should also know: in some modern patterns two shuttles are required because they include techniques that simply cannot be completed with only one shuttle and ball thread. So if you regularly tat modern patterns, or you plan to, the habit of tatting with two shuttles may be a good one to acquire.

Instructions: tatting with rings and chains

These patterns are all straight edgings. Done two-sided they would make splendid bookmarks. As they are, they would look nice on handkerchiefs, towels, shirts, jackets, bedsheets, hats, handbags, or whatever you fancy. Usually I present these in time order, oldest to newest, but today I’ll give them in simplicity order. All these threads are tatted with size 10 thread so you can see the detail. You make them in whatever size thread you like.

Abbreviations you will need:

r: ring
cl r: close ring
ds: double stitches, the basic tatting stitch
p: picot
ch: chain
rw: reverse work. Turn the thing upside down so the ring facing north is now facing south
turn: flip the work over side to side, like looking at the front and back sides of a PopTart, or turning the page of a book

Edging 1

tatted lace in white on wood background. Clover, circle, clover, circle, joined with arcs at the top.

This first edging dates from 1959/1960. As you look at it compared with the others you can see that it’s very simple. This is the next step up from a beginner’s pattern of tatting with rings and chains. I really liked the little ring in between each clover leaf. In a fine thread (size 40 or 80) this would make a lovely edging for a handkerchief, special dinner napkin, or scarf – if you use scarves to dress up your 1950s wardrobe.

This would look lovely made in two colors. The chain thread could be a light version of a color, like lavender or pink or yellow. Then use a darker version of that same color, like purple or rose or deep yellow for the rings. Here’s how to make it:

First, wind a shuttle and leave attached to the ball, OR wind two shuttles splitting 6 – 8 yards of thread evenly between them, OR use a wound shuttle and a ball thread or second shuttle thread, knotting the ends together before you begin. Your choice.
Make a ring of 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3ds, cl r.
R of 3 ds, join to last p of last ring, 3 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, cl r.
R of 3 ds, join to last p of last r, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, cl r. [You have now made one of the clover leaves.]
Rw. Make a chain of 6 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 6 ds. Pull up tight and rw.
Make a r of 3 ds, join to 2nd p of last r, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, cl r. Rw. [This is the small ring in between clovers.]
Ch of 6 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 6 ds. Rw.
R of 3 ds, p, 3 ds, join to last p of previous r, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, cl r.
Repeat from step 3 for the length of the lace.

Edging 2

White tatted lace on wooden background. It looks like a row of little figures holding hands, their arms raised next to their heads. Below the arms the lace terminates in a circle with five picots.

This lace dates from 1925. You can see that it’s more elaborate than the one above it. This would be a great edging for all the uses described above, especially handkerchiefs. It would be nice by the yard to trim underthings or pajamas. This edging would probably look best in one color, unless you use a variegated thread. That might be really pretty. Here’s how to make it:

First, wind a shuttle and leave attached to the ball, OR wind two shuttles splitting 6 – 8 yards of thread evenly between them, OR use a wound shuttle and a ball thread or second shuttle thread, knotting the ends together before you begin. Your choice.
Make a r of 2 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, cl r. Rw.
Ch of 7 ds. Do not rw.
R of 2 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, cl r. [You are making a ring of 2 ds, (p, 2 ds) 5x, cl r.]
Rw. Make this next ring as close as possible to the base of the last one. R of 7 ds, join to last p of first small r, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, p, 7 ds, cl r.
Rw. Chain of 7 ds. Rw.
Small r of 2 ds, join to last p of large r, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, cl r. Rw.
Repeat from Step 3 for length of lace.

Edging 3

A sturdy scalloped lace. White tatting on a wooden board background.

This lace also dates from 1925. This is one sturdy lace. If you look closely you can see that almost every picot attaches everywhere else. It does not move. If you make a row of this, the only picot that hangs free is the one at the bottom point. This is a lace for bedsheets, towels, the ends of runners. I’m thinking about making a length of this for the edge of my fireplace mantel or a piano scarf.

It would be gorgeous in holiday colors, whatever colors say holiday to you. Taking pink and green for example (are there any pink and green holidays?), rings of pink with chains of green would look like flowers winding up and down, up and down. Very nice. Here’s how to make it:

First, wind a shuttle and leave attached to the ball, OR wind two shuttles splitting 6 – 8 yards of thread evenly between them, OR use a wound shuttle and a ball thread or second shuttle thread, knotting the ends together before you begin. Your choice.
R of 4 ds, p, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. Rw.
Ch 6 ds. Rw.
R of 4 ds, join to last p of last r, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. Rw.
Another r of 4 ds, p, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. This should be close to the base of the last one so they sit bottom to bottom. Rw.
Ch 6 ds. Rw.
R 4 ds, join to last p of last r, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r.
Maka a r of 4 ds, join to last p of last r, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r.
R of 4 ds, join to last p of last r, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. [You have just completed the clover at the bottom. Now you will work your way back up.]
Rw. Ch of 6 ds. Rw.
R of 4 ds, join to last p of clover, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. Rw.
Another R of 4 ds, join to 2nd ring made, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. Rs.
Ch of 6 ds. Rw.
R of 4 ds, join to last p of last r made, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. Rw.
R of 4 ds, p, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. [You are back where you started, completing the first ring at the top of the lace.]
Repeat from Step 3 for the length of the lace, being sure to join the third ring of the second scallop to the seventh ring of the first scallop as you go.

What do you think?

If you enjoy tatting with rings and chains and would like to see more patterns like these, drop me a comment and I’ll hunt them up for a future post. I really enjoyed making these and found a new favorite pattern or two along the way. If you’d like to check into this series from the beginning, you can take a look at Easy Vintage Tatting Patterns. If you need basic tatting instructions, Making Lace with Shuttle and Thread links to some beginning tatting videos that I found very clear.

The Creative Corner · Vintage Needlework

Embroider the Ship of Dreams

September 16, 2021August 18, 2021 VintageJenny

The Ship of Dreams in embroidery. A bird sits on the bow of a ship while water swirls below. Text: The Ship of Dreams.

Recreate this 1927 project and embroider the Ship of Dreams for yourself. This Dream Ship would go great in any vintage-style decor, especially if you have a room decorated in 1920-1940 style.

The Ship of Dreams was the original project designed to show off outline stitches and their potential. Even through the original black and white photo above, you can see the amazing texture that outline stitches provide. This is a project you can be proud of when it’s completed.

Sometimes you want embroidery to look smooth. A king’s cloak, the soft rose petal, the velvety down of a bird’s feathers. These things would look odd with a lot of texture. Color, yes. Texture, probably not.

But when it comes to the billows of an unbridled sea, texture adds interest. Intrigue. Wonder. I want to join that bird on the ship and go wherever that ship is headed. Texture keeps your eye on an object longer than it might be there otherwise. And using outline stitches in creative ways can build that texture.

Using all those outline stitches

In the last Embroidery Lesson installment, the first half of Lesson 3, I talked about variations of outline stitches. You can find that lesson here if you haven’t already read it. While the 1920s needleworker had access to far more threads than we have today, and more types of threads, that worker didn’t always have access to technique.

People were busy in the Twenties. Not everyone had hours to pour into the Perfect Satin Stitch as they did ten to fifteen years before. Radio, movies, automobile rides, picnics, parties, evenings with friends –– all these ate into the schedule of the needleworker, not to mention the daily toil of cooking, cleaning, sewing, and perhaps a full or part time job on top of all that. Enter more simple embroidery methods!

The original instructions suggest that you embroider this in wool. If the worker only has access to worsted weight yarn (commonly known as Germantown), the worker could separate the four worsted strands. Then they would use two of those strands for the embroidery.

While you can do that, if you have an abundance of multi-colored wool at hand, you also have other options. Embroider the piece with perle cottons. Or use 3-6 strands of 6-strand embroidery floss. Use one strand of sock (4-ply) yarn. Use whatever you have an abundance of. I happen to have a small bag of yarn used for punch-needle embroidery. It dates from the late 1970s – early 1980s. One or two strands of that would make a delightful pillow.

What you will need

To make this pillow, you will need:

Two pieces of tan medium weight fabric (heavy muslin, linen, etc.) that measure 15 x 15 inches.
An assortment of colored threads or yarns (see below).
A sharp embroidery needle that has an eye big enough for your threads or yarns.
The pattern, downloaded from below.
Your favorite method of transferring a pattern. See here for some options.
Your favorite embroidery hoop.

Colors you will need

You’ll need a handful of different colors to make this as it was designed. Here’s the original list:

Apricot for the boat sail
Light green to outline the diamond on the sail
Deep red-orange (called Chinese Red) for the diamond on the sail
Light sea-blue for the center of the diamond and the waves
Heliotrope (light lavender) for the waves and an outline around the green on the sail.
Cedar brown for the ship hull

How to make it

Here’s how to embroider and assemble the pillow.

The sail

Download and transfer the pattern below. It should measure 6 1/2 inches high by 7 1/2 inches wide when you print it out.
Center the design in your hoop. The embroidery starts with the sail and moves downward in the instructions.
Outline the sail with apricot in chain stitch. Fill in the sail with the slant snailtrail stitch. Keep the stitches close together, but loose enough that the fabric doesn’t pucker. Stop when you get to the oval.
Outline the oval with heliotrope (lavender). Fill in the four lozenges (flat ovals) that make up the oval with general outline (stem) stitch.
At the diamond outline or right outside it, do two rows of chain stitch in light green.
Inside the light green, fill the diamond with the red-orange. Use a chain stitch.
The very center of the diamond is outline stitch in sea blue. I marked it with an X because that’s how it looked to me. If it looks more like a circle or a small diamond shape to you, fill it as you like.
Work the pennants and the masts in snailtrail with the red/red-orange.

The boat

Use the red (red-orange) to fill the hull. Use three rows of chain stitch. Then backstitch over the top row of red-orange with the apricot thread or yarn. This is what gives the deep color contrast at the top of the hull.
The rest of the hull is also in chain stitch. Use the brown, and make the rows up and down instead on longways like the top of the hull you did in red. If you work one row with the chain stitches facing up and then back the other way when you reach the end, this will make the texture more obvious.
Now let’s do the bird. This little guy sits on the prow of the ship, but he also functions as a figurehead. Work the bird solidly in outline (stem) stitch. Use green for the head, with tiny dots of heliotrope for the eye. Use apricot for the rest of the bird. His beak is red.

The waves

Use the darning stitch to fill the waves solidly with sea-blue. Use the light green to whip the upper edges of the waves, like an overcast running stitch.
On the lower edges of the waves there is an extra row of darning stitch using heliotrope.
For the lines that represent the sea spray, use green and heliotrope side by side. First use outline stitch in green, and then a row of heliotrope in darning stitch.

The pattern

Here’s the pattern for the Dream Ship. Download it and print it. You may have to play with your settings a bit to get the design to measure 6.5 x 7.5 inches, or you may not. If you want a larger picture or cushion, download the design at a larger size. Remember to size up your fabric accordingly.

Outline drawing of a ship on the water. The ship has one mast, and it sits on billowing waves. A bird sits on the prow of the ship. — This is the embroidery pattern. Print it out and transfer it to your fabric.

If you enjoyed this project you might like projects that go with Embroidery Lesson 1 and Lesson 2.

The Creative Corner · Vintage Needlework

Embroidery Lesson: Outline stitches to fill

September 14, 2021August 18, 2021 VintageJenny

What do you do if you have an outline of something and you want to fill it with color? You could use another fabric and appliqué the center. You could use a satin stitch and embroider the center. Or you could use variations of the versatile outline stitches from the last lesson to fill your design. This third embroidery lesson shows you how to use outline stitches to fill your embroidery design.

Embroidered ship on the water. An owl sits on the prow, and embroidered waves swirl below the ship. — This ship uses outline stitches to fill the design.

This ship became the center of a cushion. The entire project was embroidered with outline stitch variations. These stitches are incredibly useful, yet little used today. The outline stitches give this piece wonderful texture and interest. Best of all, the stitches are easy to do and you can use them for any size project.

You will need

Like all the embroidery projects, for today’s embroidery lesson on outline stitches to fill, you will need

an embroidery needle with an eye large enough for your thread
six-strand embroidery floss for practice
an embroidery hoop to hold your fabric taught

Take a running stitch… and whip it

Embroidered running stitch that has another thread wound through it. Use this outline stitch to fill a large area. Text: Overcast running stitch.

Here you see a whipped or overcast running stitch. First you follow the line with the running stitch. Then you stitch a second line, starting at the beginning. Instead of going through the fabric you overcast, or whip, the running stitches. Always place the overcast stitches in the same direction so that the design stays consistent. You can make this in one color, or use two contrasting colors for increased interest.

Slanted snailtrail stitch

Snailtrail embroidery stitch made with the needle entering the fabric at a sharp angle. Use this outline stitch to fill a large area of embroidery. Text: Slanted snailtrail.

In the last lesson you learned how to make a snailtrail stitch by passing the needle perpendicular to the design line. This time the needle passes through the fabric at a deep slant or angle, like you see in the illustration. When the needle follows the direction of the line instead of working at a right angle to it (as you did in Lesson 2), you see a very different effect from the stitch.

Backstitched chain stitch

Embroidery illustration of a line of chain stitch. Over the top of the chains a needle passes a second time making back stitches at each loop join. Use this outline stitch to fill a large area. Text: Chain stitch with backstitch.

In this version of the chain stitch, you take a small back stitch over the chain. Using a different color is most effective. You might try this with either a different weight of thread for the backstitch, or the same thread in the same color, and see how you like it. To make this, complete the row of chain stitch as normal, and then go over the embroidery a second time with small backstitches.

Darning stitch

This stitch is easy and quick. You take long stitches that cover the embroidered area and combine them with short underneath stitches. As you go, alternate so that the new row’s stitches always span the last row’s space between stitches. If your stitches were further apart it would look like a brick wall. Worked closely, the stitches have a satin-like effect. Keep your stitches even as you work for the best overall effect.

Try it yourself

Grab some fabric and thread and give these stitches a try. Most of us don’t even think about using anything but a satin stitch, or maybe a long and short stitch, to fill areas like embroidered flowers, leaves, and figures. Using outline stitches to fill embroidered spaces opens up a whole new world of texture, color, and possibility. Best of all, these are easy and relatively quick stitches.

Next time I’ll give you the pattern for the Ship of Dreams above, and you can make it yourself with the stitches you learned. Drop me a note and let me know how you liked these stitches! I look forward to hearing from you.

The Creative Corner · Vintage Needlework

Project for Outline Stitches

August 31, 2021July 21, 2021 VintageJenny

Last time we dove into embroidery we worked on various outline stitches. This time I bring you a project for those outline stitches.

1920s quilt, an embroidery project using outline stitches. The center features 15 blocks. Every other block shows the outline of an insect or animal: bird in hat, butterfly, bird with net, ladybug, frog, squirrel, fish, and flying insect. — Make this small quilt embroidered with outline stitches.

While this was designed as a small quilt, you can use these whimsical Twenties patterns for anything. Put them on an apron. Assemble a collection, mount them in embroidery hoops, and hang them on your wall. Embroider in a long strip and fashion into a wall hanging.

The original illustration shows this quilt made from white and pink sateen. Sateen is a cotton fabric with a satin-like weave. You can still buy it from places like Fabric.com. One of the benefits of a fabric like sateen: it usually has a tight weave so it makes a nice background for embroidery. However, any medium to heavy weight cotton like a nice quilting cotton, or even a linen, would work for this project. (Keep in mind that if you actually plan to make a crib quilt, linen needs to be ironed after washing. Cotton would work better.)

Use whatever colors you like. You’ll need a light color like white, beige, yellow, light green, etc. for the embroidered blocks and a dark color of your choosing for the others.

You will need

The finished quilt measures 36.5 inches wide by 49.5 inches high. Sew all the pieces together with 1/4 inch seams.

For the entire quilt, you will need:

Light embroidered squares: 2.5 yard of 42″ wide fabric, or 2.5 yard of 36″ wide fabric. The blocks actually fit on 1 yard if you are very careful and you use pre-washed fabric, but it only leaves 1 inch of clearance. A few extra inches is safer. This includes making the entire back from one piece of 33 x 46 inches of light fabric.
Dark fabric: 1.5 yards of 42″ wide fabric, or 1.75 yards of 36″ wide fabric.
Flannel for inner lining: This project uses pre-washed flannel as an option for warmth instead of quilt batting. Optional: The original coverlet had no batting or inner lining.
The original was made from white and pink sateen. Sateen is a cotton fabric with a satin-like weave. You can still buy it from places like Fabric.com. One of the benefits of a fabric like sateen is that it is tightly woven so it makes a nice background for embroidery. However, any medium to heavy weight cotton like a nice quilting cotton, or even a linen, would work for this project. (Keep in mind that if you actually plan to make a crib quilt, linen needs to be ironed after washing.)
Sewing thread to match your fabric
Embroidery floss
A method of transferring the pattern
Embroidery hoop
Embroidery needle
Sewing needle or sewing machine

Draw your blocks

Once you have your fabric, measure out the the blocks before you cut anything.

From the light fabric:

8 small blocks measure 7 x 7 inches.
2 medium blocks measure 7 x 20 inches.
2 large blocks measure 7 x 33 inches.
Back piece measures 33 x 46 inches. You will cut this after everything else is together, but make sure you have enough fabric left in one piece once you trace everything else out.

From the dark fabric:

2 long binding strips measure 5.25 x 52 inches.
2 short binding strips measure 5.25 x 42 inches.
11 blocks measure 7 x 7 inches.

Measure the largest pieces first, and then fit the small 7 x 7 squares around them. Draw the rectangles right onto your fabric with pencil (or a white fabric pencil, if you use really dark fabric).

Embroider all your 7 x 7 squares before cutting them out. This will make your life a lot easier. If you would like to cut the squares and strips before embroidering, you will need a small 5-inch embroidery hoop.

If you need some ideas on how to transfer the designs, you can find it in this article I wrote about how to Transfer Vintage Embroidery Patterns.

The designs

These nature-inspired designs are true Twenties illustrations. Embroider all of them with three strands of embroidery floss in a color that matches the dark color of your quilt.

The original instructions call for the animals to be done in basic outline/stem stitch. However, they would also look nice in snailtrail stitch with portions done in backstitch.

When you print these, try printing them at 70%. Your goal is a square that measures about 6 inches. That will transfer nicely into a 6.5 inch finished square.

1920s outline design of a crow-like bird wearing a fedora. — This sassy bird begs to be embroidered.

Twenties illustration of butterfly for outline embroidery. — This butterfly shows off its delicate lines.

Twenties outline illustration of a bird holding a net. He's looking for a worm. — This bird is determined to catch the worm!

Twenties illustration of squirrel with nut for outline embroidery. — This little squirrel found a nut worth burying.

Twenties illustration of a catfish for outline embroidery. — A Twenties-style catfish. If the whiskers bother you, leave them off.

Twenties illustration of an insect for outline embroidery. — Everyone needs a nicely embroidered winged insect, right?

Twenties illustration of a frog for outline embroidery. — The artist caught this frog mid-jump.

Twenties illustration of a ladybug running on two feet, for outline embroidery. — A sweet ladybug to decorate someone’s room.

The borders

The quilt uses two different borders. These are also embroidered in one color, the same you used for the animal blocks. The instructions call for them to be embroidered in a close (small stitches) running stitch.

Two scroll work outline illustrations for a crib quilt. The top one is about 1/3 longer than the lower one, although they look very similar. — Border designs for the crib quilt.

Each of these borders should measure about 4 inches wide once they are printed. A tiny bit more or less won’t matter.

The long border will measure about 23.5 inches when completely drawn out. I’ve given you half the drawing so that you can print it out landscape and then reverse it.

The short border will measure about 16.75 inches when completely drawn out. Since 16 inches is longer than the standard US 11.5 inch page, I halved this pattern as well.

This borders the top and bottom of the quilt.

Putting it together

Your blocks are measured, and you embroidered the light ones. Everything is ready for assembly.

If you haven’t already, cut the blocks apart on your penciled lines. The original instructions suggested that you might want to assemble the quilt with all the fabric lengthwise threads running the same direction. This is a good practice, but not necessary if this is a practice piece. Why do this at all? It’s so that if the piece shrinks, it will all shrink together in the same direction.

Should you want to do this, an easy way to keep track is to take some extra sewing thread and make a few basting stitches lengthwise along each block. This makes it easy to attach them in the same direction.

The center

Sew the center squares together in strips to match the completed illustration. Use a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Then press each seam allowance open.

Being careful to match the corners, sew the strips together to make a section composed of 3 blocks by 5 blocks. Open and press the seams as before.

Now sew on the two long side panels.

Attach the end panels and corners. It may be easiest to do this by assembling a top strip of dark/panel/dark and a bottom strip to match, and then attaching the strips to the top and bottom of the almost completed quilt top. Press all seams open.

The lining and edging

Cut the lining piece the same size as the patchwork. Place the two pieces together, back to back. Lay them out on a table or another flat surface and pin them together very carefully so they are perfectly smooth. Baste into place.

Sew one edge of the shorter bands along each end. Keep the seam on the wrong side of the band (it will be on the inside when you are finished.) Sew together the band, the patchwork, and the lining.

Sew one edge of the long side bands into place. Beginning in the middle of one of the long sides, fold a 1/4 inch hem and then fold the long strip along the middle. The seam that contains all the raw edges and that holds the quilt edging in place should be on the inside.

Pin the fold in place so it doesn’t move, and whip stitch it down. Miter the corners neatly.

To give the blanket a quilted appearance, use sewing thread and make a fine (small) running stitch close to each seam. They should be parallel with the seams. Only go through the top layer of the fabric, catching the seam allowances underneath. Repeat on the other side of each seam. This will keep the seams laying flat.

If you want to make the quilt warm, you can use a layer of pre-washed flannel in between the top and lining. Then when you place the running stitches parallel with the seams, go through all the layers of the fabric. You will quilt it at the same time that you catch the seam allowances.

Enjoy your beautiful embroidered quilt!

The Creative Corner · Vintage Needlework

Transfer Vintage Embroidery Patterns

August 26, 2021July 21, 2021 VintageJenny

Portion of a linen doily showing an embroidery transfer of simple flowers and leaves. Dates from 1920-1950. — Item purchased with transfer already applied, ca. 1920-1950.

You found this great pattern you want to make. Perhaps you’re following my vintage embroidery lessons and you want to recreate one or two of the patterns I talk about. How do you transfer the vintage embroidery pattern to your fabric? It’s not as hard as it might seem.

In the past, if you found a design you liked, you could get it in two ways. The magazine or catalog often offered an article on a heavy linen or linen/cotton or linen/rayon fabric that you simply decorated with needle and thread. This was more profitable for the magazine and less work for you. However, it could be expensive. You might find yourself paying $1.25 for a pre-stamped piece of fabric when you only paid $1.00 for a yearly subscription to the magazine!

A more economical option was purchasing a transfer and placing the design onto your own fabric. This worked great for small items, because a worker often had fabric pieces left from larger projects. That pillow may be leftover fabric from the curtains or Mom’s best silk. Send away 15 to 60 cents and the transfer is yours.

Today when we think transfer we immediately think hot iron. While most of us who sew or work with fabric do own a clothing iron, other transfer options existed.

Pricking and pouncing

Sometimes embroidery designs appeared with holes punched along the design line. This was known as a perforated transfer pattern. To transfer the design you placed the perforated design over your fabric, and then you brushed some transfer powder onto the design. The dark (or light) powder falls through the holes and you end up with a beautifully transferred design. The process is known as prick, the holes in your pattern, and pounce. Pounce is the powder you use.

You can do this with any design. Here are the basics:

Find a needle. The holes it makes need to be big enough that you can see the pattern when you’re finished. A regular embroidery needle would work well. This doesn’t have to be huge. A pricking needle used for bobbin lace (a needle set into a handle) is ideal.
Poke holes along the design lines at even spaces. Make them very close together.
Find a transfer powder. You can use cornstarch, talcum powder, or even ground up chalk while you are practicing.
With a stiff brush, a small piece of felt, or anything else that will let you lift the powder from a container and release it sparingly onto your pattern, dot the transfer medium along the design lines.
You should end up with a perfect design, perfectly applied. This takes a bit of practice before it becomes smooth and flawless. Best of all, you can use it over and over again with no extra work, unlike many other transfer methods.

If this technique interests you, do look at these two articles by professional embroiderer Mary Corbet. She talks about using charcoal and talc –– what grades to use and where to find them inexpensively. Excellent information.

You can find pounce powder at quilting shops like Missouri Quilt Company if you don’t want to go the assemble-your-own-from-chemical-supply-stores route.

Carbon paper transfer

Photo of vintage carbon paper package resting on a piece of linen fabric and a simple flower and leaf pattern. Text: Traum Carbon tracing paper for dressmaker's use. New Formula. Marks clearer. Will not smear. Easier to.... [photo cuts of remaining words] — Special carbon paper makes tracing a design a breeze.

The idea behind carbon paper transfers is simple. You choose a color that is close to your fabric but not invisible. Since my fabric is ivory I would probably choose yellow or blue from the package above. Make sure your fabric is ironed with no creases.

Lay your fabric on a hard surface.
Place the carbon paper on the fabric where the design should be. Make sure the color part of the carbon paper is down, towards the fabric.
Place your design on top of the carbon paper.
Trace the design with a pencil.

Your design is transferred and ready to embroider. This gets a bit tricky when you have a large design to reproduce, but not impossible. However, let’s say you want to take one motif, like the flower and leaf above, and repeat it several times. You might be placing this along the hem or down the sides of curtains, for example. In that case you might want to look into the prick and pounce method above. Once you prepare the pattern for prick and pounce you can use it over and over easily without tracing it each time.

Tracing with graphite

You may remember this method from grade school. It’s the scribble-on-the-back-of-the-paper method.

Believe it or not, this was a popular way to transfer patterns during the first half of the last century. It was inexpensive, always at hand, and something anyone could do.

Here’s how to do it:

Find a design you like, and make sure it’s on a sturdy paper.
Turn the design over and cover the back of the design with graphite from a pencil. This will take a lot of scribbling.
Once the back is solidly covered, turn the sheet back over.
Place the design over your fabric and trace the design lines onto your fabric. The graphite from the pencil should transfer from the pressure of your pencil.

And there you are! One transferred design and perhaps one very dirty palm. (I could never do this without resting my wrist on the paper somewhere. I’m a mess by the time the design transfers.)

Using a transfer pencil

Photo of simple flower with leaf drawing. A red Aunt Martha's transfer pencil lays across the page. — With a transfer pencil you trace and iron.

With a transfer pencil you trace whatever you want to embroider, turn it over, and iron the page. The pencil markings then reproduce on your fabric. Generally the instructions suggest that you use some type of tracing paper to reproduce your design with the pencil.

While I show an Aunt Martha’s transfer pencil in the photo, I do it because that’s what I have. Many other companies produce these, and you can find them online or at your local fabric store. Clover, Dritz, Ibotta, General Pencil, and Sulky all make hot iron transfer pencils as well.

This is a nice option when you are copying words from another transfer. For instance, the old Days of the Week transfers all have words on them: Monday, Tuesday, etc. If I simply trace it with carbon paper the words will still turn out backwards. Tracing it with a sheet of tracing paper and a hot iron transfer pencil, the letters face the correct way when I turn the page over and iron the design. Magic!

Use your new knowledge

Pick your favorite method and play around with transfers. Any one of these works if you want to transfer vintage embroidery patterns. For practice, you may want to check out my Embroidery Lessons series on Outline stitches.

Happy creating!

Magazine articles · The Magazine Rack · Vintage Needlework

Owning a Twenties Needlecraft Business

August 24, 2021July 22, 2021 VintageJenny

A 1920s sketch of a woman sitting on her front porch in a large wicker chair. A low table sits next to her. She is sewing by hand. Next to her a friend sits on the porch railing. They are visiting. — Many women found that time with their needle could turn a profit.

Many of the magazines of the Twenties and Thirties offered ideas for women to make extra money from home. For many families, the Twenties life wasn’t attending party after party in dance shoes and short dresses. It was about making ends meet and finding the best prices at the grocer. And sometimes it was about making a bit of money on the side. Owning a Twenties needlecraft business was highly encouraged by some of the needlework magazines of the time..

Here is one story, direct from the pages of Needlecraft Magazine. These little stories appeared on the editorial page, and I’m sure subscribers read them with interest, just as I did when I found it 100 years later.

A Twenties mail-order needlecraft business

Attributed to a Bess V. from Tennessee, this tells a tale of ingenuity and business savvy. Bess didn’t just open a store front and wait for people to appear. Instead, she looked at her situation realistically and networked with people in her community to get the word out. Here is her story:

“My own Needlecraft Shop is on a mail-order basis. I live in a small town where it would scarcely pay to open such a shop in the regular way. Yet I trust the hints I am glad to offer, and which are drawn from personal experience will help others in adding to their income as I have done.

Then those who bought the camisoles showed them to friends. In a short time I was in receipt of mail orders from the city.

“My first orders were for a tatted camisole yoke, made up on white wash-silk. This I took with me on a shopping trip to a nearby city. I used it in soliciting orders from the clerks of the department store. The work spoke for itself, and I made my price as reasonable as possible. Because of this, I brought home enough orders to keep me busy for several weeks.

“Then those who bought the camisole yokes showed them to friends. In a short time I was in receipt of mail orders from the city. These were not only for yokes, but also for lace to trim underwear, pillowcases, and other articles. One woman sent an order for fourteen yards!

Tatted lace and embroidered hankies

“In another town near my home a woman I know set up a dressmaking establishment. She gave me permission to put some of my work on display in her windows. It sold rapidly, especially tatted collars and lace for trimming dresses. My friend said it really helped her business. Passers-by would stop to admire the work, and many of them came in and placed an order for a dress with one of the collars or some of the lace to match.

“Among my best sellers are handmade handkerchiefs. Material for half a dozen costs comparatively little. For some of them I use an edge of tiny tatted rings, or a simple dainty pattern in crochet. Others with plain edges show a design embroidered in colors.

“An assortment of these handkerchiefs, neatly arranged, was placed in a ready-to-wear waist [blouse] shop. Others were displayed in a millinery store where they sold readily.

“I have found that bits of thread left from embroidering larger pieces are often sufficient for working several handkerchief corners. The proprietors of shops such as I have named rarely object to having work placed on sale as long as it does not enter into competition with their own goods. On the contrary, they seem glad to have it.

“So here’s to the success of other workers! Where there’s a will the way is not hard to find. It requires only the determination to carry on, and the ability to see and grasp every opportunity presented. Perhaps we need to create them when we do not at once discern an opportunity. Let me say that Needlecraft has been and is a veritable goldmine to me. I have no difficulty whatever in selling the neatly finished designs with which it is always teeming.”

Things change yet they stay the same

It’s interesting that Bess needed to augment her income in the 1920s much like many of us do today. As I read through her story, I wondered… how did she get all this done while running a household in 1920-1928? She lists a massive amount of needlework production. Even though she outlines no time period for her side business, she still produces an amazing number of finished goods.

She makes:

Tatted lace collars
Lace yardage in tatting –– including a 14-yard order!
Tatted lace chemise yokes.
Embroidered handkerchiefs
Handkerchiefs with crochet edgings
Handkerchiefs with tatted edgings

Bess not only decorates the handkerchiefs, she makes them from fabric yardage. It was almost easier to hem a handkerchief while attaching the finished lace than it was to attach the lace to a finished purchased handkerchief.

Even considering the time span may equal three years or more, this is still quite a bit of handwork for someone to produce for sale. Not only that, but if someone asked me to tat 14 yards of edging I may just pass out! Bess must have really enjoyed working with her tatting shuttle.

In addition, owning a needlecraft business in the Twenties required bookkeeping, packaging, mailing, and keeping address and contact records. Basically, everything we do now to run a business, Bess needed to keep on paper.

I hope you enjoyed this look into the life of a needlecraft entrepreneur and this look at owning a Twenties needlecraft business. If you were going to open a mail-order shop like this today (a relatively easy project given the Internet), what would you want to sell? What projects do you love enough to create them over and over again?

The Creative Corner · Vintage Needlework

Embroidery Lesson: Outline Stitches

August 19, 2021August 18, 2021 VintageJenny

Welcome to the second lesson in our series. This time we concentrate on an embroidery lesson for outline stitches. In this first installment I’ll introduce the outline stitches. A second post will give you some simple patterns you can use for practice. If you missed the first lesson you can find Part 1 here.

This was the article that changed my attitude towards outlining in embroidery. For years I’d used the simple stem stitch. It worked for stems, curves, straight lines, basically anything I needed to outline. However, it does get boring after awhile. You look at this thing you want to outline, and think… Again? Four colors, all lines. It goes fast, but it’s kind of boring. No? It was just me? Maybe I need to get out more.

During the Twenties through the Forties, many designs were embroidered by covering the outline only. In fact, unless you followed a pattern with cross stitches, the term embroidery often meant outline stitch. This meant that lots of beautiful line patterns were produced during this time period that still look very effective today.

Perhaps because of this, Needlecraft Magazine produced an embroidery lesson specifically for outline stitches. This introduces the general outline stitch but takes you beyond that so you can be as creative as you like.

The Outline Stitch

When we think of following a line in embroidery, we usually think of the stem stitch, also called the outline stitch. An illustration of the outline stitch appears below.

You always work this stitch from left to right, and you keep the needle pointed to the left. Start the embroidery without making a knot in your thread. Hold the end of the thread behind the fabric and take three or four short running stitches along the design line. Make the stitches in the direction of your beginning embroidery point. These stitches will be covered by the embroidery, and you can clip any hanging end later.

Looking at the illustration, place your needle along the dotted line a short way and take a stitch. Usually an outline stitch measures between 1/4 and 1/2 inch long. Bring your needle up close to the end of the first stitch, staying on the line. Now the outline stitch really begins.

The needle goes down on the dotted line, your design line. It comes back up, still on the line, at the end of the last stitch. Keep your thread always to the left of your work so that it will make a nice, even outline. If your thread falls to the right for a stitch you will instantly know; something looks off as you look at your finished work.

Changing the effect and turning corners

If you want the effect of your thread always on the right side rather than the left, you can do that. It will look a bit more twisted if you embroider that way, and it’s a perfectly acceptable effect. Whichever way you use, stay consistent within one piece or it will “look” wrong.

When you turn a corner or a sharp curve, you shorten your stitches accordingly. Sometimes they will need to be very short in order to follow a line. Otherwise, the outline stitch uses the same length of stitch all the way through a project.

The length of your stitches ultimately depends on your working materials. Embroidery with wool on burlap requires much larger stitches than using one strand of embroidery floss on fine linen. If you make the stitches too small, the delightful detail of the embroidery gets lost.

The Snailtrail

This outline stitch can be called the snailtrail, the beading stitch, or the knotted outline. It looks a bit like a couching stitch and is very effective in a thread like perle cotton. It gives you little beads along the thread. Very nice.

While the outline stitch is worked from left to right, this stitch is the opposite. Always work the snailtrail stitch from right to left.

Hold the thread on the line with your left thumb and take a short slanted stitch underneath it. The illustration above shows how. Make the slanted stitch from top to bottom. This makes the thread coil around in a loop –– perfect. Gently pull the thread up and you should get a knot around your working thread. Leave it somewhat loose. That’s part of its beauty.

You notice that the needle goes in further above the thread (which we assume is held along the embroidery design line) than it comes out below it. This helps to get the nice round beads but at the same time you don’t stray too far from the outline’s path.

A few practice stitches will show you where to place the needle. Draw a line on some spare fabric and make a few snailtrail beads. You’ll quickly see the best way for you to make the stitch.

The Running Stitch

This stitch is used in plain hand sewing, in crafting with felt, and in quilting. The running stitch is a good general stitch to master. This might be the easiest stitch in this embroidery lesson for outline stitches.

This stitch looks very nice as a companion to heavier stitches. It also provides an ethereal look to clouds and a nice broken look to grass. It’s nice to use when you want a light effect.

The running stitch is worked from right to left, and its beauty depends on the evenness of the stitches. They should all be the same size with the same distance between. The stitches are a little longer than the space between them. If you want to be creative, placing the stitches in a long – short – long – short pattern could be beautiful. Keep the same distance between all the stitches, though, to accent your creativity.

As you can see in the illustration, you can make several running stitches at a time. In fact, this helps to keep the stitches and spaces even.

The Back Stitch

The back stitch appears similar to the running stitch, but with no fabric showing between the stitches.

This uses more thread than the running stitch because it covers each stitch length twice. This is important if you have limited access to threads. Working with vintage threads that you can’t replace once you run out, or an out-of-production thread that you love, may dictate embroidering with a stitch that uses less thread.

The back stitch produces a nice straight outline, whether you’re following a curve or a line. It’s also a sturdy stitch. Unlike stem stitch or the chain stitch mentioned later, this stitch does not move once you place it unless your stitches are very long.

To make this stitch, bring your needle up on the dotted line (the design line on your fabric). Return the needle to the fabric 1/8 – 1/4 inch to the right, as shown above. Bring the needle back out 1/8 – 1/4 inch to the left of where your thread comes out. Then place your needle back into the fabric to the right, almost touching the first stitch. (In counted cross stitch, your back stitches do touch one another when done on a fabric like Aida. In Twenties-style fabric embroidery, the stitches almost touch, with a strand or two of the fabric between stitches.)

Follow the design line from right to left. A full 2/3 of your thread will lie under the fabric surface. A back stitch is often used in place of an outline/stem stitch. It gives nice variety to your embroidery.

The Chain Stitch

When you want the effect of a heavy line, the chain stitch can work very well.

The endless loops of the chain stitch make an interesting outline. As you can see in the illustration, the needle always points towards you. The chain appears link by link, drawing closer to you as it covers the design line.

To make the chain stitch, bring your needle up on the dotted line. Hold the thread down with your thumb, and insert the needle again where it came out of the fabric. Pass the needle under the fabric for a short space and bring the needle point back up. At this point your needle should pass over the thread your thumb holds down. You can see what that looks like in the illustration.

Draw the thread through the hole. Be careful to leave it a bit loose so that it forms a nice chain link. You are now in the position to hold the thread down again while you put the needle back into the fabric where it came out. Continue creating your chain.

I hope you found this embroidery lesson on outline stitches useful. Next time I’ll give you the project that came with this article: adorable animals and a border for outline stitches.

The Creative Corner · Vintage Needlework

Two Ring Tatting Part 2

August 12, 2021July 13, 2021 VintageJenny

Square of large and small tatted rings in a variegated soft pink and purple thread. — Everyone needs a nice square pattern

Welcome to Part 2 of the short series on two ring tatting design. If you missed it, you can find it here.

Last time we talked about how to make the two individual sized rings. I also gave you patterns for a small edging, a corner, and a scalloped edging. In this post I’ll give you the rest of the patterns. (Unless I decide to design some more. I really like the way these two rings fit together.

This time you get the pattern for the insertion that started this whole two-ring mania. I also give you an octagon that was designed with the set. Unfortunately, handy as they are, the group included no square like you see in the top photo. So I designed one. Look for it at the end of this article.

If you tried any of the patterns in Part 1, you already know the ins and outs of this pattern. That’s useful information before you make these slightly more advanced options. Let’s go directly to the instructions!

Insertion or Very Fluffy Edging

A simple tatted edging with large and small rings alternating, in watermelon green and red thread. — The edging that started this whole adventure.

You can use this as an insertion. It goes between two pieces of fabric to form a lace part of your item. Or you can use this as a very fluffy edging, which is what I plan to do with it.

Like the rest of the patterns in this very short series on two ring tatting, this is made of large and small rings. They are attached the same way that they were before. You start by making a large ring to begin. After that the rhythm is small, small, large, large, small, small, large, large. With each ring you reverse your work. Be sure to leave 1/8 – 1/4 inch thread between each two rings, depending on your thread size.

Here are the instructions written out:

Make a large ring of 2 ds, picot, (1 1/2 ds, picot) 11 times, ending with 2 ds. Close ring.
Reverse work. Leave a small length of thread.
Make a small ring of (3 ds, picot) 3x, 3 ds, close ring.
Reverse work. Leave a small length of thread.
Make a small ring of 3 ds, join to 11th picot of the large ring, 3 ds, picot, 3 ds, picot, 3 ds, close ring.
Large ring of 2 ds, picot, 1 1/2 ds, join to the last picot of the first small ring, (1 1/2 ds, picot) ten times, 2 ds, close ring.
Reverse work. Leave a small length of thread.
Large ring of 2 ds, picot, 1 1/2 ds, join to the last picot of the small ring, (1 1/2 ds, picot) ten times, 2 ds, close ring.
Reverse work, leave a small length of thread.
Make a small ring of 3 ds, join to 11th picot of the large ring, 3 ds, picot, 3 ds, picot, 3 ds, close ring.
Repeat from Step 4.

This uses a lot of thread, but it’s awfully cute when it’s done.

The Versatile Octagon

Small tatted octagon to show two ring tatting patterns. Text: two rings + one shuttle = one octagon — *Gather this like a flower or join several of them together to make a placemat, table mat, whatever you want.*

This is the most intricate of all the patterns in this collection. I actually altered the pattern a little to make it more balanced. At he same time, however, it made it a bit more complicated.

You can see that four large rings circle around a small center ring. The original instructions said to join “the middle picot” of the large ring to the center ring. Well, as I count it, a 12-picot ring doesn’t have a middle picot. So I gave those middle large rings 13 picots. Now the count it 6 picots or joins, join at the center, 6 picots, close. If you don’t like my addition, omit it and use a 12-picot large ring. In the original 1919 illustration two of the center rings had 12 picots and two of them had 13. Even the author altered the pattern a bit to make it more understandable.

Here’s how to tat it:

Begin by making a modified center small ring of 2 ds, picot, (3 ds, picot) three times, 1 ds, close ring. You now have a ring of 4 picots completely separated by 3 ds. Close ring and pull tight. Cut the thread and tie. You’ll work the ends in with a needle later.
Make a large ring of 2 ds, picot, (1 1/2 ds, picot) five times, 1 1/2 ds, join to one picot of the small ring, (1 1/2 ds, picot) six times, 2 ds, close ring. You have a large ring with 13 picots, joined at the center.
Reverse work, leave a space of thread, make a large ring of 12 picots.
Reverse work, leave a space of thread. Make a small ring of 3 ds, join to 11th picot of first large ring, 3 ds, picot, 3 ds, picot, 3 ds, close ring.
Reverse work, make a small ring of 3 ds, join to 11th picot of 2nd large ring, 3 ds, picot, 3 ds, picot, 3 ds, close ring.
Leave a small space of thread but do not reverse your work. Make a large ring of 2 ds, picot, 1 1/2 ds, join to last picot of preceding small ring, (1 1/2 ds, picot) ten times, close ring.
Reverse work, make a small ring of 3 ds, picot, 3 ds, join to middle picot of second small ring, 3 ds, picot, 3 ds, close ring.
Reverse work, make a small ring of 3 ds, join to 11th picot of preceding large ring, 3 ds, picot, 3 ds, picot, 3 ds, close ring.
Reverse work, make a large ring of 2 ds, picot, 1 1/2 ds, join to last picot of third small ring, (1 1/2 ds, picot) four times, 1 1/2 ds, join to the next picot of the center 4-picot ring.
Repeat from Step 3 around, joining a large 13-picot ring to each picot of the center ring, and the last two small rings also to the first two large rings when you get there. Once you reach the beginning again, tie your threads, cut, and weave in with the needle.

You can make something that uses several of these. You will join two of the large rings on one flat side to picots 6 and 7 on the previous octagon. That will make a nice, stable 4-picot join per side.

The Elusive Square

Tatted square made completely of large and small rings. Text: Two rings + one shuttle = one square — *A square motif you can use for all your square needs.*

Every set of patterns like this needs a square. Why one wasn’t originally included, I have no idea.

So I designed one.

This follows the same format as all the preceding patterns. The corner joins are a little more involved –– actually, they are the same joins as the corner pattern in the earlier post. All the rings follow the same small ring, large ring stitch count that you’ve seen before. This square contains no surprises.

I eliminated the central circle that the octagon used because it seemed like an extra step. Not to mention that it gives you two more threads to work in later, which you don’t really need.

Here’s how to tat it:

Make a large ring of 2 ds, picot, (1 1/2 ds, picot) 11 times, 2 ds, close ring.
Reverse work, leaving about 1/8 inch thread between rings.
Make a small ring of (3 ds, picot) three times, 3 ds, close ring.
Reverse work, leave a space of thread, and make a small ring of 3 ds, join to 11th picot of large ring, (3 ds, picot) twice, 3 ds, close ring.
Reverse work, leave a space, and make a large ring of 2 ds, picot, 1 1/2 ds, join to last picot of first small ring, (1 1/2 ds, picot) 10 times, 2 ds, close ring.
Reverse work, leave space, and make a small ring of 3 ds, join to last small ring, 3 ds, picot, 3 ds, picot, 3 ds, close ring.
Reverse work, leave space, and make a small ring of 3 ds, join to 11th picot of last large ring, (3 ds, picot) twice, 3 ds, close ring.
Reverse work, leave space, and make a large ring of 2 ds, picot, 1 1/2 ds, join to last picot of last small ring, (1 1/2 ds, picot) 10 times, 2 ds, close ring.
Do not reverse work. Do not leave much space between the rings. Make a large ring of 2 ds, join to 12th picot of last ring, 1 1/2 ds, join to 11th picot of last ring, (1 1/2 ds, picot) ten times, 2 ds, close ring.
Reverse work, leave space, and make a small ring of 3 ds, picot, 3 ds, join to middle picot of last small ring, 3 ds, picot, 3 ds, close ring.
Reverse work, leave space, and make a small ring of 3 ds, join to 11th picot of last large ring, (3 ds, picot) twice, 3 ds, close ring.
Reverse work, leave space, and make a large ring of 2 ds, picot, 1 1/2 ds, join to last picot of small ring, 1 1/2 ds, picot, 1 1/2 ds, join to 9th picot of last center large ring, 1 1/2 ds, join to 8th picot of last center large ring, (1 1/2 ds, picot) seven times, 2 ds, close ring.
You are now nearly halfway around the square. Pick up at Step 6 and continue working around. When you reach the beginning of the square, the last small ring should join its first picot to the 11th picot of the last large ring, and its second picot to the middle picot of the small ring opposite it. Then the last large ring, which completes the fourth corner, should join its second picot to the last picot of the small ring next to it, and its 11th and 12th picots to picots 1 and 2 of the very first large ring.

You did it! Congratulations.

To join these squares together you will attach picots 6 and 7 of the outside large rings on one side of the square to the large rings on one side of the new square.

Did you try them?

If you make any of these designs, drop me a note in the comments. I’d love to see your tatting. And let me know… were these too easy? Too difficult? Tell me what you think.