Three from Priscilla No. 2 -- A New Challenge

I'm starting my new Challenge with 3 motifs from the Priscilla Tatting Book, No. 2 of 1915.  These pieces are actually part of a very ornate collar, but I am using just parts of it to make flowers.

These are all chain-only designs, which meant I could use one shuttle and the ball thread and not have to reload, even with all those picots.

The pattern said to join the chains only on the side that would curve inward, but that led to an unruly mess with this purple motif.

With the dark pink motif, I joined the chains on both sides and was still able to block it to curve gently.







I'll show you what I'm doing with these later.










You can easily get your own copy of this vintage book.  It is available as a reprint from Dover Books as this book:

Even better, you can download it for free from the Antique Pattern Library. Click HERE for a list of their recent additions to their collection, including this one.  You can also get it from Georgia's Archive of Tatting Books in the Public Domain, but note that she has a later edition that has fewer pages (and horrors, cost 10 cents more).


Thanks for the advice on the free patterns last time.  I'll quit worrying about standardizing the notation and put the abbreviations back in.  Whenever I find time to work on it again....

Pattern Links

I've had a request to add more of the old free patterns to the blog.  In a perfect world, I will be posting those patterns on a new website rather than putting more time into the blog.  Either solution seems a way off.

I'm in the process of converting the old patterns into easier to read pdf files.  They were quite a mess on the old website.    At first, I thought I would be merely reformatting them, getting them all the same font size with nice margins and columns.  But as I look at them, each time more questions arise.  Should I leave the abbreviations on each pattern, or make one master list?  Should I do more to standardize the formats of all the patterns? The notation style varies a bit from pattern to pattern; how much should I do towards standardizing that? Should I just take the quickest way out since these are just free patterns, since I already don't have enough time for everything that needs doing? Some days I get some work done, and sometimes I just dither.

Good news, in the meantime, I have discovered that some of the links to the old website still work.  Try this link, which should bring up the old free pattern directory.  Clicking on the pictures doesn't work anymore, but the navigation links in the column on the right hand side of the page still work for now.