Hankies & What NOT to do in a TIAS!

I wasn't going to do the latest TIAS largely because I thought I would not have time to finish it - or even begin, to be honest, but here I sat this morning, in front of the computer, in my nightie still, and wondered what to do with the UFO of the previous post. Dangerous thoughts when you are surfing catch-up with the tatting blogs.

***IDEA*** I'll just use the threads wound for the UFO for the TIAS! Ha!

That meant I had to find a medium color per the directions as the other two are light and dark. Hmmmm...well, I had this spool of King Tut sitting on my desk that I'd found somewhere, forgotten about from whenever I bought it and never used. Looks like the same size as the other threads. (mistake #2) So I wound and tatted. (mistake #1) As you can see, these are tiny.

So let's review mistake #1. Sherry says to use size 20 thread. Good choice for any new project as it lets you see what you're doing clearly...compared to quilting thread. It's okay to use size 10 or size 30 or maybe even 40 or 50, but I can see this may well be a problem using this tiny of a thread. If I find another block of time, I'll start over with bigger thread. LOL!


Mistake #2. Don't just quickly eyeball two threads and think, yah...they match. When I put the two threads together, I can see the difference. This is a high resolution scan that helps point out the difference and I could see it without the scan but I wanted to show it in a way that could be seen easily. The top thread is King Tut by Superior Threads. I love tatting with this thread. You can see from the scan that it's smooth. What you can't see is that it's also crisper than the other thread. I'm not sure how they size these. On the label, it says #40/3 and I believe the 3 means it is 3 cord but it's certainly much smaller than size 40 thread so I could be wrong on that. It's an extra-long staple cotton which is desirable.

The bottom thread is Majestic by HH, size 70. I don't know why I said it was Venus other than the label is green like the Venus labels. You can tell it's a tad bit bigger and the fibers show a little although they do not on the ball of thread. They look very smooth there. It tats up beautifully too, but the high-resolution scan does make you aware of the difference in threads.

So do I go on with the TIAS with the teensy non-matching threads or not?

I probably won't but it was a fun exercise in block tatting, tiny threads and looking at the differences in threads.


Here she is! I did make an organza flower but it didn't look right. Too poufy and the wrong shade of blue. I'll go to Factory Card Outlet today and find a box to put it in. I'm anxious to see how Libby likes it.

I bought the card from Tami Drader of Angelic Creations. It includes the poem about the wedding hanky/christening bonnet although you can get something else if you prefer.