Juliet (free pattern)

This was the first attempt at designing my own tatting lace pattern, and there was quite a bit of a learning curve!

The Inspiration

I love art history, so naturally I love museums and their archives. These days, much of a museum’s collections are online and it is easy for the public to access them. I could spend hours admiring all the beautiful things from the past, and there is always something to inspire me.

_{Early 17th Century lace collar from Genoa, Italy (metmuseum.org)}

When I came across this beautiful Italian lace collar from the MET’s collection, I knew I wanted to do a dense motif as my first design.

After tatting the motifs and joining four of them together, I noticed that it had an intricate and romantic quality. So I named it after the heroine of Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare.

The Process

I began by tatting what was in my head, wrote out the pattern, then drew it out. The actual tatting and writing of the pattern felt more natural to me, but it took a long time and many trial-and-errors with different methods to get the drawing done. I had a very particular look in mind. My goal was to make a drawing that was clean and easy to read but felt hand drawn. In the end, I was able to create something that felt right for me using Autodesk Sketchbook.

Still, this is a process that needs more experimentation. The output images for Sketchbook are JPGs so the quality suffers when enlarged, and my pattern-drawing abilities need more practice. But I am proud of myself for having completed it 🙂

The first attempt of the pattern was made using Aunt Lydia’s Size 20 thread, but I ended up tweaking the number of double stitches in the larger rings to give it a squarer edge. The final version was tatted with Lizbeth 40.

The final size of four motifs joined together was as follows:
9cm x 9cm (Aunt Lydia’s 20)
7cm x 7cm (Lizbeth 40)

The Pattern

Symbols & Abbreviations Key

–	Picot
+	Join
+-	Join and then make a picot
RW	Reverse Work
SS	Switch Shuttles
LJ	Lock Join
JK	Josephine Knot

Note

– All small rings are 1-1-1-1-1-1 (5 picots total)
– All Josephine knots are 7 half stitches

Round 1

2 Shuttles with continuous thread

(Note: If you want to use 2 different colors, you should start by tying the thread together and hide the ends in the beginning so that you can continue onto round 2 without cutting the thread after round 1)

Ring A: 1-1-1-1-1-1 RW 
Chain B: 5 SS
Ring C (floating ring): 1-1-1-1-1-1 SS
Chain D: 5 RW

Repeat A through D 3 more times.

In the repeats, join the 3^rd picots of Ring As to the 3^rd picot of the first Ring A
(1-1-1+1-1-1)

End with LJ at the start of Round 1. 

Continue onto round 2 with RW, SS

Round 2

2 shuttles

Chain E: 10+-10 LJ (For +-, join to the 3^rd picot of Ring C from previous round, and then make a picot directly on top of the join)

Repeat 3 more times.

Continue onto round 3.

Round 3

2 shuttles

(Note: Josephine Knots are always made with the second shuttle, so SS is not indicated) 

Chain F: 4 SS
Ring G: 1-1-1-1-1-1 SS
Chain H: 3 JK 4+-4 JK 3 SS
Ring I: 1-1-1-1-1-1 SS
Chain J: 4 LJ

Repeat F to J 3 more times.

In the repeats, join 3^rd picot of Ring G to the 3^rd picot of previous Ring I
(1-1-1+1-1-1)

For the last Ring I, 1-1-1+1-1-1 to close the round. End with the last Chain J.

Cut thread and tie ends.

Round 4

2 shuttles

Ring K: 1-1-1+1-1-1 RW
Chain L: 3-3 RW
Ring M: 1-1-1+1-1-1 RW
Chain N: 6-4-2 LJ to picot of Chain H from previous round. SS
Ring O: 2+4-6-6-4-2 SS
Chain P: 2+4-6 RW

Repeat K to P 3 more times.

Cut and tie ends.

I’ve only joined four motifs to form something that could be used as a coaster, but you can join as many as you want to make the square bigger.

Thank you for taking a look at my pattern. Please don’t forget to credit me if you decide to make it and share your work with others. Enjoy tatting! 🙃