Tatting - First Commission

While Susan and I were enjoying Christmas vacation in Green Bay, Wisconsin, her sister, Cindi, asked if we could help with a family treasure.  Her mother-in-law, Ida Mae, had a picture of her mother, Marcella, holding Cindi's children Kate (front) and Maggie (back) when they were very young.  The picture was framed with a tatted or crocheted border, which was now brittle and totally falling apart.  Could one of us make a new frame for this heirloom?

When we got a chance to look at the picture, the frame was indeed tatted, so I got to try my new skills to make a replacement.  The pattern did not appear to be very complex; it was a variation on the rings and chains I had used in for the Christmas tree in my first project, with the appropriate picots and joins to make it in the round instead of straight across.  When I had a big enough circle to frame the picture, I then made another circle joined to the first one, skipping the ring-to-ring joins so that it would make a bigger circle.

Tatting Project #2 - Picture Frame, Great Grandmother Marcella and little Katie

When the new border was finished and stiffened, it was time to remove the old border from the photos.  This took some careful work, as it was very well glued directly to the photos, and I didn't want to damage them any more than I had to.  Finally, the old border was put away in honored retirement, and the newly re-framed photos could be hung where they could be enjoyed again.

I did very little that was new on this project, but I did have a very definite deadline.  The project needed to be completed before we left Green Bay!  I tried to put on a few more rings and chains whenever I had some time to do so, then finally glued it all together.  On our last day in Green Bay, we presented the finished project to Ida Mae, and she loved it!

Larry