Ribbonwinners Tatting Patterns & Shuttles by
Georgia Seitz
11460 Via Appia
Anchorage Alaska 99515-2905 USA
AKTATTER@aol.com
www.georgiaseitz.com


Mignonette Stitch as Hanky Edging



Katie Johnson spotted this unusual hanky at an online auction and began asking how it was done. When I first saw it I thought that it was a round of one shuttle work with rings on opposing sides to which a ring and chain round was attached. After Katie said "Huh?" I put on my glasses and enlarged the pattern and was pleasantly surprised to realize that it was instead mignonette stitch. This is a really simple pattern on which to practice especially if you are doing it for the first time. It is advisable to use a measuring gauge to measure the length of bare shuttle thread which is left between the rings to insure regularity. Many thanks to Katie for bringing this to class.


The first round of mignonette has the rings caught up by a crocheted header which is crocheted directly onto the hanky's edge. It is not necessary to have a picot on the rings as the crochet hook can simply pull the thread through a bar on the back side of the ring at mid point.



Round 1
R 6 close.
Leave a measured length of bare shuttle thread between rings, 2” for example. Tat for the length desired (leave the shuttle attached until done with attaching it to the hanky with the crocheted header.)

Round 2
R 3 + 3 close. The ring joins at midpoint on the bare shuttle thread of round one and also leaves 2” of bare shuttle thread between rings of round two.

Round 3
Using ball and shuttle,
*R 2 - 2 + (joins to midpoint of bare shuttle thread of round two) 2 - 2 close RW
CH 2 - 1 - 1 - 2 compress chain to enhance curve RW
Repeat from * around and finish off.



Katie has worked just part of a corner using this pattern. She did not use the header to attach the lace to the hanky but tatted it directly onto the hanky. A problem at the corner. It maybe that this needs to float on that header, be it crocheted or a tatted chain. Please let the class know your results as you try this pattern out. Thanks.


Katie's sample corner

Notes on the Mignonette Stitch

The Mignonette stitch is little used and not often listed in books but it is a great design element. See "Tatting Techniques" - Elgiva Nicholls Charles Schribner's Sons 1975/6 also. Although the mignonette stitch is not exactly a "stitch" but rather the result of a special type of joining pattern, it is described in her book (page 90) as:

"An arrangement of one or more rings joined to a single thread upon which they are free to move."
She attributes it to Mlle Riego

To practice this stitch:
Make a center ring with 11 picots (small).
Close the ring leaving a very long tail which you can use to climb out by means of a split ring of 2/2 (use the long tail for one side of the split ring).
Continue with the shuttle only and measure the spaces between the rings so that they are all exact.

Go around the center ring joining into each picot with a 2 + 2 ring. When you reach the starting point, again pull over the long tail from the original ring and use it to form another split ring to climb out, this time a 3 / 3 split ring.

Continue around again this time joining to the measured shuttle thread which is between each of the small rings.
When you reach the starting point, again pull over the long tail from the original ring and use it to form the split ring to climb out doing either another 3 / 3 split ring or increase to 4 / 4.

As you continue outwards you will have to increase both the size of the rings and the length of the shuttle thread left between rings

If you do not know the split ring technique then it may be that each round will have to be cut and tied with the last tail used as the shuttle thread between the rings so be careful when you hide the tail in the starter ring that you don't pull it up too much etc.

Questions??Katie Johnson
AKTATTER@aol.com