Painted doily CAL?- is anyone interested?

[shelbyolivia]

Start date August 19th

 

Someone posted a gorgeous painted doily in the show & tell section. There were a few posts mentioning they would like a CAL with painted doily as the theme. I hope I am not stepping on any toes here by asking if you'd like to join me in doing one? I would like ideas on which doily to choose, should we all do the same? I like this one http://www.angelfire.com/folk/celtwich/ShadedPink.html, I've never done it before, but it looks interesting. I will be using #40 embroidery thread along with #7 crochet hook. I have not chosen any colors yet for the thread.

Please join me!

Eileen

[vonnie]

I would love to make a "Painted Doily" but I have told myself I can't start anything else until I get caught up on my WIP. And they are big ones, the RR in thread and the "Tea Rose" Table topper I am testing for Katchkan, plus another Travelghan and a Octagon Afghan I am making for the Chemo center.....so will have to wait....

[Krakovianka]

I'll be happy to join! I've made one small painted doily (you can find it on my blog), but consider it more "experimental" than anything else. I learned a lot with that project that I plan to put to use in another one, and I'd love to join you.

 

My suggestion is to place a tentative date on starting--at least a month away--so participants can search for patterns, gather tips, choose and purchase thread, and so on. This isn't an ordinary project, and placing a "start date" a few weeks down the road will let everyone feel that they have some time to prepare for it.

 

I already know that my next project is going to be in beach-colored pastels, but I haven't selected a pattern.

[shelbyolivia]

That sounds like a good idead. Let's say like August 19th? This is something that needs to be planned..... I am still up in the air about the pattern. I have so many books with nice ones, it's hard to choose.

Eileen

[Pumpkinmouse]

I may join in on this one also sounds like fun just have to get some thread from michaels this weekend. I also like the pattern you choose so I may be doing that one

[ginamaria73]

How do you do a "painted" one?

[Krakovianka]

Just want to say...when choosing a pattern...

 

PICK AN EASY ONE!

 

It's very difficult to pull out stitches without tangling/knotting the thread. You're much better off choosing a simple pattern so you are less likely to make mistakes, especially for a first project. My first pattern was really too fussy, and there are 3 errors which I normally would have frogged and corrected, but had to leave because there was just no way I could take out a whole round.

 

Now, this is my opinion, but I think that open, lacy stitches show off the gradual color changes better than rounds of sold dc (like I have in my first project!).

 

Other things to think about:

 

How many colors do you want to use? Do you want to shade from one color to another, or do you want to shade one (or more) colors in intensity (dark to light blue, like the sample we saw this week). I did both on my little experiment--shaded from light to dark AND shaded from one color to another. I like both, but in future, will probably pick only one method. My next doily is going to be in beach pastels (already have the thread!) of similar tone, but I only have one shade of each, so I'll have a rainbow effect instead of a light-to-dark effect.

 

For the best results, I really recommend taking the time to think and plan your color scheme well before starting to crochet.

[vonnie]

Give us a hint as to how many colors and what colors you are using. I am not good at deciding when to change colors or what colors go good together..and since I don't have the book yet, can you give us a more detailed color scheme and maybe a pattern??? I would love to make one with help.....TIA

[Loralynn]

I am highly interested in this CAL! I have been wanting to try one. I will be watching to see what happens!

[rascalsmom]

I am interested in this, too. Those painted doilies are breathtaking!! I do have a couple of questions....

--are the doilies to be made in ONLY sewing thread? Or can we do it with size 10 and sewing thread held together?

--if you use size 10 + sewing thread, what kind of thread, and how much?

--can someone point me toward an appropriate pattern? I don't want to choose something too difficult....

[shelbyolivia]

I am going to use embroidery thread #40 weight, it's a little thicker than sewing thread, also it's made of cotton & rayon or polyester fiber so it is easier if mistakes are made.(It tends not to fray) You really don't need a book, although having one is fine. All you do is:

Color #1=a

color #2=b

color #3=c

Start off using 3 strands of aaa, then when you want to change color, change thread to aab, then abb, then bbb. Then again bbb, bbc, bcc, ccc.

I imagine someone else could give better directions than I can, but it's really pretty simple, as long as you don't use too many colors & keep the pattern simple.

I think the best patterns are ones with definate pattern shape changes, see example in my first post, where you will make a real change in density of the pattern.

I imagine you can use crochet thread along, but the color change won't be as striking.

I am only going to use two colors & white. Possible colors are brown/rust, to dark sienna red.

[ginamaria73]

doesn't embroidery thread split into thinner threads? Are you using 1 strand or are you using the thread with all the strands together?

[shelbyolivia]

Embroidery thread won't shred as much as sewing thread, I used the stuff that is treated with something to make it stronger. It is made for machines, pretty strong stuff, industrial I think. Not the kind you buy the little skeins of for small projects, this is for machines to do large scale. I'll try to find out more information & let you knkow.

Eileen

[vonnie]

I was thinking of the cones of sewing thread for a serger....will that work??

[nanacarr]

I'm thinking about joining this one, but I had never heard of a painted doily until earlier today when I saw a pic of one posted in another thread. It is beautiful. I'm going to read all your advice on this and see if I think I can do it. I think it would be hard to work with sewing thread.

[vonnie]

Here is a doily I did with size 10 thread and sewing thread (one strand) and you can see it doesn't have the same effect as the painted doily. Just a heads up..

 

[Cotton Candee]

I like Karen's doily with the color and shade changes

 

I like Katy's with just the shade changes of blue

 

I wanted to post both here so everyone can see your beautiful work and see the differences in the "painted" aspect.

 

What I think would be nice would be for a pattern to be chosen and then we can all choose our color schemes. It would be very interesting to see what everyone came up with and how the same pattern would change by the scheme.

 

I really personally liked using 4 strands of the embroidery thread that I used on the painted doll dress. It was the emboidery thread used for machines in cones.

Very vibrant colors and it usually comes in cones from 300 meters to 5000 meters. but you can see my terrible attempt with what happens when you don't plan the color changes better! So my dress is a "what not to do" but I wanted to learn and that is what I did!

Here is what the embroidery thread I use looks like and I put a regular spool of white so you can see the size difference.

 

Maybe we can find a place we can post some patterns and then vote it down to one? I do like Karen's point about how the pattern should be easy and to pick on that shows the color changes the best!

[Loralynn]

I think the idea of doing the same doily is a good one. I love the idea of voting down to one!

 

I am up for this, I could use something a little different to do. I also have to confess (although I did tons of them) I haven't made a doily in years! I still have one 3/4 of the way done in a box I recently ran across. Between getting pregnant and moving (12 years ago) I lost/ran out of steam on it!

 

I am looking forward to picking out my colors for this!

[vonnie]

Yes, pick a pattern and we will each pick our colors, this will be great!!!

[crochetprincess66]

I would love to be in this CAL. I have seen pics of the painted doilies, but never tried one. I like the idea of doing the same pattern and choosing our own colors.

 

Kim

[Krakovianka]

I'll look around for a pattern. If you want to practice, drag out some left over spools of sewing thread you have at home and just start crocheting with 3 strands of it. Try a size 10 hook, or adjust to what you feel comfortable with.

 

Another thing you to think about is how you are planning to handle your 3 spools of thread. I made a box out of an old ziploc box with 3 compartments and 3 "feeding" holes for the thread. Sue did something else, but I can't remember what...(please tell us). You may have another great idea. You really don't want 3 spools of thread tangling with each other as you work.

 

Also, it is possible to use regular crochet thread and one strand of sewing thread to get some nice shading. You would just choose 3 or 4 (whatever) shades of sewing thread in one color and switch from one to another as you work. I did this with my "frosted doily" (using the leftover pinks from the project above), and it looks good except the pale pink didn't show up well against the ecru thread I was using.

 

 

So, it's possible to get some subtle color shading using that method if you choose your thread well.

 

Vonnie--just for reference, I used 6 colors in my project above, and I think the lady said she used 7 for her blue one. I had 3 shade each of pink/burgundy and green. In the end, I wished I had chosen my pinks in shades a little closer to each other, because I felt the shift from dark to light was pretty abrupt (partly my fault in the way I worked the colors and pattern), although the greens seemed okay, and the pink-to-green in the pale colors really tickled me.

 

Off to look for some simple patterns so we can choose one...

[RitaK]

I'd like to join this CAL, too. I promised myself that I wouldn't start anything else until my Viceroy Butterfly Shawl was finished, but I just can't resist. I'm glad we'll all be doing the same pattern. Now, I'm off to crochet as hard as I can, so I can get as much of my shawl finished as possible!

Rita K.

[shelbyolivia]

http://www.angelfire.com/folk/celtwich/Dove.html I found this one.......not sure what you consider easy though. Let's have some ideas.

Eileen

[julie5813]

I've made one painted doily and I'm working on a second one right now. To keep my threads from running away, I used this boxfrom JoAnn's. There are slots on each side of the box so you can put the three working spools in the box, slide the threads through the slots, and not get too tangled up!

 

The reviews mention that the spindles are too close together to use for storage, and I found that to be true, but it worked out just right for holding the working threads of the doily.

[shelbyolivia]

http://www.crochetpatty.com/patterns/thread/Aries.html Here's another one that looks & says it's easy.

Eileen