N. C. Mountain State Fair, 2026

It's been a very long time since I have had entries for the Mountain State Fair.  This past year has been sufficiently filled with tatting to have several entities.  It is hard to choose from the tatting that I have created over the past 18 months or so.  Nevertheless I found a few pieces that I am particularly proud of and placed them into the competition.

Basically any resident of the state can put an entry into any of the regional fairs.  The largest and most prestigeous is the State Fair in our state capitol, Raleigh, NC.  There are about 5 regional competitions that incorporate several counties in addition to the individual counties of which there are about 100.  Our region is served by the NC Mountain State Fair held in September in Asheville, NC, the largest town in our 16 county area.  Tatting is considered a Heritage Craft.  As such it is not as common as it once was - particularly in the years from about 1890 through 1950.   One of my collegues, who regularly volunteers at this event, urged me and anyone I know that is a tatter to enter the competition this year especially to keep this catagory viable for the future.  My entries included: 

3 copies of this tatted cardinal (our state bird) attached to a white, satin wrapped hanging ornament;

this tree-top angel from Tatsy tatting patterns, circa 1980;

and this pendant which is a creation of my own tatted with silver Lizbeth metallic thread, a crystal teardrop finding and some glass 11/0 black beads.  This one netted me a blue ribbon, the first I have ever won at a fair.  

But the biggest surprise was winning "Judge's Choice" for a Yule ornament that I almost did not enter.

The pattern is an adaptation of Frau Eleanor Endrucks' Pattern number 19 in her 1920 tatting pattern work written in German and the basis for the Endrucks 1920 Project in which I and others have been participating for several years.  The thread is Lizbeth gold metallic with gold bugle beads between the motifs and with a circular motif around the hanger and another one at the base that are threaded to the center tatting.  

My biggest take away from all this is that modern judges seem to be looking for more unusual applications for tatting and very likely any crafting presented.  "Out with the Old and In with the New!"

#Bead Me Endrucks December Game

I do my best to participate in the challenges or games associated with the Facebook Group Endrucks 1920 Project each month.  Doing so makes me more aware of tatting fundamentals and helps stretch my tatting skills.  For December, the challenge was to add beading to one of the motifs that Elonore Endrucks-Leichtenstern published in 1920.  For more information about this group, visit 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1235560633606162

The pattern #32 was re-written by Carin Jansen with notations updated to more modern standards.  Frau Endrucks published her work using written instructions in German and in a font that is hard to read by today's standards.  She used her own style of notations making following her instructions challenging.  Photos of each piece are present throughout the publication, but sometimes the photographer placed the tatting upside down or backwards before capturing the image for print.  This adds a layer of complexity to the work as a whole.  Consequently, it was Carin's interpretation that was the one I followed for this creation.  Carin's pattern is creative enough to offer up 2 ways of carrying out the motif: one that creates a continuoum along one side of the motif at the end of which the tatter can round the end and return to the starting point along the other side; 

 

and the second method creates a motif of blocks that can be joined together to form a length of lace or can be fashioned into a larger square, rectangle or shape such as a cross for a bookmark, according to the wishes of the individual following the pattern. 

My goal was to complete this pattern in such a way that it would encircle a satin-wrapped styrofoam tree ornament with a circumference of approximately 8" (20.32 cm).  Beads would be added to the tatting thread when the shuttles were wound so they could be added to the outer chain as well as to certain free picots of rings along the way.  The pattern as Carin prepared it using the first method did allow for that sort of configuration.

The motif at the top was not in any way from the Endrucks 1920 Project.  The design was fairly simple and tied the central section to the entire piece.  The pattern follows below and may also be found here:

December #BeadMeEndrucks Christmas Ornament Cap

 © 2025 Sally M. Biggers

Abbreviations / Notations: 

R = ring                                          p = picot                                Ch = chain                             

lbp = long bead picot                    prev = previous                     dnrw = do not reverse work

lj = lock join                                   vsp = very small picot          SCMR = self-closing mock-ring                                                        

Links to tutorials:

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/p/tatting-resources.html

Basic Tatting Terms English-Italian https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_7DetVeL2rW7Y3GYkyjRdw7S6k8ZcWbh/view

Long Bead Picot technique by Jane Eborall   http://www.janeeborall.freeservers.com/AddBeadsNew.pdf

 

Materials:

Crochet hook                        20 15/0 seed beads                         10 6/0 seed beads

4 - 6 yards/meters Lizbeth thread size 40 or Olympus Lamé Metallic or similar thread

coiless safety pins

This pattern can be created with needle or shuttle

Instructions:

This small motif is made up of first a central beaded SCMR that alternates 5 long picots and 5 joining picots.  Over each of the long picots 4 15/0 seed beads are placed (lbp – 4 beads) and held temporarily by a coiless safety pin until it can be removed at the time they are lock joined by the chain in Round 1.  A 6/0 seed bead is slipped over each picot (lbp – 1 bead) in this round and likewise held in place by a coiless safety pin until the Round 2 chain connects these together. 

Wind about 1 M / yard of thread onto a shuttle without cutting it from the ball.  Using the diagram below, begin SCMR at point designated with the star and proceed as follows:

Central Ring:

SCMR: *3 ds, long lpb (4 beads), 3 ds, p *.  Repeat from * to * four times leaving off the final p. Close SCMR.  DNRW. 

Round 1:

Begin Ch with a vsp, * Ch 4 ds, lbp (1 bead), Ch 7 ds, lj to lbp of prev R leaving a small space, 7 ds, lbp (1 bead), 4 ds, lj to next p of prev R *.  Repeat from * to * 4 times leaving off the last p and lj to vsp that began the round.  Cut, tie and hide ends.

Round 2:

Re-wind shuttle with about 12 in / 30 cms of thread and do not cut from ball. Join to any vsp at the join of the lbp (4 beads) of the previous Round and begin chain.  *Ch 9 ds, p, 9 ds, lj simultaneously to both lbp’s of the previous Round, Ch 9 ds, p, 9 ds. Lj at top of lbp (4 beads) of previous round *.   Repeat from * to * 4 times, and lj the base of the first chain.  Cut, tie and hide threads.   

Finish:

Cut a length of thread measuring approximately 45 to 50 cms / 18 to 20 in.  Using a tapestry needle, thread one end of the length of thread and begin weaving it through the free picots alternating between the cap created by the above pattern and spaces between the chains on one of the sides of the Endrucks #32 motif around the widest portion of the ornament.  When all the spaces and picots have been threaded, adjust the tension between them to be neat and equal, then cut, tie and hide thread ends.

E32’s reworked pattern’s pdf is part of the Endrucks 1920 Project, please for any detail refer to the main Endrucks 1920 Project document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17LEVftXweztBIOWh4sL4BB7bX65ssoOsOn4oXIgCepY/view )

The pattern may be reproduced for personal use and tatted freely.  

Yuletide is rapidly approaching and while we don't think we will be in the new house by Christmas Day, preparing ornaments has been a priority.   We probably won't have a tree or any serious decorations this year, but I'll be ready for 2025!

Below you see 5 ornament balls with their tatted covers.  From left to right, there is a black satin-wrapped styrophone ball covered with Olympus Lame Metallic thread color # 408 Bronze with added gold-ish bugle beads.  The pattern for the central motif was adapted from pattern 19 in Frau Endruck's Tatting / Schiffchen-Spitzen  publication of 1920.  The second ornament is actually a pale blue egg-shaped ornament addorned with white Lizbeth thread, size 20 and navy blue beads.  This was truly nothing fancy - simply 4 p 4 p 4 p 4 rings with the 11/0 seed beads covering what would be the chain thread and white tear-drop beads between the ring segments.  The third ornament is created using Joelle Paulson's 2012 "Flowering Quatrain Bookmark" (available on her blog) as the central wrap of the motif. It was created using the Italian thread "Master Metallic" in the color red/gold a personal favorite because it holds its shape so well when working up a pattern.  Not widely available Master Metallic is a special metallic thread unlike most of the others of that type. 

Number 4 is a pattern found in a photograph on Pinterest that I had to work out independently.  It is placed over a frosted green glass ornament.  The fifth ornament is again worked over a satin-wrapped styrofoam ornament.  The pattern is one I have lost track of but was carried out using another Master Metallic thread.  In each case, there is a basic pattern of either a simple ring with picots, a clover pattern or simple snowflake with the appropriate number of picots that would allow for weaving individual thread between top or top and bottom, joining these motifs to the central ring.  

I'm not going to post any patterns here at this time.  Much of the motifs used were simply ones that were just worked from memory or from basic tatting design principles.