While looking through a drawer the other day I came across this barrette I decorated a long time ago. It has seen a lot of wear and tear, and maybe a bit of rough handling. There used to be three strands of the beads but two were lost somewhere along the way.
I know this is made with DMC size 30 Ecru thread. After all these years, how do I know? Because I used it a lot back in the early 90s. I even know what pattern this is. It’s the skirt of “Colonial Lady Applique” from Aunt Ellen’s Tatting Handbook. This one has a mistake in it somewhere, hidden by the flowers. I made several Colonial Ladies back then, or at least parts of them, one of which I took to the fair. I noticed that I used white ribbon behind the tatting. I must have been in a hurry to wear it and didn’t have ecru ribbon to use.
I used to have long hair and wore this frequently. I now have very short hair – this wouldn’t stay in long.
I have a hard time throwing tatting away, even when mistakes are made. After putting in all that hard work it is a shame to just toss it. I have bags of things that have some kind of issue that I keep. I may find some place that I can use it.
Eventually.
What do you do with your mistakes? Keep or toss?
“Recycling turns things into other things. Which is like MAGIC!” unknown
Nice to find things and then have them bring back memories. Were you surprised at what you could remember about the barrette? It still looks good and I bet if you wanted you could make repairs.
As for me, I toss mistakes if they are near the start. If they are found after quite a bit of work I will undo or rip out and make the fix.
Things like this do bring back a lot of memories. I wore this a lot so it’s not too surprising I remember something about it. I don’t remember the exact mistake in this, but I did know I could hide it in some manner. I try to correct mistakes before I get too far past them but I have found creative ways to use pieces that can’t be fixed.
So it depends on the mistake, if I finished the project and then notice the mistake I carry on if it does not change the design. If it is small or a bit that was cut away and still has some rings or chains on it I keep and use as decoration on business cards I hand out.
That sound like a great way to use mistakes. On a business card, how would anyone know that it was a mistake?
Still looks beautiful even if you don’t remember what happen to some of it, mistakds can sometimes be covered up or recycled, I try not to make too many mistakes, if they are too bad I chuck them, others I have kept and use in other ways. Either on pincushions or on cards. Either way mistakes happen none of us are perfect.
It’s true, mistakes happen to the best of us. I’ve learned a lot from my mistakes, sometimes helping me out on a later project. Finding ways to use those mistakes can be kind of fun.
Beautiful barrette!! 🙂