Sunflower Pattern

Susie asked me to give the stitch count for the sunflower, so here it is:

Sunflower in Maltese Tatting

To make the flower, it’s essential to know how to make Maltese Rings. This flower uses Martha Ess’s directions, on her Tat’s Amore website.  This is her ring #3, with a ring inside the Maltese ring.

Materials

2 shuttles, one wound with size 10 yellow thread and the other with size 20 brown thread. Add 30 very small beads to the second, (brown) shuttle. (that's slightly more than you'll need)

Method

Tie threads together, make loop with yellow thread. The first half stitch is made with both shuttles, as per Martha’s instruction.

Shuttle 1: 1, long picot, 2

Shuttle 2: slide a bead close to the work, 2

Shuttle 1: long picot 3

Alternate shuttles until there are 6 yellow ‘petals’.

Inner ring

Reverse work and drop yellow thread. Using shuttle 2, put 6 beads on the back of the hand. Make a ring: 1, then slide bead from core thread and from shuttle thread, 1. Repeat until 3 beads from core thread used. Then make small picot, adding bead from shuttle thread below it. Continue with ring, adding bead from core thread and from shuttle thread between each stitch, until all beads on core thread used. (Note, see Jane Eborall’s Winsome drop earrings pattern for this method). Close ring.

Petals continued

Go back to the yellow thread, and continue as before, with long picot, 3 yellow followed by bead 2 brown until there are 5 petals on second side. Work brown stitches and then join to the picot on the inner ring. Finish with yellow, working second half of the last stitch with both shuttles. Close.

Voila!