Although Mardi Gras evolved from a combination of pagan and other religious customs, such as observing Lent by eating no meat, the celebration (carnival is a corruption of the Latin word, carnelevarium, which means good bye to meat) of Carnival today is a fun event with lots of opportunities for dressing up. And this means a great opportunity for tatters to try their hands at designing. Take one of the satin masks available and dress it up with tatting.

Or imagine this jabot from Sophie La Croix's "Old and New Designs in Tatting, Book 11" in the traditional Mardi Gras colors, purple which represents justice, green which represents faith, and gold which represents power. And what a wonderful place to do beaded tatting. All those colors offer so many possibilities. And try tatting with silk ribbon as was used for the original.

Jabot #1167 is tatted using silk ribbon. The ribbon can be rolled into a bundle and a band placed around it. Finger tatting can create the entire jabot. Or wind the silk onto one shuttle. This pattern may even be tatted with the tatting needle. R 2 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 2 close ring, dnrw *R 2 + (join to last picot or previous ring) 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 2 close ring, dnrw Repeat from * for at least 7 repeats, or fit to eyes. This creates the eye hole for one side. Repeat entire process for the matching eye hole. Ring to rest on the nose. R 1 + (join to the nearest joined picot between two rings of the eye hole) - 1 (repeat for 11 picots) + (join to the nearest joined picot between two rings of the opposite eye hole) 1 close ring. Measure out a length of thread for the dangles 3- 10". Tat a cloverleaf. R 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 close ring, dnrw R 1 + 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 close ring, dnrw R 1 + 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 close ring, dnrw

I suggest tying the threads together at the bottom of the cloverleaf. Measure out equal length of thread and make a shuttle lock join to a picot on the nose ring. Repeat this process varying the length of the dangling cloverleaf.

Join a length of ribbon to each side of the eyes to use as ties. Grab your beads, join your krewe and get ready to party! Happy Mardi Gras!

A free download of the entire book is available:

http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/pub/PDF/LaCroixTatting.pdf