This continues a series of tallies patterns. This features the wide petal-shaped tallies you find in Maltese lace. This requires you to change the width of the tally as you work it.
The complete series is pattern 577 - small square tallies, pattern 578 - small wide petal tallies by themselves, pattern 579 - joined small wide petal tallies, pattern 580 - multiple long thin tallies.
Pattern:
Bobbins: 12 pairs
Style: Maltese
Size: 3.5 inches long
Stitches:
cloth stitch and twist
twist
tally (red)
plait (green)
lazy join or windmill
join 2 pair + 1 pair
Details:
twisted footside
Description:
Follow the links above for explanation of how to work the different parts of the lace. In some places in the footside, a pair leaves the footside, twisted a few times, round the pin, then returns to the footside.
This is deliberately a simple pattern, to practise tallies. Often tallies are part of a more complicated pattern, so I wanted something very simple, with lots of tallies but nothing else! These are quite simple tallies to start on, if you want to learn the technique, which, I admit, is tricky.
There are general comments which apply to all tallies. They are made with four bobbins (not pairs!) and these behave differently. There are the two outer bobbins, which guide the width of the bobbins. There is the worker bobbin, which makes the rows. And there is the other one, which doesn't do much! (But needs tightning.) I define a "row" as follows - take the worker bobbin to one of the outer bobbins, then across to the other, then back to its original position. Click here for a description of this - it is quite different to any other lace stitch. However, it isn't hard. That isn't the problem - tightening is the problem! If you over-tighten the worker bobbin, the whole tally is ruined. You can't do anything about it. You have to undo the whole thing and start again (a good reason to start learning tallies on these short tallies!) If you don't tighten enough, the tally is out of shape and messy.
Start the tally by working down to (and including) the two pairs at the start of the tally. Put in the pin. Then work the two pairs below the pin with a cloth stitch and twist. Unlike pattern 577, the tally starts with a point, well tightened.
AS you can see, my first few tallies were too narrow. I found that in order to make wide tallies, the worker bobbin must always be loose. Leaving it on the pillow means that the very slight drag downwards of the bobbin over-tightens the tally. So keep that bobbin in your hand while doing the row of the tally, and then put it on the pillow, tucked under the threads, at right angles to the other bobbins, so its thread is loose. Pull apart the outer two bobbins. Tighten the middle one which isn't the worker. Now, very carefully, pick up the worker bobbin and pull it to remove any looseness, but not too much! Allow enough to give the width of the tally. (Yes, sometimes I don't manage that! Practice, practice...) IF there is a problem, try pulling the outer two apart again. I also found that sometimes it helped to prod the tally with a pin, trying to get the rows even. Sometimes I had to undo the whole thing and start again.
Never get the bobbins muddled up! If you tug the worker pair as if it was one of the others, you have ruined the tally.
For the first half, you need to get the tally wider and wider (by gently pulling the worker enough but not too much). Then after this, the tally should become gradually narrower.
I was having quite enough problems without counting rows! It might have helped.
At the end, do a cloth stitch and twist to produce the bottom point. Then put the pin between the pairs. That can be left until you have done enough lace to get to this pin. When you have done this, do the first two steps of the lazy join, take out the pin and put it in the middle of the stitch, then put the last step of the lazy join.
Close up of the lace, so you can see the working in more detail
© Jo Edkins 2026 - return to lace index