Darling Dearest Cat

 This design is inspired by Bastet, an Egyptian goddess who was depicted as a cat.  This one prefers to sit around practicing her imperious look and air of disdain...yes, she still thinks she is a goddess!

Size 16cm high . Approx 34 pairs gold colour cotton thread 27-30wpc, 4 pairs Goldrush Metallised  (trails). 1 pair Gutermann glitter thread (changes colour for each tally)   Techniques - square tallies, leaf tallies, adding colour, planning ahead.  The order of the ‘gems’ will alter as piece it turned over.

I often suggest that the lacemaker may like to choose different techniques than those I have used.   I see this as part of the fun of making lace.   Sometimes, there are better ways of working some areas than shown in the photograph of my finished piece, which is often the only one I have made.  

The designs I make are from my own drawings first, then I have to make the lace fit the drawing so I sometime have to mix up lace styles and use my 'Muaiga' style lace making where I Make It Up As I Go Along.   Maybe I should do that in gem tallies....😁

This pattern is not really suitable for beginners.

I struggled, due to my lack of experience, with the intricacies in the first version of this pattern which I first made back in 2021.  Armed with a little more experience, I decided to have another go in 2026.  

'Darling Dearest Cat' hides within the jewels, a hidden acrostic message.  Acrostic rings were developed in France in the early 19th century using the initials of gemstones to spell out a word.  Acrostic jewellery is often given as a romantic gift or to form a secret message. Several different gemstones can used for the same letter to avoid repetition of a colour. 

I started off with the word 'Darling', only to find that this is not one of the usual acrostic words so I had to use a bit of imagination, and the help of the Bobbin Lace Along Zoom group,  to find the jewels and create the colours available in limited range of glitter threads to match the initials.  The iolite had to be made with the blue and purple glitter threads worked together to make it different to the amethyst and lapis lazuli threads.

Darling = Diamond, Amethyst, Ruby, Lapis lazuli, Iolite, Nephrite (jade), Garnet.

Dearest = Diamond, Emerald, Amethyst, Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, Topaz.

Cat = Citrine, Amethyst, Topaz (blue)

Because cats do not always respond to being enthusiastically fussed, I also used a cat language acrostic.  

Sssss = Sapphire, Sapphire, Sapphire, Sapphire, Sapphire, as a warning hiss!

I used a selection of threads, the thick glitter variegated gold/black passive in the trails and edges was an unlabelled crochet thread.  The jewels were Gutermann Sulky glitter threads, the cotton making most of the background was an old Dewhurst's Sylco cotton in 'Mustard Gold'.     I couldn't use the magic thread on the tallies to pull the ends back up through the tally because the glitter thread is too 'grabby' but it can simply be cut off at the end and, unless you intend to wash and wear the cat, it does hold without knotting. 

The copper dots on the back leg use a pair of glitter threads as the worker, the centers have some twists on the workers to ensure the ground is solid around the edges. 

I used black Gutermann glitter thread to make the tally of the eye, just before removing from the pillow, anchoring a short plait before and after the tally to make a more stylized eye.

To finish on the scroll of the tail, I used a Bruges technique where one passive pair loops around each center worker instead of using a pin.  This pair tightens up and I then used it to make a bundle with the remaining threads and stitched it to the back of the piece, out of sight.   

The thick gimp threads in the collars were simply cut off, the glitter helps to hold the thick thread in place and avoids the need for knots. 

The earring was made separately after the cat was removed from the pillow.  This is because it needs putting on and sewing closed at the back of the ear.  I used 3 passives in mustard gold cotton, with Lurex gold thread used as a worker. As the earring widened, I introduced twists to the Lurex worker only to make as much shine as possible.  I would be tempted to try a pin under four (2pair) edge if I made it again to increase the gold.  

Did you spot this?  My darling dearest husband asked if the cat was pointing the right way.  To my dismay, I had forgotten that the piece would need turning over to leave the knots and cut ends out of sight so the 'wrong side' is actually the side where 'Darling' is spelled the right way around.  The order of the collar tallies should be reversed.  For someone who professes no interest at all in my lace making, he is remarkable observant!

The thread I used may be hard to find!

The downloadable .pdf pattern sheet is in the Files tab on my Lesley's Lace facebook page.

The A4 .jpeg can be copied from here, or my Lesley's Lace facebook page.

Please always respect the copyright of the designer.

This pattern must only be shared in its original form and cannot be sold.

If you wish to teach from this, or any other of my free patterns, please ask for permission first.

If you wish to include any of my patterns in group news letters or magazines, please ask first, and let me have a copy for my records.

Have fun!