Tatting

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Image:Pine Pattern Collar in Tatting - Project Gutenberg eText 15147.jpg Tatting is a technique for handcrafting a particularly durable lace constructed by a series of knots and loops. Tatting can be used to make lace edging as well as doilies, collars, and other decorative pieces. The lace is formed by a pattern of rings and chains formed from a series of lark's head (or half-hitch) knots, called double stitches (ds), over a core thread. Gaps can be left between the stitches to form picots, which are used for practical construction as well as decorative effect.

Tatting dates to the early 19th century.

1 Technique and materials
2 Patterns
3 History
4 References
5 External links

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Technique and materials

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Shuttle tatting

Image:Tatting Shuttle - Project Gutenberg eText 15147.jpg A tatting shuttle facilitates tatting by guiding thread through loops to make the requisite knots. A tatting shuttle is normally a metal or plastic pointed oval shape less than 3 inches long, but shuttles come in a variety of shapes and materials. Shuttles often have a point or hook on one end to aid in the construction of the lace.

To make the lace, the tatter wraps the thread around one hand and manipulates the shuttle with the other hand. No tools other than the thread, the hands, and the shuttle are used, though a crochet hook may be necessary if the shuttle does not have a point or hook.

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Needle tatting

Image:Tatting Pin - Project Gutenberg eText 15147.jpg Tatters may also use tatting needles instead of shuttles to make lace. A tatting needle is a long needle that does not change thickness at the eye of the needle. The needle used must match the thickness of the thread chosen for the project. Shuttle and needle-tatted lace look almost identical, but they differ in structure.

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Materials

Older designs, especially through the early 1900s, tend to use fine white or ivory thread (50 to 100 widths to the inch) and intricate designs. Newer designs from the 1920s and onward often use thicker thread in one or more colors. The best thread for tatting is a "hard" thread that does not untwist readily. DMC Cordonnet thread is a common tatting thread; Perl cotton is an example of a beautiful cord that is nonetheless a bit loose for tatting purposes. Some tatting designs incorporate ribbons and beads.

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Patterns

Older patterns use a long hand notation to describe the stiches needed while newer patterns tend to make extensive use of abbreviations and an almost mathematical looking notation. The following examples describe the same small piece of tatting (the first Ring in the Hen and Chicks pattern)

Ring five ds, three picots separated by five ds, five ds, close, turn, space

R 5ds, 3 p sep by 5ds, 5ds, cl, turn, sp

R 5-5-5-5 cl rw sp

Some tatters prefer a visual pattern where the design is drawn schematically with annotations indicating the number of ds and order of construction. This can either be used on its own or alongside a written pattern.

Tatting instructions and patterns can be found all over the web, including some streamlined video instructions.

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History

Some believe that tatting may have developed from netting and decorative ropework as sailors and fishers would put together motifs for girlfriends and wives at home. Decorative ropework employed on ships includes techniques (esp. Cockscombing) that show striking similarity with tatting. A good description of this can be found in Knots, Splices and Fancywork.

Some believe tatting originated over 200 years ago, often citing shuttles seen in eighteenth century paintings of women such as Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Madame Adelaide (daughter of Louis XV of France), and Anne, Countess of Albemarle. A close inspection of those paintings shows that the shuttles in question are too large to be tatting shuttles, and that they are actually knotting shuttles.

Contrary to popular belief, many people around the world actively participate in the art of tatting, and the craft is experiencing a resurgence in interest around the world.

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