The Kat Who Tats. With pictures of real tatted lace
Topic: The Kreative Kat

I spent last night tatting. Tatting has a steep learning curve, the beginner stuff isn't difficult but if you want stuff that looks good it takes time and effort to learn how to do it well. Every time I bring it out I find it has become easier to do that the previous time. Yesterday I had to dig out some knitting needles and a fine crochet hook. They are in a box labeled "Lace supplies: Not bobbin" I decided to take the box to the living room and indulge in a little tatting in the evening.

One of my favourite hobbies when I have extra time is making laces of various types.  My favourite lace is bobbin lace, especially Honiton bobbin lace. I can also make needle lace, tape lace, crochet lace and knitted lace, but the one that has always fascinated me since I was very young is tatted lace. I saw someone making it long ago and the intricate dance of the shuttle, the fingers and thread was quite enthralling.  I decided that one day I would learn to tat. And I did.

Tatted lace is the one we in modern times associate most with fine delicate lace.  Surprisingly a Victorian woman would have considered tatted lace anything BUT fine delicate lace.  It was considered coarse and suitable only for underwear and children's wear.  Lace that was Meant To Be Seen and make an impression was almost always needle lace or bobbin lace. What tatted lace did have going for it was the it was faster to execute than the other laces, took few tools and took up far less space to work. It required only a small shuttle filled with thread and small bag to store the thread and shuttle.  Other laces required large work areas or lots of tools.  

Another modern misconception is that tatted lace is a very ancient art.  it isn't.  Tatted lace makes its first appearance in France during the French revolution, when finery and frippery was banned.  It was decidedly un-aristocratic and therefore far more suitable for the french people.  It crossed to England in the 1830's.  All tatted lace was worked with a single shuttle and most tatted laces were simple ring, loop and scallop designs until the late 1860's when the second shuttle was introduced -again by a french woman.  Then the lace became more complex and it became a favourite for doilies and small table protectors. It was sturdier than needle and bobbin lace and it would withstand frequent washing.  That sturdiness made it the preferred lace for childrens clothes and underwear, both which required frequent laundering.

In spite of its reputation in the Victorian era of being easy to work, it does have a very steep learning curve and in modern times it is a difficult skill to learn and master.  The modern adaptation of Needle tatting isn't really an improvement, if anything needle tatted lace looks coarser and chunkier and it makes complex patterns impossible.  I admit it, I am a tatting snob -if anyone wants to learn tatting I feel shuttle tatting is best. It offers the most design possibilities and shuttle tatted lace looks better.

There's only one stitch to learn, which takes a mere two hand motions. Everything else is a variation.  The little loops are merely spaces between the stitch.  The lace gets structure when the picot from one ring is joined to the next ring.  Stitches can be either worked as rings or in chains.  The most complicated tatting uses two shuttles and combines rings, picot loops and chains into elaborate patterns. The basic stitch is called the Double Stitch, because to the two hand motions required to work it. The loops are called picots. pronounced PEE-co

This is a really simple one shuttle edging.  It is worked thus: first ring 4DS Picot 2DS picot 4DS picot 4DS picot 2DS picot 4DS close, next and all following 4DS join with first picot, 2DS and joined with second picot, 4DS picot, 4DS picot 2DS picot, 4DS and close. Keep a bit of space between rings if you wan the edging to lay flat, less space if you wan the edging to look frilled.

This is how a simple one shuttle motif, the four, leaf clover, can be turned into an insertion or braid.  Each four leaf clover is attached to the previous motif and the 4 lobes are cut and tied together to make a square.  You keep making the squares and attach them to the previous square and you have a braid.  The bottom is a sample worked in fine 40 thread while the top is worked in 5 pearl cotton.  For one shuttle projects i use a vintage metal shuttle with the coarse metal hook on one end. 

 

These are two different edgings.  The top is made with two shuttles and it's a series of chains and rings.  The bottom is a whole bunch of trefoil motifs joined to make a braid.  You can either thread a think ribbon through the large square spaces or you can applique the tatting over a wide ribbon. Getting all the picots the same size is a matter of practice.

 

And what is tatting without a doily?  This is a simple one shuttle doily suitable for use as a drink coaster.  Simply sew the doily onto a piece of felt and you have a not very stable place to put your drinks.

This is a really complex edging that has yet to be blocked into shape.  This is worked with two shuttles and is a series of rings, loops and chains. It worked in number 50 variegated tatting thread.  After tatting most edgings need to be steam blocked into shape.  When applying to clothes I usually spray-starch the tatting before stitching it in place.  The starch helps the piece hold its shape. After the first washing the starch is gone.

And this is a work in progress.  This is a two shuttle edging and you can see the type of shuttle used for this. This is the most modern shuttle available and it's my favourite. The shuttle has a bobbin in the middle, it's easy to change bobbins when i want to work on something different.  There is a small hook on one end to assist in joining picots. Tye plastic is easy on the hands and warmer to the touch than a metal shuttle and it's lighter weight. I am using number 30 Opera crochet cotton by Coats and Clark.  The softer, looser spin of crochet cotton makes it easier to work with.  Fine tightly spun tatting threads can be little wiry to work with and the thread feels -for lack of a better word -hard.

My really old web page on learning to tat can be found here: http://lincatz.tripod.com/tattingpage.html   If you've been out looking at other tatting instruction pages, some of the images might look familiar. They are my original illustrations, the page is actually very old, I wrote it up in 2003-2004 and it was on different hosts. ( text on geocities, pics on delphiusers) There are couple dead links and missing pictures, for which I apologize and I will try to find them in the depths of my old picture files and make working links.

So that's all for today.  I have to continue working on my mother of the groom dress and when I get completely vexed by whatever I will switch to tatting for a while, then return to the dress.