Tatting: Technique and History

by Elgiva Nicholls

Tatting is the age-old art of making delicate handmade lace by looping and knotting a single cotton thread held on a small shuttle. Sometimes called "the poor man's lace," it requires very little outlay for materials or tools, yet produces beautiful and decorative effects. Anyone with patience and a little dexterity, can make elegant edgings and insertions for lingerie; collars or edgings for collars; yokes for blouses and nightdresses; short-sleeved cardigans; trimmings for bedclothes, handkerchiefs, and fine linens; and many other attractive items.
In this comprehensive and informative guide, a noted tatting expert defines and explains the craft (including a helpful glossary of tatting terms), explains its history and development, and provides clear, profusely illustrated instructions in the art of tatting.
To meet the needs of both beginning and experienced tatters, the author has divided the book into two parts. Part One, for the novice, offers excellent coverage of materials and tools, making the stitch, the continuous thread, patterns, special arrangements of stitches, working with multiple threads, and finishing the work.
Throughout, you'll find clear step-by-step instructions supplemented by nearly 60 drawings and photographs. In addition, patterns are progressive in difficulty; mastery of the simple versions will enable you to undertake more elaborate projects. Whatever project you select, this superb handbook offers the knowledge, guidance, and inspiration you need to discover the creative satisfaction and lasting rewards of tatting.

Genres: Crafts, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1984

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for the historical back ground on tatting.

[Elizabeth Ambrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great source. Really want to be able to do this craft. Only issue was in the Ebook format it was difficult to cross reference the diagrams. Otherwise I loved it.

[Sanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This edition dates from 1984, but the work itself was first published in 1962. This age is apparent throughout, not just in formatting and writing style, but also in rather old fashioned ‘modern examples’ and in the way illustrations and pictures are presented.
Illustrations are concentrated in blocks and referenced in the text, but it's often unclear to what picture exactly the explanations refer, while often written in such a way that’s really hard to follow while not looking at the picture, resulting in a lot of paging back and forth. Also, when referring to pictures (which are numbered), page numbers are not mentioned so you’re forced to page through the book to find “fig. 92” on your own.

I found the history section the most interesting part of the book, giving a very nice overview of the developmental progression of the tatting technique, insofar it is known. It has also opened my eyes to how recent some now commonly used methods must be, seeing that they’re not mentioned in the book at all. For instance, even though the author mentions that decreasing the number of ends is the first consideration of the designer, split rings (and chains) are not discussed. Since these methods are extremely useful to climb out of rounds or entire motives without cutting the tread, it is very well possible that these techniques only appeared in common use after 1962. There is no mention of celtic tatting and needle tatting, although there is one mention of a now obsolete method for joining using needles in the “needle period”, wholly unrelated to modern needle tatting. Incorporation of beads is mentioned in passing but is not described in the techniques section.
I think it is possible to learn to shuttle tat by reading the techniques section of this book. (All illustrations and descriptions are for right handed tatting only though.) It also contains relatively elaborate instructions for blocking, finishing and getting rid of ends, which are too often glossed over in a hurry.
The method employed to describe the projects given in this book is very elaborate, so the patterns require a lot of careful reading, and cannot be understood at a glance. This is a matter of personal preference perhaps, but most modern patterns I have come across in other books and online are much more concise, and this book does not provide you with all the tools needed to understand those patterns right away.

All in all I really liked this book, it has given me a better understanding of the structure and development of tatting, and one or two new tricks I mean to try out. I would not recommend this book to someone wanting to get into the basics of shuttle tatting. It would be better to find a more recent book, which would hopefully include a couple more techniques, as well as a more common way to describe present day patterns. However, if you already have a bit of experience with tatting and you’d like to increase your grasp of the structure and history, this book will be for you.

[Celina and Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome reference!!!!