Tatting…well, almost!
margaret | February 18, 2010
You know the old saying, “If you don’t use it, you lose it”…well…I lost it!
I unearthed my tatting shuttle the other day to show a friend how to use it. Oops…it’s supposed to look like this!
According to Wikipedia tatting dates to the early 19th century. It is a series of knots and loops and believe me, if you don’t “fling” your hand the correct way, you get a knot instead of a loop!
You wrap the thread around your left hand and use the shuttle to go over and under the loop on your hand. Next, you “fling” your fingers to move the stitch (if you are lucky) down onto the loop around your hand. That’s only half of the stitch. The shuttle is then put through the big loop on your left hand and once again you “fling” your fingers out to put the last half of the stitch on the big loop around your hand. Basically, that’s all there is to it! The stitches you have just created slide up and down on the big loop around your left hand. This movement allows you to make lots of stitches and slide them down the big loop until they form designs.
The problem arises with the “fling” of your left fingers. If you don’t “fling” properly you create one big knot. No movement, no design and it looks like mine above!
My husband’s grandmother, Mildred, took the time (and patience) to teach me to tat in 1968. I remember the year because she was born in 1800 and she was 68 at the time. Grandma told me she had tried all of her adult life to teach others to tat, but I was the first one to get it right! I sat on the couch for about six hours just “flinging” my left fingers and cutting off knots until I finally got the stitches to move!
I’ll never be as good at tatting as Grandma. She would sit and visit or watch tv and keep her shuttle going, creating yards and yards of tatting to give to friends. All of her pillow cases and towels had tatting attached, mine as well.
I’m going to buy more thread and revive my tatting fun. It really is a beautiful lace, created with just the shuttle and a “fling”.
