TATTING TECHNIQUES Old Revivals and New Experiments

EIgiva Nicholls

MILLS & BOON LIMITED London· Toronto· Sydney

Contents Acknowledgements

List of Plates

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PART I Basic Principles Definition 10 The Tatting Knot 10

Construction of the Lark's Head 10 Materials 11 The Shuttle 12

Winding the shuttle 12 Holding the shuttle 12

A Practice Chain 12 To make a chain with threads of two colours 13 The first half of the double stitch 13 The second half of the double stitch 14 To start a chain on a continuous thread 15 A chain following a ring, without adding a new thread 15

To Make a Ring 16 Tension of Both Threads 17

The running thread 17 The thread forming the stitches 17

The Picot 18 The Join to a Picot 18 The Pattern 19

Presentation of the pattern 19 The preliminary description 19 Construction, formula and diagram 20 Some simple pieces written as formulae and illustrated with diagrams 21

A Collection of Edgings 22 Daisy chain 23 Diamonds 23 Italian butterfly 24 Straight strips 26 Spanish insertion 27 Scallops 27 Repetition balance 29

Straight Lines into Circles 30 The Clover 30 The Scroll 30

The Medallion 31 Classification of medallions 32 The three centres 32 1. The enclosed space: the scroll 32

the trefoil 34

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PART IJ

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Enlarging The Scope

2. The centre picot: a square Snowflake

3. The central ring: Daisy Wheel A star

Some variations of the Wheel Describing a Medallion Thread ends; Finishing off:

J aining a new thread To replace the auxiliary thread To replace the shuttle thread

Undoing the Work Finishing What to do with Tatting

Church work Christmas cards Tatting as pure decoration

Conclusion

Foreword The Thread

Different cal ibres of the same thread used together Mixed threads of different materials Additional threads in shuttle and/or ball Pearl tatting Application of pearl tatting

The Shuttle The Stitch

Renaming its components The two surfaces of the work Working the stitch~, upside down The reason why The twist Node stitch The Josephine knot The locking stitch

Tension The run-out line

The Ring Buttonhole loops Passing the thread behind The Zig-zag The Lozenge

The Chain Starting with a 'picot'

The Reversing Chain Turning at a picot Turning during progress

34 34 36 37 38 38 41 41 41 42 42 43 43 44 45 46 46 46

48 49 49 49 50 50 52 52 53 53 53 54 54 55 55 56 56 56 56 57 58 59 61 63 65 66 66 66 70

A medallion Turning with two shuttles

Crossing one line with another The Cord of Loops The Celtic Cross The mock ring

Some further arrangements The Picot

Measuring The Feather Small decorative pieces The simulated picot (climbing out) Decorative uses

The Join Mignonette stitch

Lettering Additional Ornament j Jewels and Beads Some Completed Work Conclusion

72 74 74 75 76 77 79 79 80 80 81 85 85 89 90 91 92 94 95

PART III Node Stitch Definition lOO General Properties of Node Stitch lOO Preliminary Practice 102 Recording the Pattern 102 Choice of Count 102 The Formula 103 The Diagram 104 The Picot and the Join 104 The Chain Start (ChSt) 106 Setting the Count 106 Additional Symbols 106

. Details of the Four Starts 106 'The Demonstration Chain 108

The ring on the second shuttle 109 The Ring in Node Stitch 109

Manipulation of the ring 110 Nodes and picots I11 Position of rings in a design 112

A Practice Piece I 13 Stylised Flower Spray 114 The Sequence, Variations and Adjustment of Nodes 117 Some Further Attributes of Node Stitch 117 Conclusion 118

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List of Plates of completed work by the author

I A plaque II Thistles and Corn

III R ose Flamboyant IV Shuttles

V White Hearts VI Frivolite

VII The three forms of Tatting

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facing page 64 65 80 81

page 96 97

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