Anna G. Vecherskaya's "FRIVOLITÉ, Practical course in making lace with shuttles" is an A4 paper booklet with 24 pages. Moscow ©1991. It is in the Russian language. Some of the models are presented on five color pages and there are a few color photos sprinkled among the black and white photos and diagrams. The diagrams are numbered with the double stitch count so that all patterns may be tatted by any tatter anywhere.
Anna G. Vecherskaya was part of a group (which included Nina Libin) in the 1980's which learned tatting from Natalia Mikhailovna Egelskaya. Nina shared the information with me that she [Nina] was instrumental in translating public domain tatting patterns into Russian and creating a tatter's notation, such as using the dash, "-", to indicate the picot. Nina also believes that this book may be the first Russian tatting instruction booklet.
I had a chuckle when I reached page 21 of Vecherskaya's book. The pattern top left is from the 1919 Tina Frauberger book fig. 31 and diagrams for it have been created by Jane Eborall for the Online Tatting Class (OTC). (Part of the mission of the OTC is to preserve vintage tatting pattern, revise them using modern tatting notation and prepare new samples. These pattern are posted online for all to enjoy.)
Apparently Anna was not known as a tatting designer, but she was able to utilize many public domain tatting patterns to illustrate the necessary tatting techniques. The section on beaded tatting will be most worthwhile for the beginning tatter. These 4.5 pages contain photos showing beads placed on the picots, over the picots in the join and on the core thread. Many of the edgings will be familiar to tatters today. Tatting as an art may wax and wane over the decades, but tatted lace remains timeless.
This was a gift to me and is now part of my personal tatting reference library. G. Seitz.
