"Tatting with the Semi-Precious Stones
"Carmen Sylva" the Roumanian Queen, who recently penned so interesting a preface to a volume on tatting by Lady (Katharin) Hoare, has thought out some new and beautiful ways with her shuttle.
She uses only very rich, deep colors of silk, purple and blue and crimson, and works in with her stitches a number of semi-precious stones, such as topazes, amethysts and peridots, sometimes she will mix in amber, corals and pearls.
The Queen's stones are real ones and bored so that she may pass her needle through them, but the effect of the ordinary colored bead mingled with tatting silk appears happy enough..."
Now over 100 years old, Lady Katherine Hoare's "The Art of Tatting" (1910) is still useful for tatters today. Not an instruction book at all but rather a book of inspiration using photos of Lady Hoare's work and the tatting of Marie, Queen of Romania. Queen Marie's work in tatting used real gold and precious gems and pearls (mostly religious items) in the pieces. Lady Hoare made popular the chain and she wrote: "with two shuttles and an imaginative brain there is no end to the designs that may be invented." Words still true today. These glamorous styles would certainly have set a "flapper's dress to sparkling back in the Roaring 20's."
This book is offered as a free Google ebook (please visit: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Katharin_Louisa_Hart_Davis_Hoare_lady_The_Art_Of_T?id=9pMtAQAAIAAJ#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDUwMSwiYm9vay05cE10QVFBQUlBQUoiXQ..)
 "The Art of Tatting" may be out of print but it is still available on the secondary book market. |
 Lady Katharin Luisa Hoare |
 The "Lady Hoare" style tatting shuttle. For more info on tatting shuttles, please see the BellaOnline.com article "Changing Tatting Shuttle Styles", http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art39987.asp. |
 Note that the Queen is tatting using a needle as if it were a shuttle. This is but one method of tatting. For more info please see "7 Methods of Tatting", http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art37566.asp |
 Elisabeth, Queen of Romania, aka Carmen Sylva, is tatting using a very large shuttle more like a knotting shuttle than the more petite tatting shuttle of today whose blades have pointed ends which touch. |
 Although the Queen was known for her work with gold and silver threads adorned with semi-precious stones, she also worked traditional tatting patterns. |
Climbing Out from the center One development in the method of tatting has allowed the tatter to eliminate much of the tedious work of cutting and tying so common in older patterns. Its use allows the tatter to climb out from the center of a pattern and work to the outer rows without cutting the threads. This is climbing out.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art23958.asp
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Georgia Seitz, Tatting Editor
http://tatting.bellaonline.com
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