(No.Brighton, Vic.: 1888-1902), Sat. Mar. 2, 1889, page 4
Tatting. With figure demure and downcast face,
And a tranquil air of quiet grace.
Her delicate fingers deftly wrought
A pattern as fine as a fairy's thought,
Tatting that day. A maiden fair,
with the silken hair,
And the shining eyes of a lustre rare,
What abracadabra, mysterious spell
Is thy flying shuttle weaving so well,
Tatting to-day. Ah, sir,
I work to have my way
In the perfumed air of a gracious day;
My nimble fingers are weaving a snare
To entangle human hearts.
Beware Of my tatting to-day.
So the lively fingers, entrancing, flew,
And the lustrous eyes were heavenly blue;
And the silken hair was shot with gold,
And down in a golden glory rolled,
Tatting that day.
And she had her will on a gracious day,
All clad in a cloud of white array;
And I bless the day and the perfumed air,
That kissed her cheek as she wove her snare,
Tatting that day.
I was searching for inspiration in my history files today and came across this lovely poem. I have not seen many poems about tatting. The thought is lovely and rhyme sublime but I wonder why poets dwell so oft on blue-eyed blondes. My hair is brown, not auburn, not russet, not dark brown, not golden brown, just plain ol' brown. And my eyes are basically green, or hazel at times. and in the world the dark-haired tatters are as fine as any others. Except, perhaps, tatters with silver gray-hair may be the finest of all.
I do not doubt that some lovely tatter gaily tatted this little edging back in 1889. I do not have a date on it but it was filed with antique German edgings. It is an insertion. R 5 - 2 - 2 - 5 rw. Half-closed ring of 4 ds. RW and repeat. Think about replacing that half-closed ring with a short cluny or a small block. Or just put bead on the thread and replace it completely.
Then I spotted this partial photo of a runner with tied picots. Tied picots!
Note the coarse looking thread with which it was tatted. And also note that there are floating rings on the chain, so two shuttles may have been used. Joins were made toward the inner section of the motif but not between two motifs. Puzzling?
Scrolling down my files I paused over this photo of a hanky corner. It is just listed as "hanky with odd tatted corner."
It doesn't look too old. Normal rings and chains and joins. But it is based on a square motif around which attached a ring and chain repeating edging. There are three ovals in the second round, not four. The fourth oval was left out and that side of the corner simply fitted into the bend of the cutout. Practical.
I have been researching ideas for the 2016 Palmettos Tat Days Tatting Scholarship fundraiser, too. Our theme is the bridal hope chest. This sample appears to be 1940-ish. A wedding gift card shows a bride whose gown is made of a folded hanky with a 2-3" edging of mignonette tatting. Clever.
A list of things that might be found in a bridal hope chest was printed in the Oct. 7, 2015 tatting newsletter:
http://www.bellaonline.com/newsdtl.asp?name=tatting&date=10/7/2015%2012:07:25%20PM
All are welcome to participate in tatting items for the scholarship, email me for details: tatting@BellaOnline.com
Here's the latest article from the Tatting site at BellaOnline.com.
Clotilde Half Wheel Edgings Half-Wheel Edging and Daisy Insertion... Half wheels are most often depended from a previous round of tatting or sewn to a cloth, but here the design has two lines facing each other in an interlocking position.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art302323.asp
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http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=39
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Georgia Seitz, Tatting Editor http://tatting.bellaonline.com
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