Fantastic news! Susan Fuller, tatting designer and author of "A Potpourri of Tatting Patterns" is hosting a new class on "Tatting Design and Drawing software Lessons." The classes began Tuesday Nov. 8, 2011 at 3PM and 8:30PM ET (New York time) and will continue every Tuesday. All are welcome, experienced tatters and newbies alike. Please register for the free class.

You may remember Susan's work shared in the Online Tatting Class:
http://www.georgiaseitz.com/reviews/fuller.html
http://www.georgiaseitz.com/2007/sfullerjoins.html
Her website: http://tattedthreadsandmore.blogspot.com/

For Class Logs and Details: http://www.georgiaseitz.com/design/designindex.html

To join the group please register at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TattingDesigners/

The class recommends using a vector graphics drawing program not a raster based one. Inkscape is a free design software program discussed www.inkscape.org Also discussed was SerifDraw which can be purchased online. I have not yet experimented with these so I have no further info about them. I did find a detailed free tutorial, though, for Inkscape: http://www.microugly.com/inkscape-quickguide/

The first step in the design class was to start a notebook of things, photos, pictures, buildings, any thing that might inspire a tatting program. And also discussed was an article on the principles of design which is posted online free: http://www.digital-web.com/articles/principles_of_design
And here on BellaOnline.com there is an article to help you also with reading, writing and diagramming tatting patterns: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art171040.asp

In one of my tatting pattern books, I defined "lace" as being a hole surrounded by thread. The very simplest of definitions, I think. Thread is the focus of the lace, but the "hole" or negative space is just as important. Consider this unattributed doily which was the focus of a mystery in tatting. The negative space is an important to the design as the lace.

http://www.georgiaseitz.com/mystery/mysterydoily.jpg"

I rescued this doily from a bin at an antique store. I have been intrigued by it ever since. You will note that it is not a regular round after round. Originally, I tried several times to write the pattern, but, without success. My last try had it going in a serpentine fashion. But, again I got lost in the maze. Take a close look at it and see if you can write tat it. If you are intrigued by this doily, please view the article for Sunday Nov. 20, 2011, for the solution.

Here's the latest article from the Tatting site at BellaOnline.com.

The Tatted Split Ring in Design
The split ring, used in conjunction with a split chain sometimes, allows the tatter to climb out from the center of the piece of lace or climb from row to row without cutting the thread.


http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art173899.asp

Please visit tatting.bellaonline.com for even more great content about Tatting.

To participate in free, fun online discussions, this site has a community forum all about Tatting located here -

http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=39

I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum or in response to this email message. I thrive on your feedback!

Have fun passing this message along to family and friends, because we all love free knowledge!

Georgia Seitz, Tatting Editor
http://tatting.bellaonline.com

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