Oval Heart Doily - Georgia Seitz This Oval Heart Doily uses the basic heart pattern which is my logo. It is but one of many patterns in 56 page book 4 of The Ribbonwinners Series, "Tatting on the Edge... and Beyond" of which I am proud.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art302489.asp
Building a Tatting Guild
Once upon a time, I, too, was a lone tatter in the wilderness. The only tatting I saw was at the Alaska State Fair and Anchorage Fur Rendez-vous. I was sure other tatters were out there but how to contact them was the problem. I didn't know about guilds, tat days Outside (everywhere but Alaska was refered to as Outside) not even Handy Hands!
My local yarn shop allowed me to put up a display of tatting and offer tatting classes. She began to carry tatting supplies. I then found out about Handy Hands Tatting and Lacis as tatting suppliers. My first year I had 287 students. But after the classes we all went our separate ways.
A needlework magazine next drew my attention to the International Organization of Lace (IOLI) which had a lot of resources. I contacted a few tatters in the register and the rest is history.
This week I was contacted by a tatter who lived deep in the wild west of the USA. She has the luxury of being online and could search all things tatting at a click. She wanted to start a tatting guild. I thought about my experiences and gave her a few hints.
1. First check and see if there is a guild near you by searching online and checking with the IOLI. Here is a guide for the USA: http://www.georgiaseitz.com/guilds/index.html. For international membership and guilds contact: http://www.internationalorganizationoflace.org/index.html
2. Set up a page on facebook using the words tatting, shuttle, needle, guild, and local area in the title.
3. Then contact the local library. Ask the librarian if you might make a display of tatted lace, tatting shuttles and needles, thread and books for International Tatting Day, April 1 or the nearest holiday. And offer to demonstrate tatting at the library.
4. Volunteer to teach tatting at your yarn shop and quilting fabric stores.
5. Most larger cities have an office of continuing education so offer to teach a class for adults.
When you are invited to demonstrate tatting or to teach for the first time at a venue, also contact the local paper and invite them. You might get photo in the paper to help advertise. Don't forget to make up little cards or flyers with your contact info.
Good luck.
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 One of hundreds of sites at BellaOnline.com
