This week the email brought two excellent questions to me.
1. Why is International Tatting day celebrated on April 1, annually?
2. What do we do with our tatting after we have enough hankies and collars?
1. As I have written before when asked this question, I have no idea who established our tatting celebration day as April 1, however, I remember reading about it first in Mary McCarthy's newsletter, "KNOTS!" I have celebrated every year since. Today tatters from around the world will gather to tat and chat and eat chocolate whenever possible.
The Online Tatting Class shares by enjoying the posting of antique booklets in the files of the Public Domain Archive. This month the class is finishing the posting of new models and modernized patterns for "Forty Original Designs in Tatting By Nellie Hall Youngburg, Novel, and Unique Designs...Brookings, SD © 1921" It appears to have been published privately originally. It was reprinted as "Tatting #6" in 1982 by the House of White Birches.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art183837.asp
For the Online Tatting Class, one of the projects was the International Tatting Day 2014 Lucy Consistre's Rose Doily, "Lucy's Rose Doily" by Mrs. Louise "Lucy" Consistre who is the tatter who tatted The Last Supper as a wall hanging.
http://www.georgiaseitz.com/public/lucy/lucyrosefulldoily.jpg
In general, Tatting Day has been celebrated internationally for over a dozen years. April 1st is the International Tatting Day. Tatting is the skill of making delicate, elegant tatted lace. It is enjoyed by thousands of people. On this day, "tatters" around the world have different activities, mostly educational, to celebrate their hobby, and introduce it to others. Often, they celebrate by eating chocolates and making tatted lace.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art305177.asp
2. I have not often been asked, "What do you do with the things you tat?" Of course, ornaments for holidays, edgings for pillowcases, clothing, tops of sheets, etc., are popular. And there are so many household linen possibilities. There are marvelous bookmarks, collars, cuffs, hankies, and jewelry from rings to pins to bracelets to brooches. Beaded and blinged-out jewelry is a very hot topic in recent years.
But, there is an organization called Newborns-in-Need for whom I have tatted in years gone by which I would recommend to you. It is a sad fact that not every new baby survives the first few weeks. The volunteers prepare burial layettes and small clothes decorated with lace. It is a labor of love to comfort the grieving parents.
https://newbornsinneed.org/our-work/sophies-place/
Tatting plays a great part in all our lives.
Here's the latest article from the Tatting site at BellaOnline.com.
Basket of Flowers - NHY #40 A New Pattern from Nellie H Youngburg #40 pg 21. This is the Front Cover Design with a New Model by Dagmar Pezzuto, a collar insert.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art305177.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 One of the hundreds of sites at BellaOnline.com
