DMC thread has a very long history. The "D" stand for "Dollfus", the surname of the 2 brothers whose fabric painting business began in 1746. Their nephew, Daniel Dollfus married Anne-Marie Mieg in 1800 and combined both their names into one surname, Dollfus-Mieg. The "M" stands for Mieg. And the "C" represents the French word for company, Cie, thus Dollfus-Mieg & Cie or DMC.

Their son became aware of the new mercerization process, invented by John Mercer. The treatment of fibers with sodium hydroxide swells the fibers and increases their luster and their ability to be dyed. That process is followed by an alkaline bath which strengthens the fibers and "pre-shrinks" them. At the same time, the company began a long relationship with a famous needle artist, Thérèse de Dillmont (1846-1890). She was the author of The Encyclopedia of Needlework (1884), a volume known to tatters. This entire book is available online for free download at http://encyclopediaofneedlework.com/. The chapter on tatting is: http://encyclopediaofneedlework.com/chapter_10.html.

DMC thread is available today in all the colors of the rainbow.

And here is the full DMC book on Tatting by Thérèse de Dillmont: http://antiquepatterns.dreamhosters.com/DMCTat.pdf.

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

Building a Tatting Library - Karey Solomon
Karey Solomon is the editor of "Tatting Times" which is celebrating 20 years. Here is a list of her tatting booklets.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art38180.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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