1.0 Introduction

Tatting was developed from sailors and fishers netting and decorativeropeworks. Decorative ropeworks employed on ships (e.g. Cocks combing)are similar with tatting. Archiologists believe that tatting originated over200 years ago. There is neither documentation nor any examples of tatted lace,that date prior to 1800 and belived that tatting originated in the early 19thcentury. A typical tatted material is shown in the figure 1. Tated laces also termedas poor mans laces.

Fig 1: A typical Tatted Pattern

Laces are too delicate to make common articles. Tatting is a strong indication of the customs of the time. It was adopted in fashiondresses, furnishing and accessories. Shawls, jabots and fichus were produced in Netherlands during 19^th century. Insertions and trimmed edgingswere made from France .Tatts was impinged in the dresses and furnishercoverings for parasols which were common in the Victorian era. Inner clotheswere also lavishly trimmed by using the finest threads. Golden threads withrare stones came from the Eastern Europe. But many of these articles are no longer common today.

2.0 Tatted lace

Lace is a combination of open spaces and compactstructure of transparent and opaque patterns of fabric. It is used indecoration. Tatting in lace form consists of circles and curved lines which arecreated by knots slide on a core thread. It consists of stitches and picots. Picots are the loops madeby leaving a distance between double stitches. Rings will be formed by joiningrequired picots. A shuttle is regularly used incombination with or without a hook (crochet) to make joints. There may also bejust a single thread between the rings instead of chains, which is known as mignonette(ring only tatting). The special tatting knots that are very difficult to undoare made individually. Its necessary to count stitches carefully to avoidmistakes. So, tatting is not like knitting. Tatted laces are also used as bookmarksand cards.

3.0 Threads for Tatting

Plied threads of different colour made from natural or manmadefibres are used to produce tatting. According to design developments, thethreads have to be used.

4.0 Equipments needed for Tatting

A picot joint has been shown in the figure 2., require shuttle,needle, cutting instruments, (a pair of nail clippers or scissor) threads and designframes. Yarn stiffening has to be done to achieve yarn stability by applyingsize solution to make ease of tatting operation.

Fig 2: A Picot joint

5.0 Some Basic Shapes with Tatting

5.1 Rings and Chains

Shuttles can be used for the development of patterns which have only rings not chains. If the pattern contains chains, then it will involve leaving the shuttle thread attached to the ball thread and developing chains called Continuous Thread Method (CTM), Chains can be made of different color.

Development of basic shapes contains additional rings to accommodate for formulation of required shapes. For example, a triangular shape consists of six rings in two sides. Triangular shape can be laid together in a number of ways. Three rings can be made into diagonal shape and six rings with hexagonal shape. Such six ring circle which is in effect a hexagon with six arms can be grounded in all directions. Every arm is linking to the piece of fabric. Some of the basic tatting shapes are shown in the figure 3.

Fig.3: Some Basic Tatting Shapes

6.0 Tatting Techniques

6.1 Shuttle Tatting

Tatting with a shuttle is one of eairlest and still most popular methods of creating tatted lace. A tatting shuttle facilitates tatting by holding a length of wound thread and guiding it through loops to make the requisite knots. A shuttle for tatting is shown in the figure 4. Shuttle is normally a metal or plastic pointed with oval shape container that has less than 7.6 cm long.These are available in variety of shapes and materials. Shuttles often have a point or hook on one end to aid in the construction of the lace. Antique shuttles and unique shuttles have become highly popular in shuttle tatting.

Fig.4: Shuttle for Tatting

To make lace, wrap thread around one hand and manipulates the shuttle with the other hand. No tools other than thread, template and shuttle are required. A Crochet hook may be necessary if the shuttle does not have a point or hook. Figure 5. a to f shows the tpical sequence to form a tatt.

6.2 Needle Tatting

Tatting may be devoloped by using a needle instead of a shuttle. This method originated in the eairly twentieth century, but did not become popular until much later. A long tatting needle shown in the figure 6 has no change in its thickness at the eye of the needle. The needle used must match the thickness of the thread chosen for the project. Shuttle and needle-tatted lace look similar, but they differ in structure. Shuttle tatting is tighter and finer, while needle tatting can appear thick and loose. This is due to the fact that both the needle and the thread must pass through the stitches. Needle tatting is more appropriate for work with yarns and bulky threads, while shuttle tatting is better suited to finer and more traditional lacemaking,

Fig.6: Needle for Tatting

6.3 Cro-tatting

Cro-tatting is a technique to combine needle tatting with crochet. The cro-tatting tools are tatting needle with a crochet hook at the end. It is possible to cro-tat with a bullion crochet hook. In its most basic form the rings are tatted and the arches are crocheted. Some tatting instructors recommend using a tatting needle and a crochet hook to work cro-tatting patterns. Cro-tatting is most popular in Japan.

7.0 Tatting Instructions

Reading patterns for any craft can be difficult at the beginning, the best outcome is one as same as the picture based on the instructions. It is important to understand and follow the patterns directions to get best tat out of the instructions. A pattern can be written in different ways. It has to be written into words, phrases and complete sentences, which in turn will use to combine rings and chains. Firstly the tat abbreviations have to be learned for the patterns or the abbreviations flash card has to be kept nearby while crafting to avoid errors. Some abbreviations for the tatting are listed in the table 1.

Table 1: Tatting Abbreviations

A number followed by Ds will be for how many double stitches to make.
When using multiple shuttles, shuttle one is represented by s1: shuttle two is represented by s2, etc. The same rule applies for multiple needles substituting 'n' for 'needle. Pattern designers usually identify the individual rings or chains by labeling them with the letters A, B, C and so on. Here a few more symbols and rules are listed for the tatting.

1. *- repeat instructions after an asterisk for a specified number of times
2. ( ) - repeat instructions between parentheses for a specified number of times
3. (a period) - close the ring/chain

Each row below represents some pattern instructions which will create ring form.

1. R: 6 sets of 3ds separated by p, cl
2. R: 3ds-3ds-3ds-3ds-3ds-3ds.
3. R: 3ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3ds, p, 3ds, p, 3ds, p, 3ds.
4. R: 3ds, p* four times, 3ds.
5. R: 3ds, (picot, 3ds) five times, cl

In the above first line, cl (close ring) is at the end, but in second and third lines closing ring is represented by a (.) period. Also, picots are symbolised by a dash (-) while in third line p represents the picot. Now to read our ring pattern in clear long-handed English, it will read like this, Do three double stitches, a picot, three double stitches, a picot, three double stitches, a picot, three double stitches, a picot, three double stitches, a picot, three double stitches and then close.

The basic abbreviations and symbols dont change much, but each designer may somewhat change the way he/she writes his/her directions.

Fig.7: Hexagonal Template for Exact Positioning of Pieces

8.0 Utility of Tatting

The Tatting adds value to the human fine efforts towards the ornamentation. Fashion articles and clothings suitably incorporated for the value addition to the materials. Figure 7 is a hexagonal template used to keep the threads in required taut condition and to make desired shapes. Figure 8 shows a tatted article for ornamentation.

Fig .8: A Tatted article

9.0 Summary

Tatting is an age old art of the last century. It needs innovative mind to develop verities of articles. It requires very little outlay of materials or tools to make beautiful and decorative outlook. Expertise will come through regular experience.

10.0 References:

1. Rozella F.Linden, Easy Tatting ,Dover Publications, ISBN 0486299864, NY, USA, 1994
2. Rita Weiss, Traditional Tatting Patters, Dover Publications, ISBN 0486250660, NY, USA, 1994.
3. Jannet Carroll, Elegant Tatting Patterns, Dover Publications, ISBN 0486291499, NY,USA, 1996.
4. Elgiva Nicholls, Tatting-Techniques and History, Dover Publications, ISBN 0486246124, NY, USA, 1984.
5. Gun Blomgvist, Elwy Persson, Tatting Patterns and Designs, Dover Publications, ISBN 0486258130, NY, USA, 1988.

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