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Tatting is a technique for handcrafting a very resilient lace constructed using a combination of knots and loops. Tatting can be employed to make lace edging along with doilies, collars, and various decorative pieces.
The Tatting Lace is formed with a pattern of rings and chains formed from a compilation of cow hitch, or half-hitch knots, named double stitches (ds), over a core thread. Gaps may be left amongst the stitches to form picots, which can be for practical construction in addition to decorative effect.
Tatting dates into the early 1800s. The term for tatting in the majority of European languages springs from French frivolité, which describes the purely decorative nature of the textiles manufactured by this technique. The technique was developed to mimic point lace.
Some reckon that tatting patterns may have developed from netting and decorative ropework as sailors and fishers would put together motifs for girlfriends and wives back home. Decorative ropework used on ships includes techniques (esp. coxcombing) that show striking similarity with tatting. An excellent description on this can be found in Knots, Splices and Fancywork.
Some believe tatting originated over two centuries ago, often citing shuttles observed in eighteenth century paintings of females for example Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Madame Adelaide (daughter of Louis XV of France), and Anne, Countess of Albemarle. A detailed inspection of such paintings shows that the shuttles involved are too large to generally be tatting shuttles, and that they are really knotting shuttles.
You cannot find any documentation, nor any instances of tatted lace, that date previous to 1800. The majority of the available evidence implies that tatting originated from the early 19th century.
Older designs, especially from the early 1900s, usually use fine white or ivory thread (fifty to one hundred widths within the inch) and intricate designs. This thread was either made from silk or possibly a silk blend, allowing for improper stitches to be easily removed.
Newer designs from the 1920s and onward often use thicker thread available as one or even more colors. The best thread for tatting is actually a “hard” thread that will not untwist readily.
DMC Cordonnet thread is a common tatting thread; Perl cotton is an type of an exquisite cord that is nonetheless a tad loose for tatting purposes. Some tatting patterns incorporate ribbons and beads.
Since several magazines, and home economics magazines belonging to the first half of the twentieth century attest, tatting stood a substantial following. When fashion included feminine touches including lace collars and cuffs, and inexpensive yet pleasant baby shower gifts were needed, this creative art flourished. Because the fashion moved to a more modern look and technology made lace a fairly easy and inexpensive commodity to buy, hand-made lace began to decline.
Tatting has been used in occupational therapy to help keep convalescent patients’ hands and minds active during recovery, as documented, for instance, in Betty MacDonald’s The Plague & I.
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