After I was successfully able to tat the beginner patterns from the “Learn to Tat” book, I got the radical idea to employ modern technology in my thirst for knowledge of this old-fashioned craft! (Crazy, I know.) I found more than I could have imagined; there are whole groups of people who tat! Up to this point I hadn’t encountered anyone outside my family who knew what tatting was (apparently people thought I was talking about tattoos). There are several large groups of tatters throughout the US, UK, Germany, etc. Georgia Seitz of georgiaseitz.com provides online tatting classes of various skill levels. This site also lists tatting groups in the US by state and a link to the International Old Lacers, Inc website.
I found some great websites providing free patterns (I listed them on my ‘Websites’ page), although I’m sure there are more out there I have yet to discover. I tried a random assortment of whichever pattern happened to catch my fancy at the time.
This is a pattern from Be-Stitched. It was an interesting pattern to make because it shows how the thread naturally shapes itself depending on how the rings are joined and the tension of the knots.
This is also a pattern from Be-Stitched. It’s a small pattern but the body and wings are tatted separate; I had to be careful to join them correctly so I didn’t end up with upside down wings. The colors are blue and maroon instead of black and red because at the time I didn’t have black and red thread, so it turned out to be an Aggie ladybug. Gig’em!
The link to this pattern is on the BellOnline Tatting Site. You wouldn’t think feet would be too difficult – you would be wrong; this pattern was actually more difficult to make than it would seem. I bet it would be annoying to be in the same room with me as I’m making a foot, owing to fact that I would be counting out loud from the large number of stitches involved, and trying to hold it without it twisting in every direction wasn’t fun. But I loved the finished foot!
This is a pattern from Jane Eborall. This was one of the first patterns where I used separate rounds joined together to make a finished project. The bottom was made first then each row of rings and chains was added on separately and naturally curved upwards to form the basket. The handle was added on last. This went to my Mom!
Hi from another tatter! I taught myself out of books – no family history. Isn’t it addictive? Love the tatted cat (and yes, it DOES look like a cat