Last month I taught my first tatting classes. Sixteen wonderful women attended. I want to publicly thank them for taking a Beginning Tatting class.
I spent several months writing my lesson plans and preparing my samples. I was so pleased (if not somewhat surprised) when the plans actually worked! The women were amazing in how quickly they learned to make the double stitch.
The other thing I learned is how much I enjoyed teaching women. (I have taught children for about 24+ years.) One woman, without any knowledge of tatting, joined the class only because a friend brought her along. By the end of class, she had adopted tatting as her new passion.
Tatting is the only needle art I was unable to learn by reading a book. (I learned knitting, crochet, hardanger, cross stitch, and Mountmellick embroidery by reading various books.) When I began tatting, I was unaware of any tatting videos on the Internet. Instead, I read several tatting books. In these books, the double stitch “flip” was often indicated by an arrow. I did not understand what the arrow meant. I thought “reverse work” meant: turn to its opposite side.
Then I saw a live tatting demonstration. Finally, I understood how to make the “flip.” This motion looked like a tiny jump rope–swung up your backside and halted above the head. Or, in tatting terms, to make the flip the shuttle thread is transferred from below the left hand thread to above the left hand thread.
Anyway, I want to thank you again, ladies, for taking my classes. I hope to meet you again in future classes.