Victorian Doll - new uses for doilies and bits of tatting

Although I want to keep things in chronological order, starting with 1989, I’m jumping time-wise to about 1995 because I promised to explain the Victorian Doll pictured at the top of my blog.

I bought the doll (without the tatted ‘apron’, of course) in the mid-1990s at a toy store. I particularly liked the colors of her dress – burgundy and green – very Victorian!. I knew I was going to embellish the dress with tatting, and it happened that I had started a doily a few months before I bought her. I was tatting the doily to see if I had the discipline to pay attention to the important joins necessary with each motif. It turned out I didn’t quite have the patience to make the doily any bigger, so I have only 20 motifs in the doily, and I put it aside in my ‘unfinished tatting’ stash.

The doily turned out to be the perfect size for the skirt overlay on the doll’s dress. However, as you can see, the doily does not cover the back of the skirt, so I added another piece of ‘scrap’ tatting on the back, as well as to the top front of the dress. Yet another piece of scrap tatting is used for the headdress, finished off with a wisp of a marabou feather.

She’s just a sort of ‘fantasy’ doll, not from any particular time period, but she nicely complements my Victorian tatting display.

Now for the embarrassing part - I have searched high and low and can’t find the pattern for the doily! Possibly the pattern (I believe it is in a booklet of patterns) is hidden away somewhere in my craft room, and I will come across it one day. However, I generally keep all my tatting books together, so I can’t imagine where it could have gone. If you know where this pattern can be found, please let me know!

The message of this post is: Find uses for old or new doilies! You can frame them, of course, or mount them on throw pillows. Smaller ones (coaster size) can be medallions on towels or pillowcases or can be showcased on top of fancy velvet boxes.

As this is my first post with photos actually in the post itself, I'm going to close here and see how it worked out. I'll be adding another new post soon..

Beginning of My Blog Adventure

Hello fellow tatters! I already know many of you from your wonderful tatting blogs! I am delighted to be joining you in this amazing world of the "web log". I am new to this blogging technology, so this is a new adventure for me!

Those of you who belong to or follow Sharon Briggs' 25-Motif Challenge may recognize my name from Sharon's posting on Feb. 21, 2008, where she so kindly introduced me to you under the heading "The Tatting of Kathy Niklewicz."

I had written a long letter to Sharon about some of my tatting experiences during the past 20 years, including my efforts in trying to get some of my patterns published, especially my 3-dimensional patterns. I also mentioned how I enjoy demonstrating tatting with a group of gals in Western Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh) known unofficially as the "Beaver County Tatters." Carol Lawecki's mom is in our group, and I know many of you are aware of Carol's beautiful tatting through her wonderful blog. Carol has posted photos of Old Economy, (Ambridge, PA), one of our tatting demo sites.

Needless to say, I was overwhelmed last February when I saw Sharon's post about me, which included the photos I had sent to her! You may recognize the "Lady's Slippers", which I designed back in 1993. That was the year I demonstrated tatting (a solo stint) in Mercer, PA, at their annual Victorian Days. I returned to demo five years later, and was delighted to meet Elizabeth Zipay there, who had a wonderful booth where she was selling her exquisite tatted jewelry! Ten years later, this past May, I surprised Elizabeth at her tatting booth in Chantilly, Virginia! It was so wonderful to see her again, and we couldn't believe 10 years had gone by!

Because of the encouragement of wonderful Sharon Briggs and other tatters - especially Elizabeth Zipay and Carol Lawecki (fellow Pennsylvanians!) - I am now starting this blog, which will retrace my tatting journey, and I hope to include current tatting projects. For various reasons I'm not tatting nearly as much as I used to, although I continue to demonstrate tatting with our group about four times a year.

And I definitely want to join the 25 Motif Challenge to share my favorite motifs from the past, and also new projects!

I'll explain the Victorian Doll in my next post! Stay tuned!!

Welcome to my Tatting Blog

This blog will be about how I finally learned to tat 20 years ago, and how tatting has become a big part of my life, including the fun of demonstrating tatting at local festivals. I also was successful in designing a few 3-dimensional pieces - which surprised even me!!

I wanted to start a blog so that I could share my experiences. Also, I especially wanted to communicate with all of you who have those wonderful tatting blogs! I wanted to join in on the fun!

My first goal, however, is to make sure I can establish this blog! If you are reading this post, apparently I was successful! Please check back to see new posts!