17 June 2008

Tatting Heirlooms

Having mentioned that I have my Aunt’s tatting stuff I was encouraged to show them, so I am going to show my tatting heirlooms here. There are 5 of her shuttles and 4 of them are made of bone, there’s a stork scissors with genuine gold and then 2 hankies that she tatted. The one to the left is her own and I have no idea how old it is. The one to the right I think was made for me and in that case it is from 1970. She learned to tat when she was around 10 years or a little older so it must have been around 1927-1930 and she tatted on and off her entire life even though she could only see with one eye. I recall having seen her doing a few hankies and then doilies. Maybe that is why I like doing doilies because I sort of grew up with them and I got my first 2 doilies when I was a teenager.
She died in 1996 and I inherited all her tatting stash because I was the only one in the family who tatted. She was not able to tat the last year or so because she was getting senile and didn’t master the flip anymore. But she did experience that I had learned to tat a couple of years earlier and I think she was a bit proud that I wanted to learn her craft. She did try teaching me but it didn’t work so I went to classes one winter to learn it.
She also had 3-4 books and some patterns from older magazines, I even inherited quite a few balls of mainly white DMC thread in different sizes. The shuttles and books etc. are now good heirlooms for me and one of her Danish tatting books is the most precious book I have. It would have been nice if she could know how much joy tatting brings me and how important it is in my life, for me her stuff today is a very nice memory of her.
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Skytterne, saksen og lommetørklæderne er arvestykker efter en moster som lærte at orkere omkring 1927-1930 og fortsatte med det næsten det meste af livet. Sammen med nogle få bøger og mønstre fra forskellige blade er de i dag et kært minde om hende for mig. Heldigvis nåede hun at opleve, at jeg lærte at orkere og jeg tror hun var stolt af, at jeg havde lært hendes lille håndarbejde.

9 comments:

Lace-lovin' Librarian ~ Diane said...

What lovely tatting memories you have! I hope that my grandchildren will want to inherit my tatting supplies some day. If not, someone will probably find a great stash on eBay!

Maureen said...

In honour of your aunt, Susanne, you must try to tat just one handkerchief edging in her memory!

LadyShuttleMaker aka MadMadPotter said...

Oh how wonderful! Thanks for sharing your special treasures and I love to read about tatting stories and history.

Bonnie said...

What great memories! Thank you for sharing them with us.

Unknown said...

That is a really sweet post and tribute to your aunt. How sweet. I love the bone shuttles they are so pretty and the hankies are just beautiful. I have some stork scissors but they are not gold! Very nice tatting heirlooms.
Thank you for sharing it warms my heart.

BTW You've been TAGGED by me! Enjoy!

Susanne said...

Thank you all for those nice comments.

Tattycat said...

This is a lovely post Dantatter. You are very blessed to have these good memories and your grandmother's tatting things.

Liyarra said...

Dantatter, In her own way your Aunt has influenced me in my tatting as well as you know from my favourite pattern!!

I love the shuttles you have an I hope soon to see them for real.

Hugs to you.

Susanne said...

Oh yes Jenni you can come and see my shuttles for real. And YOU can even be allowed to try them out too.