No, I am in a tiny community.
I have taught myself to knit and cross stitch, so at some point, I may work up the courge and try tatting on my own.
Maybe if there is a video out there??

Gosh, I thought it was a dying art, too, but once I started looking online I found that it is booming again. There are a lot of tat sites you can go to, blogs and places where you can learn tatting and get patterns. There is so much available it's just incredible. Let me know if you want some site suggestions.

Hi, new here. I embroidery-cutwork mostly, hand (detest machine, although for some projects don't mind, such as coat borders, etc).

Nana taught me when I was a girl, tradition that was passed down, crochet and tatting too. But I didn't take up the tatting as much as I did the embroidery and other needlepoint (can do needlepoint, hardanger, etc, smocking) but prefer embroidery including foreign stitches.

Anyhow I am going to be relearning tatting as I'm in business now (non-profit type) and edgings are just soooo expensive, rather make my own and besides, need to incorporate the materials to work with the textile art, etc. Wanted to say there are some good books on tatting, but GET THE OLDER ONES, better descriptions and with each step rather than just the 1,2,3 steps and then you're left wondering what to do between steps.

Also in the older books they tend to give hints on works to avoid or mistakes until you become more practiced, etc. I have usually found the older books in thrift stores or used book stores.

Also use the internet, it does take time, to weed through all the franchise-market but if you google tatting in Italy or similar then usually you can find some very good sites, add instructions to the search.

Also check with your embroidery guild in your area, often they have classes that are inexpensive and most probably would not even know of them as they aren't advertised, but you can find the embroidery guilds in phonebooks, they'll know who to contact.

To OP, tatting is, like hand embroidery a lost art, I'm glad you learned it and are continuing to work with it. There is a vast market out there for tatted works too, just be careful though, make sure you get some kind of copywright for any sales (if you ever go that route) so designers can't take the design overseas and exploit via sweatshops, they are doing this big time now. The business I started is a type of women's collective that is combatting sweatshop embroidery/needlepoint/textiles and proceeds of each artwork goes to Women's NGOs fighting gendercide and sweatshop-globalization. Right now its very small, lots to work out but if interested, I will be looking later to recruit independent artists. Only requirement is that they work by hand (not machine, no industry, no fabrics made with dyes in Morocco as they use child labor, prefer recycled fabrics, NO WALMART) and that they (independent workers) sign contract that 10percent of proceeds go to women's ngo outside their country, its international collective btw...as its not a profit only business.

As this gets going (working out all the legalities right now) I'll post more on the tribes that work in arts/textiles, in case any would like to work with the collective. You keep your profits excluding donations, handle your own taxes, etc...goal is to empower women, take Back the labor and means of production from corporations that exploit hand labor and then turn and sell for hundreds to thousands of dollars a piece, etc.

Also to take back the ART of women's craft, as it is an ART, not craft (a term that was used by the patriarchs in Victorian-earlier times to denigrate women's art, to prop up man's and academic art as superior, etc).

ModottiManifest

WOW Gina, that is great!!